Erik Fines at FME – Smooth as Tennessee Whiskey but sweet as Canadian Brandy

by Stephan Boissonneault

The sultry outlaw country twang tunes of Erik Fines were the perfect way to nurse the Sunday morning FME hangover. Within the walls of Rouyn-Noranda’s weird, Twin Peaks-y community hall, the Order of the Moose, audience members were witness to warming lap steel guitar (Ben Valee), rambunctious and skilled saloon piano (Frisco Lee), driving bass (Aiden Keeley), tight ass drumming (Freddy Poulin), and shining rhythm and lead guitar by Erik Fines, complimented by his rugged storyteller ‘round the campfire vocals. The whole vibe felt like a neon prom night, or more correctly, a shotgun wedding band scenario slap dab in 1970 when a band like Crosby, Stills, & Nash, or Humble Pie was running things.

Everyone loved it, including the kids selling the merch in the back who were bopping along like guppies out of water. The backing vocals from Keeley and Lee created a stunning bed for the Country Ghost’s performance, including a “Tennessee Whiskey” cover and a legion of new songs out soon via Baby Horse Records. Two new tunes in particular, “Later Side of Early,” and “New York,” were most relatable to a bunch of drunken, drug-addled festival goers. With this next release, I envision Eriks Fines breaking through the barrier and becoming a name and guy you want to know.

Classical

Fête de la musique de Tremblant 2024 | The Stars of the Conservatoire shine in the cold

by Frédéric Cardin

The artistic director (and founder) of the Fête de la Musique de Tremblant, Angèle Dubeau, is true to her values: she strongly supports the practice of music by young people. Angèle Dubeau, who hosted the Radio-Canada programme Faites vos gammes (Practice your exercises) from 1994 to 1998, once again gave a few students from the Conservatoire de Montréal an hour and a half of exposure on the event’s main stage (the Quebecor stage). In front of a large and admiring audience, we heard Chloé Dumoulin (solo piano and accompanist to the other instrumentalists), Iza Kamnitzer (violin), Kaïla Stephanos (flute), Juliette Bégin (trumpet), Natasha Henry (soprano), Flavie Lacoste (oboe) and Zhan Hong Xiao (solo piano) perform in succession in the cold of Tremblant (12 degrees). A few spontaneous favourites: the youngest of the group, violinist Iza Kamnitzer, who at 9 years old (and barely more than three apples) played some solid flights of Kreisler and some fine subtleties by Dvorak; soprano Natasha Henry, who seemed to me to be the most polished of the group in terms of finish and technical clarity (very fine French diction in an aria from Massenet’s Manon! ) and Zhan Hong Xiao, a pupil of Richard Raymond who is preparing to take part in the Chopin Competition in 2025. He certainly has the talent and maturity to perhaps come back with a prize, as Charles Richard-Hamelin did in 2015.

Baroque

Fête de la musique de Tremblant 2024 | Mélisande McNabney and the women of Versailles

by Frédéric Cardin

The last day of the Fête de la Musique de Tremblant (in fact, half a day), Monday 2 September 2024 saw the festival’s Quebecor stage give pride of place to one of the most delicate instruments there is: the harpsichord. A delicacy put to the test by the weather: it was chilly! A mere 8 degrees in the morning, and barely 12 by midday, by the time of the concert. In the end, the instrument held up very well. Perhaps that’s because the harpsichordist, Mélisande McNabney, knows it so well and can reassure it with her precise touch. Mélisande gave a top-class performance, despite the circumstances (you can guess that frozen fingers have to move more slowly), accentuated by beautiful introductions that told us some of the stories of women musicians at the Court of Versailles. An hour of serious but extremely enjoyable harpsichord playing (Mélisande’s smiling animation was a great help), which has certainly done much to democratise this instrument among a large audience. So hats off to the organisers of the Fête de la Musique, who dared to ignore prejudices (difficult instrument to approach, arid repertoire, etc.) by offering a public platform to this often ill-considered member of the keyboard family.

Bossa Nova / Classical / Jazz / Opera / Pop

Fête de la musique de Tremblant 2024 | Music from mother to daughter

by Frédéric Cardin

The second and final major show of the Fête de la Musique de Tremblant 2024 featured the artistic sisterhood of Natalie Choquette (mother), Florence K and Éléonore Lagacé (daughters). This infrequent meeting (at least in public) gave rise to some unexpected and sometimes even surprising stylistic crossovers. I had never heard of Éléonore Lagacé’s mezzo lyricism. She demonstrated a very appropriate operatic sense in Carmen and in the duet of the flowers in Lakmé, with Maman. Sometimes solo, sometimes in duet or trio, we moved from jazz to Latin, pop and then classical before returning to one or the other in collisions that emphasised the complicity between the ladies, rather than the technical perfection that occasionally escaped. The large audience took no offence, for it was rather the relationship between the three artists that they had come to savour. In this sense, and with a good dose of hamming it up, mother and daughter lived up to expectations with some touching moments.

Caribbean / Funk / Hip Hop / Reggae / Twoubadou

Fête de la musique de Tremblant 2024 | Waahli, Music and Stage master

by Frédéric Cardin

Although Waahli’s show on the main stage of La Fête de la Musique de Tremblant was billed as Hip Hop, Waahli’s true musical essence is Haitian groove-soul tinged with Hip Hop (among other things). Such is the nature of the rich, wide-ranging palette of sounds produced by this Montrealer of Haitian origin. In this fiery but smiling groove, we find Funk, Reggae, Konpa and, yes, Hip Hop, with an extra dash of classic Twoubadou and bits of Jazz. To this stylistic richness, Waahli adds a dose of stage presence that imposes with respect and authenticity, as well as an attitude well away from the clichés of violent, macho Hip Hop. Waahli appeals to everyone, and Tremblant’s ‘hilltop’ square was well inhabited with youngsters dancing to the hard beats and grey-heads swinging their arms at the singer’s cues. Tremblant was the last stop on a Quebec tour, so the current version of Sundance, Men sou yo, Mal du pays, Teke fren and many others were played for the last time. Angèle Dubeau repeats that this is a festival for ‘all kinds of music’. The proof is in the programming.

Classical / latino / Tango / Tango Nuevo

Fête de la musique de Tremblant 2024 | Piazzolla told in words and music

by Frédéric Cardin

At once didactic, playful and musically solid, cellist Dominique Beauséjour-Ostiguy and guitarist Christ Habib’s show Hommage à Piazzolla succeeds in making a history lesson on the life and career of the great composer/bandoneonist light and entertaining. Over the course of an hour, the two young artists use music to take us from the composer’s very beginnings (influenced by traditional tango, then jazz and finally very serious classical music) to his maturity, that of Tango Nuevo. Even if the two musicians’ presentations lack a little professionalism, the information offered and their relative conciseness have the advantage of adding a dose of meat around the bone for the many laymen, without making it academic. That said, the most remarkable thing there is the quality of the duo’s playing, particularly that of Beauséjour-Ostiguy. His technical ease, coupled with an intensely felt musicality, make him one of today’s finest young classical talents. Hats off, too, to Christ Habib, who expresses himself with a beautiful tactile delicacy.

Jazz

Fête de la musique de Tremblant 2024 | Marianne Trudel and Karen Young: Excellence comes in two

by Frédéric Cardin

Disaster averted. Five minutes before Marianne Trudel and Karen Young were due to perform on the main stage of the Fête de la Musique de Tremblant, a deluge broke out. You could see the large audience fleeing on all fours. The two artists were quickly moved to the small public piano tent. The brave souls who made it there were rewarded with two things: comfortable shelter and an hour of top-class singing and jazz piano. The theme of several of the songs chosen by the two artists was… water. You can’t make that up. Karen Young, with a professional career spanning some fifty years (I don’t want to reveal her age, let’s be delicate. Anyway, you’ll find the info on Wikipedia….), is still one of the most exceptional voices to have emerged from Canada. Through a repertoire of finely transformed tunes by Monk, Strayhorn, Gilles Vigneault, Joni Mitchell, Abbey Lincoln, Richard Desjardins and others, she has captivated audiences with her expressive, ethereal singing. Marianne Trudel, a masterful pianist, also stood out thanks to her performances, which were perfectly symbiotic with her partner’s refined spirit. A lesson in high art performed in imperfect circumstances.

FME DAY 3I The Land of Lemongrab

by Stephan Boissonneault

Lemongrab, The now berlin-based punks bore into my head with intense driving bass lines and raw vocal performances from Léonie Dishaw and Gaëlle Cordeau. Their visceral sound resonates with the violent come up of an acid trip. The intense stage presence frenzies the crowd who demands more. Léonie descends into the churning ocean of bodies to scream in our faces. Their euro-punk aesthetic blended with the old pub of Cabaret de la Dernière Chance, transporting us to somewhere else entirely, a strange land known as Lemongrab. They are a wave of freezing saltwater smashing you in the face; coming up for air only to get kicked in the teeth. As I looked around the room, we all shared that same bloody smile. Lemongrab is not to be missed.

BY Jacob Zweig

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Bloodletting with SLASH NEED

by Lyle Hendriks

Like a recalled doll come back from the factory to haunt you, SLASH NEED transports us from a sweaty Rouyn Noranda basement and into some kinky warehouse in Berlin. Vocal powerhouse Dusty Lee is veiled behind a mesh screen held up by their dancers. Lee’s silhouette is equal parts menacing and enticing as they emit guttural growls and hair-raising high notes. They push against the screen, their body warping and contorting as Alex Low’s throat-rattling production crawls down our spines.

Fog fills the room, and we catch only glimpses of Lee as they scream out like some kind of wounded animal. Desperately chewing and spitting each word like an exhibitionist bloodletting ceremony. It’s a nightmare, an assault on our senses that pushes us to our knees and holds our throats open with latex fingers to see what we’re made of.

SLASH NEED is a sensation. Yearning, angry, yet sensitive at times, it’s not for the faint of heart. It’s catharsis, rage, and release.

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FME DAY 3 I The Cult of PyPy

by Stephan Boissonneault

Last night, a monolithic event happened, one that will be reported for generations to come in the fair town of Rouyn-Noranda—the PyPy set at Cabaret de la Dernière Chance—a wall of psychedelic post-no-wave jazz, everything and nothing, a black hole of constant sonic bliss. Led by Annie-Claude Deschenes (Duchess Says), a pure sorceress of beauty and sheer terror, PyPy was recruiting followers for their cult of hypnotic stardom. Roy Vucino—easily one of the most skilled players in North America (CPC Gangbangs, Les Sexareenos, Red Mass)—absolutely beating the hell out of his body and guitar, and a puddle of sweat is left on the cutting room stage. Annie-Claude Deschenes could instill a riot if she wanted, when she’s on the mic there is nothing else you can think or wish; your brain is literarily twisted into a pile in sinew and you love it.

One moment, a deluge of the Cabaret de la Dernière Chance staff picked up a village of White Claw umbrellas—all under the PyPy spell—and marched through the venue. Not to mention when Deschenes ordered a gin and tonic and got one fan to shoulder ride her to the back and front of the stage. Words can’t describe the whole picture, much like a Matisse painting in the pouring, dark, rain. A new album to follow up 2014’s PAGAN DAY is coming—like an eclipse in time as if an unruly god has decided the world neeeeeds more PyPy, and we do, we do. Anyone lucky enough to be at that packed show is now a full-fledged member of the PyPy cult.

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FME DAY 3 I Ripping Time and Space with Shunk

by Lyle Hendriks

Montreal weirdos Shunk might be a rock band from the future. With a peculiar blend of soft ‘70s aesthetics and jagged, synth-punk inspired instrumentation, this 4-piece completely took over Cabaret de la Dernière Chance for their set at FME. Vocalist Gabrielle offers breakneck vocal sections that skim over the throaty, impending guitar. All the while, Julia on bass is keeping it locked down with impossibly intricate low end, screaming every word.

Shunk is pure entropy, a group of 4 honed musicians that could each easily lead the band. If you close your eyes, you can imagine the instruments shapeshifting and transforming, morphing into strange new forms to fit the next musical hairpin turn. Swinging from operatic love songs all the way to borderline hardcore moments, they keep you guessing at every moment, pulling you deeper and deeper into the eclectic but seamless collection of Shunk.

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FME Day 3 I Welcoming rays with Grand Eugene

by Stephan Boissonneault

After a whirlwind of music on Friday, and late-night conversations about anything and everything, I needed a reprieve, something to ease me into another gauntlet. A bit melancholic, dreamy, and hazy, Grand Eugene was the perfect start to Saturday at FME. Under the wooden structure of La Guinguette Chez Edmund, with a backdrop of the Osisko Lake, Grand Eugene’s sound; Drugdealer mixed with old Andy Shauf and hint disco drab ala Gab Bouchard was exactly what we all needed.

As the sun peaked out of the clouds to say “hi,” we were welcomed to a vacation from ourselves, a vocational summer, the bass—my god the bass, the tones, the wash of synthy majesty, just pure delight. Their new album is aptly named, Les vacances d’été, be sure to take off the time from the daily grind and check it out.

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