Margaux Bouchegnies – known simply as Margaux – is a pop artist originally from Seattle and currently attending school in New York. Her music is classified as bedroom pop. Just hearing the term, you can take it to mean it’s pop music recorded in a bedroom. And that may be the case. However, you don’t need to hear much of her new EP More Brilliant Is the Hand that Throws the Coin to realize there may be another connotation for bedroom pop.
Specifically, the bedroom is where most dreams occur, and there is a dreamy quality to the lead track “Cave In”. For one, Margaux’s vocals have a light and airy quality that wouldn’t be out of place in a dream. Beyond that, the song is dreamy in that it moves slowly, but is also quite vivid in parts.
The second song, “Faced with Fire”, includes the lyrics, “feels like floating”. That’s a pretty apt description of the EP. The songs are so airy that it seems like you float through them as much as listen to them. If you have visions of Margaux standing by your bedside and singing you to sleep, you’re not alone. It would be a pretty good vehicle to Slumberland, and it wouldn’t give you any of the side effects of sleep medication.
There is a definite lounge feel to this EP. You can hear it in the mellow thrum in the guitar of “Hot Faced” and the keyboards of “Palm”. Plus, the sort of sleepy quality in the vocals brings to mind Astrud Gilberto in “The Girl from Ipanema.”
As you move through these five songs, it is easy to lose track of the fact that Margaux is only 20 years old. Regardless of her age, she is amazing at arranging songs that are rich in texture even if the tempo is slow. Each song is a rich soundscape that reminds you of those vivid dreams you wish you could hold onto just as you wake up. With only five songs, this EP leaves you wondering what Margaux will do next.
