Canadian singer-songwriter, Amelie Lefebvre’s (she goes by Amelie) music is like a stranger hugging you: you don’t have to understand, or know the person doing the hugging to feel the warmth in their embrace. That old cliche about music being universal, that rings true here. All but one song on her debut album, Amelie, is sung in French, a language probably foreign to a lot of people south of the Canadian border. But from the album’s opening track “24 heures” (an acoustic version also closes the disk) your ears tell you, knowing the language or not, it doesn’t matter, good is good, and Amelie is certainly that. The album as a whole is like hitting the scan dial on your radio; there’s a bunch of different styles, from jazz, to lounge, to pop, and more, sometimes within the same song. It can go from Broadway to beer hall, from carnival to candle light, without warning. “Comme t’es” is reminiscent of all that was—and still is—good about the sixties style radio hits of Ben E. King and the likes. From the first guitar strum you’re hooked into the song. The more than contagious clap along serves as the perfect counterpart to the mix of guitars, and the infectious bass. You’re not only listening to the song, you’re participating in it. And that participation aspect carries over throughout. “Cousine” has a very visual black and white noir detective film feel to it, where you can imagine yourself playing voyuer as the character within the song is creeping around corners and back alleys in seach of their lover. In “Her Beauty”, the album’s only predominantly English song, Amelie’s talent as a witty storyteller is revealed, “If bliss is ignorance they say/what about that frown.” As for Amelie’s voice, which at times is reminiscent of Aimee Mann’s, it’s very sensuous—in spots just outright seductive—and soothing; and it is beautifully accented by the violin on “Jimmy” and the flugel horn on “Mon grand.” In fact, the musicians that play on Amelie are all standouts in their own ways. Everything feels together. Everything sounds together; Amelie is a very compact record. Sure, it would be a bonus to know French so you could understand the majority of the lyrics. But it’s really not that important: going in with blind ears is just fine. Amelie’s voice, and the fun nature of her music will lead you where you need to go. And along the way she won’t disappoint.