Editorial: September 2018

September is the month when France traditionally gets back to business after the summer.

Folk return from the south and the west, from beaches or countryside, back to studies, school, work and their regular lives. Shops re-open, cafés return to their regular hours and the country gets back to its normal life after the traditional month away.

It's La rentrée, a special season in France that's also marked by the release of new books, new ideas and new resolutions after a relaxed summer. Time to get serious, time to get busy and time to put new ideas into practice.

September is also going to be a hell of a month for new music releases.

Christine and the Queens release Chris, the much-anticipated second album, on September 21. She's also appearing in London earlier in the month, on September 16, to discuss the album in public and answer questions from the audience. We'll be seeing more of her in November when she plays live dates across the UK.

Elsewhere in French megastar releases, the new collection from Mylène Farmer, emerges on September 28.  Details of Désobéissance emerged last month with the unveiling of a massive poster in the centre of Paris featuring the cover artwork, a photograph by Jean-Baptiste Mondino.

The two singles that have been released from the album so far have both reached number one in the French charts, adding to Mylène's impressive record. I'd put money on Mylène's new album being one of 2018's biggest sellers by the end of the year.

There's also a new four-disc retrospective collection from Jean-Michel Jarre celebrating the 50th anniversary of his career released on September 14. Planet Jarre; 50 years of Music ranges from his best known work to rare material, and includes two new tracks and an unreleased demo from his Music for Supermarkets project, the legendary album that was only pressed on one copy before the master tapes were destroyed.

The new collection was curated by Jarre, with some remastering of the tracks to give them a fresher sound.

Elsewhere? There's a new album by Flavien Berger, a favourite of this blog, which drops on September 28. Contre-temps is his second album, a video for the track Maddy la Nuit emerging towards the end of last month.

Also, the very much looked forward to second album by Grand Blanc is in the pipeline with a September 14 release date. Their debut was one of this blog's favourites in recent years, their second sounds so far like something very special indeed.

Meanwhile, there are new albums by Thomas Dutronc and Zazie due this month as well, both due on September 7.

Much to look forward to, much to write about and plenty to listen to. Enjoy La rentrée musicale

I'm available by email at johnkilbrideAThotmailDOTcom, with a couple of obvious changes in the email address that I'm sure you can guess. If you're a PR for a French act, label or event, just drop me an email.

I'm always pleased to get feedback, suggestions and inspiration. The blog is also on Twitter as @viveleroq, so give us a follow or contact us via there. I'm also on Twitter as @karnag, and usually respond a bit quicker on that address especially when I'm out the office.

 Thanks as always to the team at Oui Love Music for all their work introducing French acts to the international audience.

 John K