Bellefolie puts aside her/its occasionally slightly manic ‘beautiful madness’ for this song in order to record a touching one to small children and babies that “left too soon”, and thereby “offering solace to anyone grieving a loved one.”
Regular readers will know I have an aversion to mawkishness but I’m glad to report that there is none of that here. It is a touching song, conceived and played at just the right level to hit you in the feels without breaking you into little pieces over someone you never knew.
It does suggest a personal reason for it being written, that perhaps one of the band members has suffered such a loss, or someone they know.
And it is released at a moment when, here in the UK, we are again reminded, by way of the public inquiry, of the events of 29th July, 2024 when three young girls (6, 7 and 9) at a dance class were murdered by a homicidal maniac whose motives even today are not yet understood.
I do believe the three sets of parents would take comfort from ‘Tiny Lullaby’.
Isabell Engelsen again delivers a sterling vocal performance, as if she is conveying a graveside elegy, while the powerful string arrangement in the final quarter of the song could be a sunbeam transporting the “tiny casket” heavenwards.
Strangely enough the song this one makes me think of over any other is Arcade Fire’s ‘In the Backseat’, from their debut album ‘Funeral’.
It concerns the death not of a child but of singer Regine Chassagne’s mother in a car accident and her failure to get to the hospital in time to say her last goodbye.
But there is the same degree of urgency in the strings over a simple piano melody that actually could be from a lullaby and the growing momentum towards sharing that final moment.
Two bands that are singing from the same hymn sheet, I would venture.
Find her/them on:
Website: https://bellefoliemusic.com/bellefolie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61554815578790
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bellefoliemusic/
