Caracol

« Elle signe un “premier” album folk au titre magnifiquement invitant et délicat, L’arbre aux parfums, qui fera durer l’été avec ses quelques chansons chaleureuses…La voix est assurée, chaleureuse et joueuse, très solide. » VOIR Montreal

« Un album qui comporte plusieurs petites perles… » BANG BANG

« L’après-DobaCaracol s’annonce réussi pour Carole Facal, alors qu’on y retrouve sa jolie voix et des musiques varies…Caracol est promise un bel avenir. » ICI Montreal

« L'une des RÉVÉLATIONS Radio-Canada Musique, Caracol a mis tout son coeur dans ses nouvelles chansons où elle exprime de façon authentique ce qu'elle ressent. » RADIO CANADA Montréal

« On salue son tournant... Elle sème des refrains qui restent dans la tête. Un son qui a quelque chose d'intemporel. Des chansons parfois troublantes, mais toujours sensibles... » ELLE Québec

« De l'Arbre aux parfums se dégage une sérénité certaine... »
RADIO FRANCE International

« Elle s'est façonné une manière, une écriture mélodique adaptée à son style et à ses mimiques craquantes... Du beau risque! »
L'ACTUALITÉ
- Many different publishers

http://www.indicarecords.com/indica/PRESS/Caracol.pdf - Indica Records

Caracol's music tells it as it is, whether it's folk, pop, or even Hawaiian ballroom. Montreal-based singer/songwriter Carole Facal, otherwise known as Caracol, launched her debut solo album L'arbre aux Parfums last week. Caracol is rocking a new and more mature sound, singing mainly in French with a few English tracks.

After many years of touring and producing music with the band DobaCaracol, Facal decided to take matters into her own hands and play solo under the name Caracol. While traditional African, South American, and European sounds influenced DobaCaracol, as a solo artist Caracol now focuses on pop-infused folk. Caracol was musically inspired on the road as she toured with DobaCaracol, and by the end of their last tour, she knew it was time to move in a new direction.

"I went through a lot of things with them emotionally, you know, with the travelling and all the movement. We didn't have the same vision of the future," Caracol reflects.

Her new solo album L'arbre aux Parfums features a vintage and "old-school" theme.

"For me, it was all part of a big concept," says Caracol. "I was inspired by retro-music, music from the 40s, 50s, and 60s, old-school jazz, big band, film score, and barbershop quartet… these are things I really love these days."

Striving for an authentic sound, Caracol uses old instruments such as worn drums, antiquated guitars, an autoharp, and the ukulele on her album and at live shows. While these instruments help her maintain an earthy feel, they certainly don't diminish the sound quality. Caracol produces a clean, original sound both during live performances and on L'arbre aux Parfums. As well as being music to your ears, Caracol's performances are a visually stimulating experience. Her CD launch at Savoy was spiced up with red fog, old-fashioned photos, and wine barrels to showcase the vintage theme of her album.

"Everybody dressed up. It was really like a movie production almost. The photos were treated in an old style," Caracol says of the photo project for the album.

L'arbre aux Parfums was produced by Sébastien Blais-Montpetit (DJ Champion et ses G-Strings), and was recorded in three months. Between that time and the launch, Caracol already started gathering new ideas and writing new songs. She'll have plenty more time to get inspired on the road as she leaves to go off on her first European solo tour next month.

However, it's not all fun and games with Caracol. Her honest and genuine lyrics explore the darker side of raw human emotion through descriptions of love, anger, and contempt. She emphasizes the importance of speaking the truth and telling things as they are. At the same time, she tends to include some sarcasm in her music- this is where the Hawaiian ballroom comes in. Caracol produces music for dancing and for pondering: two equally significant goals of her art - McGill Tribune - Emma Quail