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Sultry, sleek, and at times overtly sexual, Vanessa Daou sings for adults. Her first album, Zipless, put the poetry of Erica Jong to music and featured the downtempo hits "Near The Black Forest" and "Sunday Afternoons." Daou followed it up with a string of successful pop/jazz records that defied the odds and climbed the club and dance charts. She's that rare artist who understands that one's goals are paramount, not the deviations, cracks and commercial assaults of the marketplace. Of course, the public at large may not know Daou or her albums, Slow To Burn, Plutonium Glow, Dear John Coltrane and Make You Love, but they will get another chance to experience her artistry with the forthcoming fall release, Joe Sent Me.  Meanwhile, we at Better Living Through MP3 indulge our considerable Daou fixation with samples of her previous work.

Before you indulge consider these stats: Daou has been featured in The New York Times, Billboard, TIME Magazine, VIBE, URB, Mixer, Wire, ELLE France, and Vogue Homme.

Vanessa's music has been used for in-your-face ads from Bulgari and Zwack and has appeared on dance floor comps from club heroes Dimitri from Paris, Danny Tenaglia, Peter Rauhofer, and the Cafe Del Mar and Hotel Costes series. Vanessa's songs have also appeared in such films as Fools Rush In, An American Werewolf In Paris and, most recently, in Lila Says, the French film based on the bestselling 1996 novel, Lila Dit Ca.

Vanessa's songs have gone Top 10 on the Billboard Club Chart; her remixes by Danny Tenaglia have led to three #1 Billboard Club Play singles. Not content to simply fill club speakers, Vanessa has also toured with the likes of Jamiroquai, Ziggy Marley, and French Pop icon Etienne Daho, performing as his guest at his one week of sold-out performances at Olympia Theatre.

Consider "Becoming A Nun," from Zipless. Smoky and alluring, like Sade vamping with nude dancers in some twilight Parisian bar, Daou whispers over a bed of clattering percussion, dulcet melody and humid beat. Retro? For sure. As hot as July? Certainly. "Sunday Afternoons," from the same album, stomps a groove in that old school ‘90s way, all crunched rhythm and whirring synths, while Vanessa cools our brow with her sordid tale of love's late return.

Plutonium Glow's "Make Believe" updates the dance beat, with Vanessa's vocal more mature, more substantial and upfront in the mix. It's a club banger for sure, with anthem written all over it. But it retains Daou's subtle skills, her undeniable allure.

Two tracks from Daou's last album, Make You Love, show her evolution and her return to past styles. Singing in her now familiar whisper-purr-coo, Daou hovers above the music like dark angel, club diva and close friend rolled into one. "Love Child" is a solid slow burner, while "Mess Around" posits her in a new light: laid back blues princess, sexual tease, and gossamer aroma in sound. Daou's style is her own and it's consistently recognizable.

Vanessa Daou
"Mess Around" (mp3)
from "Make You Love"
(Daou Records)

More On This Album

Vanessa Daou
"Lovechild" (mp3)
from "Make You Love"
(Daou Records)

More On This Album

Vanessa Daou
"Sunday Afternoons" (mp3)
from "Zipless"
(Daou Records)

More On This Album

Vanessa Daou
"Near the Black Forest" (mp3)
from "Zipless"
(Daou Records)

More On This Album

Vanessa Daou
"Becoming a Nun" (mp3)
from "Zipless"
(Daou Records)

More On This Album

Vanessa Daou
"Make Believe" (mp3)
from "Plutonium Glow"
(Daou Records)

More On This Album

Shanghai Restoration!: Similar in its downtempo message to Daou's warmly pulsating sounds, Shanghai Restoration Project excels in creating cinematic sounding comps that slowly move to the background as you imbibe umpteen martinis and Stellas. This time out Shanghai features the vocal and compositional talents of Di Johnson, whose comely, stunning image graces the oversaturated album art.

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