Carla Bruni (Photo by Claude Gassian)

Carla Bruni was a model, then a singer and actress, and then the First Lady of France! With her husband Nicolas Sarkozy out of office, Carla returned to performing, and she released French Touch, her firth album, last year via Teorema and Barclay Records. With the album comes a US tour, and Carla will perform at The Birchmere on Tuesday, Feb. 13.

For French Touch, Carla chose to focus on covers of sentimental pop favorites with 11 songs that were personally significant to her, and she reimagined them acoustically. The songs cover a wide field ranging from “Miss You” by The Rolling Stones to “The Winner Takes It All” by ABBA to “Enjoy the Silence” by Depeche Mode.

Watch the official music video for Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence” covered by Carla Bruni on YouTube:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm3bPZ6W5fw]

For her first two albums, Carla adopted a folksy blues style, then she expanded her range on her third album to roam from pop to bluegrass, also incorporating elements of jazz and flamenco. In 2013, Carla celebrated France with Little French Songs, that found her writing in French chanson tradition. Her “songwriting is deceptive in its limpid simplicity, full of reverie, wit, and the directness of her breathy voice, which is well traveled but contains delight at its heart,” said Thom Jurek for AllMusic Guide.

If you cannot make it to Paris for Valentine’s Day, might we suggest an evening with Carla as very agreeable substitute? Buy your tickets online.

Carla Bruni
The Birchmere
Tuesday, Feb. 13
Show @ 7:30pm
$59.50
All ages