Indie Folk – Veglam

Third album for French songwriter BILLY THE KILL as a solo artist (he also plays in 70s hard rock/90s power pop influenced band BILLY GAZ STATION and is also part of SIMON CHAINSAW’s backing band.)
Opening in a stripped down folk way with “The World Is Yours”, which title already sounds as a promise, BILLY THE KILL quickly gets caught back by melancholy with “Everything In Past Is True”, reminding a bit of the STEREOPHONICS.
In the manner of Lenny Kravitz, our boy Billy plays almost every instrument on these 10 songs, and there sure has some KRAVITZ traces in “Somewhere In My Mind” and in “The Hardest Is a Better Way To Begin.”
Billy also gives a second birth to one of his catchiest old tunes, “I Can Write Some Songs”, and will surprise you with two unexpected covers: “Les Lendemains Qui Chantent” from French cult band LES THUGS, and “Holy Diver” ( a very personal, yet astounding version!) as a tribute to Ronnie James DIO.
On this album -which is also his best produced so far- Billy’s 90s indie/grungy/power pop influences mostly show on the rockin’ and DINOSAUR JR. sounding “Self-Destruction Ambition”; and as the album slowly gets to the end, you can only think that “An Open Book With Spelling Mistakes” is a very successful exploration of Billy’s musical/cultural world, an illustration of moods and emotions… and most importantly, always keeping things pop. Laurent C.