8/18 Summervale: Francesca Blanchard

By Brenna Lewis-Slammon, Summervale Music Intern

This week at Summervale, we will be joined by the rising Acoustic Folk singer/songwriter, Francesca Blanchard and her accompanying band. Born to parents who have worked for international humanitarian agencies around the world, Francesca grew up surrounded by a diversity of cultures and ways of life, something that is evidenced in her music.

She was born in the south of France, a Mediterranean paradise, and has lived all around the world. She recently graduated from Boston University with a BFA in Theatre Arts and, luckily for our Summervale community, she is currently settled in the greater Burlington area. The singer/songwriter switches between French and English in many of her songs, using whichever language “fits the mood and poetry of the song”. She references a wide array of influential artists, such as Norah Jones, Eva Cassidy, Tracy Chapman, Carla Bruni, and Francoise Hardy.

Francesca’s music ranges from the softness of a child’s lullaby to the hard hurt of heartbreak. Through her music, Francesca so successfully embodies the emotion of each song that it is a simple task to get lost in your own memories of people and places long past while listening along. Within her sound and her language, she grasps at universal representations that combine to form a wide-reaching portrait of our human experience. Her voice, lovely, soft, and strong, is as poetic as her words. For someone so young, she seems to understand a vast amount about the world and shares it through her music. Consider this a formal invitation to get swept away: fall in love with her and her sound and the stories that she tells. Join us this Thursday for an international parlez-vous down at the Intervale Center!