Francoise Hardy

In 1996, Francoise Hardy returned to recording with the energetic, indie-rocking Le Danger. Four years later, Hardy greeted the millennium by recording this laid-back ballad set. That isn't a complaint, as Clair-Obscure actually sounds closer to her classic downer sessions from the 1960s and '70s. Dark ballads such as "La Pleine Lune" and "La Verite des Choses" dominate as usual, but Clair-Obscur also has an amiable pop-jazz and acoustic bossa nova feel to it, with four duets rounding out the session (the travelogue opener with husband Jacques Dutronc being the highlight).