If Wes Anderson wrote songs they’d probably sound like Gemma & the Driver – poignant yet playful. Knocking the chaussettes off of audiences on both sides of the Channel with their glamorous, acoustic ear-worms, the two artistes (guitar and ukulele) draw in the audience with their warm and quirky personalities and play Lighthouse Poole on Saturday 26 April. 

“It’s called 'du spectacle-vivant' (a lively show),” delights Cédric, rugged crooner Francais, with his debonair fashion. Paired with the warm, sensual voice of the troubling (or should that be troubled?) heroine Gemma, who left her home in the UK long before Brexit with Romantic wine-filled notions, she is now a card carrying, French-speaking diva raconteur. 

After signing with the label Blue Pince Production, Gemma & the Driver recorded their second album Juge, Jury, Bourreau (Judge, Jury, Executioner) last Spring. The songs are sunny reflections on dark times – it’s 60s Brigitte Bardot songwriting with 90s Liam Gallagher. 

Add a dose of British auto derision and a splash of French whimsical philosophy, and the power duo evoke a version of the world where ‘shoo waps’ heal culture wars and harmonies can make death and heartbreak seem ‘beau’ or at least, ‘vivant’. 

GEMMA & THE DRIVER

SATURDAY 26 APRIL 8pm (SHERLING STUDIO) 

Tickets and information 01202 280000 

www.lighthousepoole.co.uk