I’m currently re-watching the second season of what in my view is the best recent French-speaking series from Québec, Les Invincibles. This all turns around four guys making a mutual pact of finally living life as they want it, with no emotional attachments, with the ultimate objective of enjoying a carefree bachelor existence in purely thrill-seeking fashion. Of course, this means having sex with lots of women, with a rule that states that these relations can’t not go past a time-limit of two weeks. As you can guess, everything falls apart in unexpected twists and turns.

In the second season, the same guys are involved in another scheme, this time a Rally of Happiness, when they must fix themselves a personal objective to be resolved in a period of three months. If all four can successfully manage it, it’s a trip to Punta Cana for all! Once again, the results will be surprising, hilarious and sometimes touching.

One of the main characters is a comic book fan, having created a super-hero team based on his personality and those of his three friends, Les Invincibles. So, they are frequent parallels between his fiction and real-life turmoils. And what turmoils they are! Example: have you ever faked moving to a new apartment?

This excellent series is cleverly scripted, brilliantly played and filmed in true innovative fashion, with a lot of references and tributes to past cult movies. So what does this have to do with Kim Bingham? And first of all, who is she?

Well, she’s a Canadian singer-songwriter, who debuted on the Montreal indie scene in the ska band Me Mom and Morgentaler (Dr. Henry Morgentaler being a defender of the rights to abortion in Canada), which is still considered an unique and colorful live act. She pursued another phase of her career in 1999 under the name Mudgirl and she was a guest at the Lilith Fair U.S. tour. A prolific songwriter, Kim has always been at ease with her Montreal roots, as she can compose and perform in both English and French. She also played with Nelly Furtado and David Usher.

Her involvement with Les Invincibles is as composer-performer. This turned out to being cast as a musician in the series itself, in a too-brief and curiously silent role as guitarist Melanie, band mate of one of the main male character. Her powerful title track for the series won a Gémeaux Award and can’t get out of your brain after the very first listening. There’s a soundtrack for the series, where Kim expertly does amazing covers with material from Johnny Cash, Elvis Costello and even the Ramones! She has recently been part of a tour of Canadian entertainers in Kandahar, to visit our country’s troops stationed in Afghanistan. Watch out in 2009 for the third season of Les Invincibles! And please keep on eye on Kim Bingham’s career! Her pleasant and precise voice is pure joy.
Kim photo by Sabrina Usher