David Bujold, founder of the art-rock band FUUDGE, officially launched his first solo album, Le Sol ou le Ciel, as part of the Coups de Coeur Francophones festival. It was an ethereal, starry journey on a rainy November evening.
This album, which I have already reviewed on this site, represents a folk mutation for the stoner rock singer. We’re in a universe akin to Sufjan Stevens or acoustic Beck. Which is not to say that this proposal lacks originality. Bujold transposes these influences to create his own universe, with his ironic, second-degree lyrics.
The marriage between strings (violin and viola), guitars and vocals works. Lovely short instrumentals alternate with the songs. A few notes of piano and keyboards discreetly dress things up. Vocal harmonies pop up at just the right moment.
An atmosphere is created, and we magically find ourselves in the family cottage where the album was recorded, as David Bujold tells us. This cottage where, “during the holiday season, we listen to Debussy until four in the morning”, he tells us.
The song titles are very indicative of this atmosphere: Donne-moé aux Pauvres, Un Bal dans un Fusil, Ton Coeur a pu une Cenne. Not to mention the refrain “j’ai jamais été aussi ben…que demain”. Second degree, I tell you. In fact, it’s in the lyrics that we can connect the universe of FUUDGE to that of Le Sol ou le Ciel. Texts obsessed with life and death…or the opposite.
In this ethereal, meditative folk, we also sense a rock spirit. In the middle of the song Ton cœur a pu une Cenne, we think we hear Offenbach’s Promenade sur Mars. Voluntary or not? I don’t know.
Be that as it may, the packed audience at Le Verre Bouteille, certainly including many friends, was clearly delighted with the offering.
The opening act, Swiss-Genevan duo Bandit Voyage, led us into their sympathetic surrealist universe, with influences from the Sixties and the New Wave of the Eighties.
Ghosts of Rita Mitsouko or Loundge Lizards, but smoother and less serious.
Anissa Canelli (vocals, guitar, mini-saxophone) and Robin Giraud (vocals, bass), are accompanied by purely eighties synthetic drums. They talk about the ghosts of Brigitte Bardot, mental health and Los-Angeles, where they began their career in 2017.
Two merry men who are enjoying some success in French-speaking Europe. Le Verre Bouteille was a little too small a venue for them to really immerse us in their delirium. One thing’s for sure, they seemed really happy to be in Montreal.
To get a better idea, listen to their recent Pastcore EP or their previous album Was Ist Das (2023). You be the judge.
