Coup de coeur francophone – Gabriella Olivo + Daria Colonna

Bain Mathieu, a former public bath converted into a multi-purpose venue, is hosting Coup de Coeur Francophone shows for the first time this year. On November 13, a double album launch for women took place.

First, Gabriella Olivo, for her six-song EP, A Todos Mis Amores, released on October 25. Gabriella grew up in Stoneham, near Quebec City, with a Mexican mother and a father “blond and blue-eyed from St-Bruno”, she says on stage. Her mother always spoke to her in Spanish. She therefore grew up with two cultures, despite the ambient homogeneity of this Quebec City suburb.

Her young musical career is steeped in this bi-culturalism: she sings in French and Spanish, often in the same room. The result is ambient folk tinged with rock and seasoned with a little Mexican and Latin sound.

In this sense, it’s reminiscent of Kevin Johansen, whose mother is Argentinean and father American, and whose career in Spanish and English has been very successful in Latin America.

Gabriella Olivo lives in Quebec. But A Todos Mis Amores is her most Mexican opus, having been made in Mexico City with producer Santiago Miralles. Although still with a meditative folk-rock sound, this mini album is more sprinkled with Latin influences than her previous album, Sola. After all, Mexico City knows how to blend rock and Latin influences.

All of which is to say that this EP is a great listen, and so is the live version, enhanced by some of the earlier tracks. All the more so as Gabriella shares personal anecdotes and stories on stage that give context to the songs. “Right now, the world is really fucked-up,” she quipped, alluding to recent political news. By way of consolation, she offered us the magnificent song No te Olvides De La Luz. How to find the light in the darkness.

The young Mexican from Stoneham is one to watch. And, as she said: “Vive le Coup de Coeur Hispanophone”, although she also sings in French. And it’s going to stay that way,” she told me after her performance.

With Daria Colonna, we enter a completely different universe. Le requiem des sirènes saoules is the title of her debut album, released in May. Quite a program.

“It’s my first show,” she confesses on stage at Bain Mathieu. Daria Colonna, 35, is well known as a poet. Her latest collection, La Voleuse, earned her nominations for several poetry prizes.

So we went along to this stage premiere, six months after the release of the album. Musically, we’re in a mix of trip-hop and synthetic rock, with more acoustic episodes.

Daria Colonna opens her book on her multiple states of mind, with a focus on the “intense” woman, to whom she dedicates an ode. It’s about desires, anxieties, a dangerous life, thirsts, in every sense of the word. Clearly, Daria Colonna is not lacking in intensity. She knows how to write lyrics. On stage, I found the results less convincing than on record.

But she is a musician and singer in apprenticeship and gestation. We can perceive an original, independent trajectory, where words will always be privileged. Which is not always in the zeitgeist. And that’s good.