“I had every reason in the world not to go into music,” says Lou Doillon. The daughter of director Jacques Doillon and singer/actress Jane Birkin has enjoyed a successful career as an actress and international model. But all along she has been holding back a major side to herself: the singer. For years Lou has been secretly playing her guitar and writing songs in English, her “private language”. Taking a leap into the unknown, she released her first single, ICU. Its haunting vocals and evocative story (about imagining a lost love in everywhere the singer goes) made a big impression. ICU was one of the standout tracks on Cartell’s most recent So Frenchy So Chic compilation.

Now with the release of her first album, Places, her new career is official. The title refers to both the personal journey she has travelled to arrive where she is, and to her new starting point as she sets out for greater things.

“Before, Lou was between two worlds: fashion and movies. With this album, I think she’s finally found her world,”

says Zdar, the man with the silver hands (The Rapture, Beastie Boys, Cat Power, etc) who mixed Places in his Paris studio. “Lou seems more of a soul than a rock singer to me”, adds producer Étienne Daho, whose arrangements on Places are his finest to date. Both Doillon and Daho are inspired by great singer-songwriters past
and present, including Leonard Cohen, Karen Dalton, Joni Mitchell and Feist.
Lou Doillon recently won the award for Female Artist of the Year at the Victoires de la Musique, France’s version of the Grammys. And in just 40 minutes, the debut album Places has redefined her, from a talented actress-model into new singer-songwriter to be reckoned with.