In “So Quiet” Serena Fisseau and Vincent Peirani invite us to slow down, shut out negative outside influences and enjoy a restful moment of comfort and warmth. As artists they, like everyone else, experience the agitation of everyday life, the urgency of text messages, the imperatives of tight schedules, and so on and so forth. So they decided to record – cocooned in the cosy space of a studio – some of the songs they play and sing together in the intimacy of their home to their children, Enzo (nine) and Izao (three), and to their close friends and relatives. Old or young, or somewhere in between, we are invited to share in the pleasure of a vibrant and subtle exchange between the voice and the accordion: a special moment, soothing and heart-warming.

Serena Fisseau is a singer inspired by jazz, as well as traditional and improvised music. For many years now she has been singing lullabies and nursery rhymes for children: she loves the simplicity of that world. She has created shows and CD-books aimed at young audiences (“D’une île à l’autre”, “Nouchka et la grande question”, “L’échappée belle”).

Here she moves with ease from English to Portuguese, from French to Indonesian (her two mother tongues). She creates a very personal bridge between the traditional song “Bengawan” and Gainsbourg’s “La Javanaise” at the beginning of the CD, which ends with the haunting Occitan ballad “La Bourdique”. The accordionist Vincent Peirani is an eclectic jazzman who cheerfully breaks down barriers and moves blithely from rock’n’roll to Baroque (as on the recent “Living Being II”). Here he shows more of his musical tastes, with pieces ranging from “Over The Rainbow”, from The Wizard of Oz, to “La Tendresse”, a song made popular by Bourvil, and from “What A Wonderful World”, first recorded by Louis Armstrong, to The Beatles’ “And I Love Her”. “So Quiet” provides an ideal opportunity to reveal his modesty and restraint, as he slips discreetly into the brief moments of silence, and envelops Serena’s voice in a silken and reassuring fabric.

We need to re-appropriate time, to stop hiding in our shells of people in a hurry, and, settling snugly on a comfortable couch, let ourselves be carried away by the gentle, intimate vibrations of a voice and an accordion… So Quiet…