La Debutante

Europe (and more specifically France) as seen by a young Japanese girl in the mid-Eighties...
A study in inverted exoticism... Sonoko charmingly conjures up the spirit of Brigitte Bardot, Suicide, French cinema, Nino Rota, Robbe-Grillet, David Lynch, Catholic church music, Phil Spector, Shakespeare and more. Jean-Paul Gaultier has repeatedly been using songs from this cult album for his fashion shows. The album was produced by Colin Newman (Wire) and Aksak Maboul (Vincent Kenis & Marc Hollander).

“Sonoko’s musical postcards... She lovingly collects images from the Old Continent’s culture and weaves them into a patchwork made of 19 miniatures. Disarmingly charming, with something of the candour of the Sixties” (Les Inrockuptibles, France, ‘89)

"La Débutante... in which the lines between hilarity and tears is shaken like a dusty rug ... She breathes rather than sighs, of the way she sees Europe, which is idealised, stylish and reviviscent... . Her own lullabies are zonked-out nursery rhymes for the terminally abstract. Sonoko, if such an entity really exists, may disappear from the face of the earth next week, but she’s gasped and dreamed one of the most implausible records of recent times. Highly recommended." (Melody Maker, 1988)