First Person: rising folk star Amelia Coburn on her French inspiration

“Sandra” is one of my favourite tracks from my album Between The Moon and the Milkman which was released last year.  While living in Paris a few years ago I shared a flat with an older French lady. We loved to chat every night when I came home from work, but one time she told me a story that stayed with me about her late husband, who was an abusive alcoholic.

I couldn’t stop thinking about her story, and knew that one day I wanted to write a song about it. A few months later, in Mexico, I had quite a prolific songwriting phase. Laura Marling talks about “breathing in” and “breathing out” phases of creativity – Paris was the inhale, Mexico the exhale. “Sandra” came out in a single breath, a cough, a sneeze. I should add that her name isn’t really Sandra. It started as a placeholder while writing, but I ended up keeping it because it felt like an unglamorous, unexpected song title, which made me want to use it even more.

I haven’t ever told her she was the inspiration for this song. Despite publicly talking about her story, I’ve always kept her real name anonymous throughout. The subject matter is delicate and even though I’m pretty sure she’d absolutely love having it immortalised in the form of a song, I wouldn’t want to assume that.  She loves my music and proudly displays all my CDs on her mantelpiece, so she’s definitely heard the song, but I imagine she’s blissfully unaware it’s about her. All the songs I’ve ever written have someone in mind when writing, but I’ll never tell that person, and they're so shrouded in metaphor that the person in question would probably never realise unless I told them outright.

Beyond being a musician, I’ve always been passionate about learning languages. I have a degree in French, Spanish and Russian, so it’s long been a goal of mine to translate one of my songs. With the help of French folk singer Flossie Malavialle, I finally brought that dream to life with “Sandra”. Performing the brand new version of “Sandra” in French adds a whole new magic and sentiment to the story behind it. I also feel like the French version pays homage to artists such as Serge Gainsbourg, Francoise Hardy and Jacques Brel who all loom large in my influences.

Serge Gainsbourg’s lyrics are full of clever wordplay, references to pop culture, and a kind of dark humour that I really love. His daughter Charlotte has a stunning voice too, and her album IRM has been a big influence while I’ve been writing my second record. I’ve always loved Françoise Hardy too for both her voice and her style. There’s such elegance in the simplicity of her delivery. And of course, Jacques Brel. I know he’s Belgian, but if we’re talking French-language songs, his theatricality and storytelling are huge influences on me.

It was important for me to film a music video to bring Sandra’s world to life, especially in Paris: walking the same streets she once took to and from work felt like stepping into her world. The initial inspiration came from the director, Chris Healey, who sent me Mercury Rev’s music video for their song “Holes”, which featured lots of balloons. I immediately linked that idea to Le Ballon Rouge (The Red Balloon). It’s a French short film that I love, and I enjoy making cinematic references in my music videos, and this was no exception. I was also inspired by French New Wave films, which I studied at university, which are known for their young protagonists, hand-held cameras, natural lighting and on-location shooting, such as Zazie Dans Le Metro and Jules et Jim.

Chris totally understood the tone I had in mind: melancholy, but never self-pitying, because the story behind “Sandra” is ultimately one of quiet retribution. There’s pain in it, yes, but also a glimmer of hope and power. In the end, she gets her own back. Chris is brilliant at capturing the ideas I had going round in my head and putting them in visual form.

We filmed it in some of my favourite parts of Paris, like the Jardin des Tuileries Park. It’s my favourite place to grab a chair and read a book by the duck pond, with the view of the Eiffel Tower. There’s also a nice (albeit expensive) tearoom nearby called Angelina, which makes the creamiest hot chocolates ever. I also loved filming on the banks of River Seine – this is the best picnic spot when the weather’s nice.

A lot of photos and videos rely on good natural lighting, so I was a bit worried when the dark clouds weren’t shifting, but in the end the rainy weather added so much to the atmosphere of the video – particularly in the moody black & white shots. We filmed the final shot at the very end, which we had big visions for: me letting go of the balloon and letting it drift off until it’s just a mere speck in the sky. We had two balloons for this, to get two separate shots. The first shot, a close-up, went really well. The wind, however, had other plans for the second shot. Instead of floating into the sky, the balloon crashed straight into a tree. Chris was filming the complete other side of the river, and I could see him crease with laughter. Not quite as poetic as we’d wanted, but luckily Chris is great at what he does and did an excellent job of editing it to look the way we’d hoped.

Making the music video was a full circle moment. I got to return to the city where the seed of the song was first sowed, and finally tell Sandra’s story in her own language. It’s not only a tribute to her, but to resilience. Some stories live best as a song, and this one belonged in French.

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Below: Watch the video for "Le Fabuleux Destin de Sandra" by Amelia Coburn