Jean-Louis Murat had been a struggling musician for 10 years before breaking through with 1988's “Regrets”, a dramatic soft-rock duet with Mylène Farmer. Murat soon earned a reputation as France's Leonard Cohen, a shadowy raconteur engaging listeners in unspeakably intimate conversations over red wine and a stuffed ashtray. But throughout his prolific career Murat has cast his melancholy in different shades of noir, from the jazzy breaks of 1996's Dolorès to the Calexico-crafted desert twang of 1999's Mustango and the gritty rock moves of 2003's Lilith.