INTERVIEW: Baby Et Lulu on their upcoming third album 'Album Trois': "It's a really joyful experience, the whole thing feels really glorious."

Interview: Jett Tattersall

Sydney based ‘faux French’ duo Baby et Lulu consist of Abby Dobson (Baby) and Lara Goodridge (Lulu) and first released music together in 2012. Prior to the formation of Baby et Lulu, both artists had been pursuing successful careers in the music industry for a number of years. Dobson was the lead singer of Leonardo’s Bride, who scored a massive hit in 1997 with the single ‘Even While I’m Sleeping’, while Goodridge has been playing the violin since the age of three and has been part of indie rock-band-slash-string-quartet group FourPlay for many years.

They release their self-produced third album Album Trois on September 3. Like all their music, the album features a mix of self-penned tracks and re-interpretations of classic songs, all sung in French. Ranging from the traditional French chanson-style of tracks such as ‘Tous Les Mêmes’ to the stunning new single ‘La Ballade De La Mer’ that veers into more traditional pop-folk ballad territory, it is an album that is a gorgeous listening experience, either as an end-to-end listen or to cherry pick tracks to suit whatever mood you may be in, from dancing in your kitchen to a good old fashioned cry in the bath - in a suitably dramatic faux French way of course.

Held back from release as the coronavirus hit in 2020, the album is a long awaited ray of sunshine and with a national tour due to kick off on October 1, there is a evident joy in Baby et Lulu at the thought of being able to connect with their fans again after such a long break. We recently caught up with Abby and Lara to find out more.

Hello and Abby and Lara, so great to chat to you today. Let's talk about the new album, Album Trois, straight up because it is wonderful. How do you all feel about it? 
Lara: We're thrilled. And even more thrilled that you're loving it. That's fantastic.  

It's very much music that we all need to hear right now. Everyone's in sweatpants and we need to pretend we’re somewhere else more exotic and that's exactly what this album does. 
Abby: Well the great thing about Baby Et Lulu is you can be in sweatpants and also having a lovely glass of red wine at the same time. You can do both, take your album home and dance in your kitchen in whatever you like!

I love it. Let's talk about your gorgeous 'Jardin Aux Souvenirs (Moon River)' This one obviously won hearts across the globe by the goddess that is Audrey Hepburn and we've all tried to emulate her in the car or in the kitchen and now you two have gone and Euro-studded it.  Talk me through your collective love for this song.
Abby: ‘Jardin Aux Souvenirs' means garden of memories, and we thought that it's such a beautiful melody and that it has that intrinsic kind of passionate melancholy and musicality that we love to harness in Baby et Lulu. It was made famous by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast At Tiffany's, she sang this song with a guitar looking beautiful in the stairwell.

Lara: We were looking for a couple of extra songs for the album and it was Abby's idea, as soon as she suggested it was a definite yes. She'd found a beautiful translation online, so it was easy for us to learn. It was just such a winner from the beginning.

Was there ever any concerns about doing it justice? I'm sure when you're doing something as gargantuan as ‘Moon River’, despite the language swap, there still must have been an ‘oh my god’ moment?
Abby: I wasn't afraid because Baby et Lulu have such an exquisite band that I'm not nervous about the choices they make on the instruments. This is our third album and the original players have been together for nearly 12 years or something. And so I trust everybody in the band so much that they're going to make the most tasteful choices as an ensemble. They know when not to play, which I think is one of the most important things.

Album Trois is following up Album Deux, that's logical. Can you talk me through your initial get together as a group? Because you're both musical like sheros in your own right.  
Lara: That's lovely. Abby and I happened to be in France at the same time, we were friends. I was her record label in fact, I was putting out her first solo album. We'd formed a nice relationship working together in that capacity, although we hadn't played any music together. We were in Paris, and we met up for a cup of coffee or glass of wine and we worked out only there that we both spoke some French. So really just as a throwaway line I said ‘we should maybe sing a song in French together just for fun’. When we got back to Sydney, my boyfriend and I put on a party and he said, ‘why don't you and Abby sing a song in French together and you can perform it at the party?’ So we got together for a little rehearsal, one song from this book that I bought in Paris, and some magic happened really in that moment.

Abby: We did sing one song at the party, just this one song 'Les Baisers'. Singing in harmony is a very joyous thing to do. There's something about singing in harmony with somebody that really does release this oxytocin, and the harmony in French, which is also a language that I've totally loved all my life, with Lulu who I had long adored, it was just this kind of magic alchemical kapow that made me become a child and say, ‘I want to do this when I grow up, this feels amazing!’ That love was ignited when we sang together and still is, you know, when we're on stage and singing with each other, there is still this absolute magical ‘Oh, I get to do this!’ It's pretty special. So we've been doing it ever since that debut performance on milk crates at a warehouse party, thinking that we would get it out of our system, this French folly that no one was going to care about other than us. Who's gonna want to hear two Australian girls singing in French? But we put a show together with this amazing band and it sold out just like that, and the audience were ravenous and loved it. So we just kept doing it as a hobby, and each show we did people were like, ‘we want a record we want to take this home’. It was kind of effortless.

You said that you were concerned about that people would have a reaction and not necessarily a good one to two Australian women singing in French. Do you think that comes from the fact there's that tall poppy syndrome thing going on in Australia - “don't pretend to be French that's so smug, it's so pretentious.” Or is it just because it's never been done before?
Lara: It's probably a mixture of all those things. I think our fear as was, can we pull it off? Are we going to sound like idiots? Are we going to look like imposters? Is it going to look like an RSL act or being on a cruise ship? What are all the possible things that could go wrong with this very pure and fun, lovely idea? And how will it translate - literally.

Abby: Also the fact that we were older. I probably wouldn't have been able to dive into this project with such abandon had I been 23 or something, when I cared what other people thought of me. There's something about being older, just not caring or being so self conscious. It's our fun and I totally claim that I've earned the right to have fun and do whatever I want!

Lara: Speaking of that, I played the music to a friend recently who had never heard us before, and he said it was decadent. We just go there. It's romantic, it's beautiful, it's fun. We dress up and we try to make it what French is, it's so beautiful. They take so much time and effort to make it beautiful. They don't hold back with the butter, they don't hold back with the cream you know? They do things properly!

It is, it's sonic burlesque. There's a comedy you you both bring to it that's so beautiful. And because you're not taking yourself so seriously, the audience can't do anything but smile and enjoy it.

Abby: And having said that Jett, I mean on record we obviously we don't tell any jokes, but our live show is hilarious, there's a lot of humour in our live show. When we speak with this accent, and we pretend to be French, they know we're not French and we haven’t convinced them that we're French, but at the same time, we are a little bit. So there's an edge. Humour is a big part of the show.

You are known for these delicious live shows, and both of you are no strangers to a live show with your respective careers beforehand. What is the difference in performing Baby et Lulu compared to your other projects?
Lara: It's very different for both of us.. For me this is the band where I get to be so womanly, with Abby and really get to dress up. There's preparation, almost like a ritual really, in getting ready to be Lulu. It's fun looking for dresses that we can wear on stage with frills and colours. It's really sensual and it's nice to be allowed to be that because in other bands, I've been a bit rock, or I've always worn jeans, and it's just nice to be a woman in this. And there's also, of course, something about singing in another language, which sort of stepping into a slightly different persona. And it's just so playful, none of my other bands are as playful as this is.

Abby: There's this absurd humour we both get, which is why we became friends in the first place, we both have this playful, absurd, ridiculous sense of humour. It’s magnified and amplified on stage so it's quite fun

Beautiful. Australia has historically been a temple of white man rock. What are your thoughts on the gender canyon within the Australian music industry?
Abby: It's an interesting time, isn't it? The 90s was the beginnings of our musical careers. When I was on tour, with my band Leonardo's Bride, I used to practically tape up my breasts, I was in flannelette shirts,, I was on tour with four other guys and, and my crew were all men, and I was doing my best to de-femme myself. To be not seen as different, so I was not seen as lesser, which was often the case back then. I remember having a meeting about a record that we were going to make, and the producer never looked at me once and never spoke to me. I was absolutely invisible. And that kind of thing happened a lot. I was lucky not to have had anything really untoward happen to me, but looking back and seeing what things we put up with, that was just part of the fabric of the way that the patriarchy was operating. We were brought up to feel that that was just the way that it was. Even now, Lara and I produce these records that we make. And we've kind of timidly gone ‘oh I suppose we should put our name on it, that we produced it.’ It’s interesting just seeing your own history. I feel a bit shocked about how the way things were and I applaud the younger generation that I see now on the internet, these women with big voices who are really unprepared to accept anything less than being treated as equal. 

And Lara, what are the benefits for you now going at it as a team? 
Lara: I've always been part of a team because I've never done a solo project, ever. I thrive as a member of a team. There's something about being at the front together with Abby that is different to the other teams that have done so. It really is a great team effort between us. Over the years we've worked out who is better at what and who wants to do one thing and really doesn't want to do another. We’ve divided our roles quite well. Walking out on stage, there's something so lovely about knowing that you're supported, I feel so supported not only by the band, but by Abby. There is that glorious thing of looking at each other and singing and just feeling like you're in this together, that the other person is going to actually catch you if you fall - they're going to zip you up if your dress is coming apart! It's a really joyful experience, the whole thing feels really glorious.

That's a beautiful word and perfectly sums up what you're churning out. The album's is out very soon and it's full of some absolute gems. My favourite is one that you wrote, actually, Abby 'La Ballade De La Mer'. Just absolutely gorgeous. But with that all happening, the world's doing its thing again, what is on the horizon for the two of you?
Abby: We have the new album coming out on the third of September, and then we have a tour that we have that will start on the first of October. We have a lot of touring till the end of the year throughout Australia. We're just crossing all of our faux French fingers that the borders will be open because at the moment where we live in Sydney is in full lockdown. There's a lot planned for the end of the year and indeed into next year. So hopefully, hopefully. One learns to adapt, which we do. That's the plan so far, but hold it with an open palm.

Album Trois is out September 3 via MGM Distribution. You can pre-order and pre-save here.

Album Trois tracklist:
1. Je Suis Snob
2. Jardin Aux Souvenirs
3. Cette Nuit
4. Le Vide Et La Vue
5. L’amour L’amour L’amour
6. Je T’ai Supplie
7. La Ballade De La Mer
8. Que Reste-t-il De Nos Amours
9. Tous Les Memes
10. Paris Sera Toujours Paris
11. Les Moulins De Mon Coeur
12. Les Trois Cloches

Baby et Lulu will be touring across Australia from 1 October:

4 September: Camelot Lounge, Marrickville, NSW
1 October: Memo Music Hall, St Kilda, VIC
2 October: Palais Hepburn, Hepburn Springs, VIC
3 October: Archies Creek Hall, Archies Creek, VIC
9 October: The Music Lounge, Wollongong, NSW
16 October: The Street Theatre, Canberra, ACT
23 October: Trinity Sessions, Adelaide, SA
30 October: Camelot Lounge | Marrickville, NSW
5 November: Powerhouse, Brisbane, QLD
12 November: Baroque Room, Katoomba, NSW

To keep up with all things Baby et Lulu you can follow them on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.