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Mélanie Pain, with Brian Lopez – Hootananny Brixton, London – 15/02/26

“Your kingdom of kindness/ It all comes for free”

When clouds heave the night on their slumped shoulders, and rain falls like treacle from a spoon, what could be a better soundtrack than some French indie pop? Though it may have been in Brixton, the weather thrashing not the banks of the Seine, but the gullies of the Effra, Mélanie Pain’s set of quaint covers and Francophonic folk were more than enough to transport even the most hardened of South Londoners to a Parisian boulangerie. 

First, however, we must stop at the sands of the Sonoran. Tuscon, Arizona’s Brian Lopez opened the show with some intimate psychedelia, finger-plucking his acoustic guitar like the last troubadour out of Occitania. He stood noble as a lone Joshua against the backdrop of projected galaxies and microscopic blotches, playing poignant tracks like ‘Black Mountain’, the hip-shaking ‘Like A Virus’, or even blessing us with a cover of Nick Drake’s ‘Pink Moon’.

Lopez soon returned to the stage, now on a stool as one of Pain’s guitarists. Pain herself fronted the stage with an air of quiet captivation. She joked about her surname (pronounced much cooler in England than its breadier French alternative), before launching into a cascade of covers and originals. ‘The Killing Moon’ and Kraftwerk are always going to be crowd favourites, but Pain’s own work is where her troop are at full power. What can be more French than starting your set with ‘La cigarette’?

Pain traversed the world, departing the North with ‘Bye Bye Manchester’ and delivering a love letter to Istanbul with ‘Senden Daha Güzel’, guided by her distinct, mollifying vocals. This show was the last in their tour of England, and while you could see their fatigue in the occasional grim glance or trailing mutter, it affected the songs in no way. Just take Pain’s last two songs, ‘How And Why’ and ‘Bluer Than Blue’, both from her latest album. A tired huff or dud noted would have shattered the delicacy, dullened the beauty of the arrangement. For all the rain lashing down on a tired Brixton, I dare say no one left that gig with an empty heart.

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