Off Jazz | François Bourassa in Quartet and Duo, Exemplary!

by Alain Brunet

On Thursday at the Ministère, pianist and composer François Bourassa kicked off the 24th Off Festival de jazz de Montréal, originally set up to showcase the local community of jazz artists then neglected by the Festival international de jazz de Montréal – unlike in the 80s and 90s. Since then, local jazz at the FIJM has been reduced to a local series and a few outdoor stages, while the OFF presents some thirty concerts each autumn. And here we are!

A double program on the François Bourassa side.

Put forward by composer, arranger, improviser and saxophonist Philippe Côté, the Confluence project consists of a composite work involving contemporary music inspired by classical and jazz. Recorded in New York last year and soon to be released on the Odd Sound label, the duo’s repertoire brings together their interest in exploration, particularly that of the prepared piano, a practice made famous by the American John Cage. The technique involves inserting objects into the piano strings that the soundboard controls. This produces unusual sounds, sometimes akin to the marimba. The compositions on the program are generally simple, with plenty of room for improvisation. Sometimes two pianos are prepared, sometimes just one; exchanges may involve two pianos, or saxophones (soprano or tenor) and piano. This music leaves plenty of room for free improvisation, but harmony (tonal or modal) remains present throughout the experience.

In the second half of the program, François Bourassa’s excellent quartet returned to the Off Festival de Jazz. A quarter-century of practice has brought this ensemble to an exceptional maturity, making it a unique voice for Quebec jazz on the entire jazz planet. The supravirtuosity of saxophonist André Leroux and the compositional excellence of François Bourassa are the keys to this expression, which nonetheless rests on impeccable rhythmic support, courtesy of Guillaume Pilote and Guy Boisvert. Thursday evening was (once again) a testament to this cohesion and inspiration. François Bourassa’s profound knowledge of contemporary music in the classical and jazz traditions has led him to build a virtuoso language free of academic constraints. This vehicle has led him to accomplish small miracles, and the album Swirl, recently released on the Effendi label, demonstrates the formal advances he has made, as they clearly go beyond the usual framework of jazz in a small formation.

Since the beginnings of modern jazz, musicians have generally played a melodic theme (head for those in the know) with the accompaniment of the rhythm section, followed by a section in which all the performers improvise solos, then return to the intro melody at the end of the performance. François Bourassa no longer exploits this form (or exploits it very little), preferring to inscribe his colleagues’ impros in different and varied structures. Once again, we see the march towards the union of the jazz and classical worlds, a process that is now inevitable. One thing’s for sure, François Bourassa is a key figure in this process, much to the delight of music lovers.

POP Montréal Day 5 | Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Alone and Imperial on Stage

by Varun Swarup

As the final act of the Pop Montreal 2023 festival, Bonnie “Prince” Billy delivered a performance that left the Rialto audience with a strong sense of bittersweetness.

From the moment he strummed the first chords of New Partner, his presence drew the crowd like moths to an incandescent light. With no backing band behind him, nothing but his endearing, unpretentious demeanour, coupled with that inimitable Kentucky drawl, Bonnie “Prince” Billy charmed every heart in attendance.

As he sang, every word and syllable carried weight, leaving the audience hanging on his every word, trying to decipher the depths of his poetic mind. He unpacked a sprawling set, spanning two decades of his musical creation. But of course, we were treated to songs from his latest album, Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You.

The evening’s magic wasn’t limited to Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s performance, however. Beginning with the opening set by singer Beyries, the whole evening felt like a journey back to a simpler time, reminiscent nonetheless of the rich traditions of North American folk music. With its intimate, emotional narration, Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s performance was a nod to the folk troubadours of yesteryear, passing on their heritage to the modern age.

Pop Montreal Day 5 | Tangerine Dream’s humdrum, old-school synth

by Stephan Boissonneault

POP Montréal is undoubtedly one of the major events of the fall for true music fans. From Wednesday, September 27 to Sunday, October 1, dozens and dozens of discoveries and acclamations of artists nestled in pop are happening in Montreal. Follow the PAN M 360 team until Sunday!

Any musician who has thought about even remotely experimenting with synthesizers to achieve some spacey sounds has to owe a lot of it to Tangerine Dream, a band that is 56 years old and somehow, still kicking. Well, a different iteration of it it is anyway.

Formed in 1967 by Edgar Froese in West Berlin, Tangerine Dream was an important project for the development of Krautrock, Kosmische Musik, and other genres that divulged into synthesizer instrumentals. Along with groups like Kraftwerk and Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream helped popularize the synthesizer—specifically the Moog series, creating long electronic soundscapes. Movies, books, and TV shows—like the popular Netflix epic, Stranger Things, all cite Tangerine Dream as an influence. Basically, it’s one of the bands that is uber important for musical history in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The band has had a rotating cast of nearly 30 members and for the last 20 years, it has been piloted by leader, Thorsten Quaeschning—who was the chosen successor of Froese after his death in 2015. A younger synth player, Paul Frick, joined three years ago, and Hoshiko Yamane also came on violin, 12 years ago. So this is the three-piece that is Tangerine Dream now and this is what we witnessed on the last day of Pop Montreal at L’Olympia, and it was … fine.

I do have to say that some movements in the ever-expanding Tangerine Dream repertoire have legs, like the 2019 “Los Santos City Map,” from the popular video game, Grand Theft Auto V. Yet most of this concert, which almost spanned two hours with no opener, kind of drifted aimlessly. I guess I like way more variation in my synth-wave than eight-minute oscillating arpeggios that are slightly changed with some cool electro violin.

There was also next to no interaction with the crowd by the band, even as some of the crowd stood and danced. They could have been playing in an empty room. The visuals also seemed kind of lacklustre; cityscapes, trains, basically video that looked like it was pulled straight from Creative Commons.

I’m sure if I had witnessed the true Tangerine Dream back in the 1970s or something, my mind would have been blown. But now, in the year 2023, there are thousands of musicians who dabble in synths whose music seems way more out there than these old Tangerine Dream tracks, that only seem to dazzle and exist based on nostalgia. A cool live show, but not one I’ll do my best to remember.

POP Montréal Jour 4 | Beatrice Deer, From the Great North to Outremont

by Alain Brunet

POP Montréal is undoubtedly one of the major fall events for true music fans. From Wednesday, September 27 to Sunday, October 1, dozens and dozens of discoveries and acclaims from artists nestled in pop are taking place in Montreal. Follow the PAN M 360 team until Sunday!

If her community sees her up close, we see her in the distance. Beatrice Deer paddles among the pop stars of the Far North, the kayak docked in Montreal this Saturday. For at least a dozen years, this Inuit artist has been expressing and refining her craft that has become art.

Surrounded by very good musicians keen on all the genres constituting Americana, she also integrates the traditional songs and throat games of Nunavik, she also honors her Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) heritage on her father’s side or white Quebecer on her father’s side. Grandmother.

Even if sometimes sneering and endowed with caustic humour, Beatrice Deer exudes gentleness, empathy, and wisdom. She takes her time to communicate with her audience, in English, Inuktitut, and French. His presentations are for the most part tinged with a commitment to the indigenous cause and the denunciation of colonial oppression.

So she found herself at the Outremont Theater on the evening of the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. The floor is two-thirds full, the rest is empty, so no real major buzz in this plot of unceded territory. Would a concert given at the Rialto have attracted more? Who knows.

The music on the program (notably the material from the album Shifting, released almost 2 years ago) brings together folk and rock forms, with a few exploratory components popping up here and there in his recent repertoire.

Beatrice Deer, in fact, is not an emerging artist; she is indeed part of this historic renaissance of indigenous culture that began at the turn of the 2010s, when she came into play.

POP Montréal Day 4 | Hand Habits, cool and resonant

by Varun Swarup

crédit photo: Tess Roby

As Hand Habits took to the stage, the historic Théâtre Rialto faded from memory and the venue was transformed into a kind of salon d’ami. The evening was an intimate folk affair. As Meg Duffy’s warm voice filled the cavernous space, we were drawn into her band’s soft-rock sound universe.

With now the material of four albums behind the tie, we were treated to a carefully curated setlist featuring a mix of fan-favorite classics. However, the highlight of the evening was undoubtedly the tracks from their latest EP, Sugar the Bruise. These fresh, resonant songs see Meg Duffy digging deeper into herself, and hearing Private Life live was truly an experience of shared emotion and vulnerability. Few artists are capable of this, but Duffy certainly is.

POP Montréal Day 4 | A Saturday Night at l’Esco: N Nao, Activity, Water From Your Eyes

by Théo Reinhardt

Activity

Activity is a quartet offering slow, atmospheric rock with occasional crescendos. The post-rock inspiration is clearly present, but there are also occasional references to trip-hop in the rhythms, in the manner of Mezzanine, let’s say. Extensive use is made of feedback, string rubbing and reverb to set up the soundscapes. The singer’s voice is nasal and listless.

Dark and stoic, this band’s music stands out for its restraint. We sense that we’re only being offered the surface, that things are bubbling underneath without our being able to see it. And yet, the bass drum resonates to the max, it’s tectonic. Activity evokes the mouth of a volcano as much as a calm, threatening lake in the middle of the night. It’s gloomy. Even if we’d like to feel less in constant anticipation, the music is spellbinding.

N NAO

If the experimental side of N NAO is a little overrated, this music takes on its full meaning in live performance. The proposition is much more striking, especially in the cramped space of L’Escogriffe. It veers towards the noisy, towards performance art. N NAO’s watercourse, a symbol of choice for the album, becomes a waterfall, a tsunami. With a percussionist and a guitarist-sound magician, Naomie de Lorimier pulled the crowd completely into her deep currents. Using looping, bricolage, recorded sounds and the use of various objects, the music tends towards sensual impressionism. The whole is evocative, romantic, chaotic and sometimes violent. These strong feelings have charmed, and are not about to leave us.

Water From Your Eyes

Take garage rock, offer it as many excitants as depressants, make it spit black ink, throw a few knives and shurikens at it, and you’ve got a picture that looks a bit like Water From Your Eyes. It’s a mix of pop, punk and rock, with programmed jaw-breaking rhythms and a nonchalant vocal presence, a sort of acidic, corrosive patchwork of modern life. The guitar tone is damaged, the bass is crunchy… every musical element seems to have been pulled out of its original place, held to the others by barbed wire. Water From Your Eyes, as their name implies, shun sentimentality, have an almost extraterrestrial point of view. We wouldn’t say we were dancing, but we were swinging our heads violently from side to side.

POP Montréal Day 4 | Truth and Reconciliation Jazz at La Sala Rossa

by Laurent Bellemare

Mali Obomsawin Sextet

Abenaki double bassist Mali Obomsawin caused a sensation last July when her sextet performed at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. In a more intimate setting this time, due in part to the absence of her guitarist, the ensemble opened their program with an excellent cover of Alice Coltrane. This interpretation set the tone for a performance at the crossroads of different musical genres.

Sprinkled with a few other covers, the band’s performance was mostly rooted in the repertoire of Sweet Tooth, Obomsawin’s debut album. It’s a very interesting combination of jazz, folk and free improvisation that’s not lacking in contrast. The scathing piece Wawasint8da is an arrangement of a Catholic hymn sung in Abenaki, whose repeated melody is gradually deconstructed into formless improvisation. We thus oscillate between very catchy moments and freer, more open forms. Once again, Mali Obomsawin and her orchestra have demonstrated a dynamic, well-crafted repertoire, performed by outstanding musicians. The future looks bright for this young musician, who also comes from a family line of musicians.

Pompey

Pompey took to the stage of a packed Sala Rossa, initially armed only with a guitar. The performance then seemed to be that of a singer/songwriter accompanying himself on guitar like a thousand others. In essence, that’s what this performance was, though a fine progression kept things interesting from track to track. Starting out alone, Pompey welcomed a backing singer for his second piece. The latter then took up electric bass, joined by a second bassist and a drummer. In a way, the line-up augmented Pompey’s songs, whose arpeggiated chords were accompanied by a soft head voice that was always on the threshold of audibility. The band added interesting dynamics, making the songs slightly progressive and giving them post-rock accents too.

All in all, Pompey’s first concert was a very personal, if rather conventional, affair. If the whole thing was well executed, it was mainly thanks to his awkward yet funny interactions that the artist was able to win over his audience last night. In any case, Pompey is a local musician we’ll no doubt be hearing more about in the years to come.

Sarah Rossy

Later, Sarah Rossy and her collective brought a complex, textured pop sound to the hall. Moving effortlessly from chest voice to head voice, the artist was accompanied by elaborate piano lines on her synthesizer. Her years of jazz studies were clearly audible here, particularly in the often unpredictable modulations of the melodic lines. The quality of the other musicians’ performances also deserves to be highlighted. The drummer’s playing was remarkably technical, and she adorned the flowing rhythms of the pieces. On the strings, the bassist effectively accentuated the syncopations, while the guitarist indulged in ad lib flourishes. Buoyed by Rossy’s charisma, the band interpreted the tracks with a healthy dose of spontaneity and improvisation.

The least we can say is that the Montreal artist has invented a very personal, extrovert and colorful sound world for herself. The pop hooks are there, but imbued with erudite, ethereal arrangements.

POP Montréal Day 3 | Annahstasia, in league with the greats?

by Alain Brunet

crédit photo: Sarah ODriscoll

Make no mistake, Afro-American folk is not a new thing – it’s all a question of distribution and perception. It’s been around for a long time, and on Friday we had a more than convincing example of it in the Hall du Rialto.

Admittedly, it’s far too early to assert that Californian Annahstasia is of the musical caliber of a Nina Simone or that her writing could one day reach the level of Langston Hughes. Let’s not get carried away, but… It’s crystal clear that this artist exudes depth, singularity and uncommon talent. We can’t but bow down before the absolute elegance of her being, her voice (a tad flayed at the end of the program), her folk, her instrumentation – acoustic and electric guitars, cello, bass, percussion.

Content and form combine perfectly, personal commitment expressed with the poetic distance necessary for the best songwriting. In short, there are no apparent flaws in this brilliant, magnificent woman, blessed by the gods. Admittedly, she uses materials that are a tad dated (folk, jazz, chamber music), but… what a use! To make something new out of something old, and to revitalize classical forms, is reserved for very few artists. Our relationship with Annahstasia is still in its infancy, we assure you.

M.I. Blue

In first part of program, M.I. Blue a fact his talent. With a penchant for soul/R&B, folk and jazz, she took to the stage with a sober instrumentation of guitar/bass and drums, and carried off her original repertoire, including an evocation of Nat King Cole or even a bossa nova interlude. Her classicism and refinement are immediately seductive, and her alto voice reveals an artist in full emergence of her musical identity. That said, M.I. Blue has not yet won her spurs, and more stones will have to be added to her edifice before we can conclude that she has truly asserted her identity. For the instant, on recognizing his talent and observing the development suite.

Fraud Perry et Backxwash

At the end of the evening at Piccolo Rialto, we enjoyed the spectacular presence of Montreal rapper and singer Fraud Perry. She plays it very sensually and fully assumes her hypersexualized persona, yet thirsts for freedom, autonomy, and self-assertion. Her lyrics often evoke virtual conversations, and muscular dialogues with various interlocutors, often men and women who don’t approach her at the desired level and whom she soon brings down to her level, i.e. face to face. The beat-making is solid and multi-genre, drawing on grime, hip-hop, trap and soul/R&B. The general drawl can be vulgar and direct but doesn’t leave anyone indifferent. Without question, Fraud Perry is something special.

At the end of the night’s program, African-born trans artist Backxwash was summoned to replace rapper Junglepussy at short notice. The Montrealer reminded us why she won the Polaris Prize in 2020. Expressive bombast! Hardcore and metal beatmaking propel this paroxysmal, extremely violent and oh-so-addictive rap. Backxwash’s return to Montreal heralds the next chapter in her atypical career.

POP Montréal Day 3 | Multigenerational momentum at Rialto

by Jacob Langlois-Pelletier

Candi Staton: fit at 83!

Every year, POP Montréal throws up some superb surprises, drawing from the great pool of forgotten but still active veterans, this time at the Rialto Theatre: the appearance of Candi Staton, the celebrated soul and gospel singer behind the hit Young Hearts Run Free. After a career spanning 60 years and some 30 albums, the American is still creating and preparing for the release of Earth Roots next October. Friday evening marked her first visit to Montreal since 1977.

By 9pm, a large crowd of nostalgic fans and onlookers were eagerly awaiting her arrival. As soon as she took to the stage, Candi Staton was brimming with energy and confidence. “It feels so good to be back in Montreal,” she said. Now 83 years old (yes, you read that right), the singer dances with ease and her magnificent voice is always in evidence. One thing’s for sure, Candi Staton doesn’t look her age at all!

On stage, Staton is accompanied by two keyboardists, two backing singers, two guitarists and a drummer. Among these, the soul legend can count on two of her sons, Marcus Williams on drums and Clarence Carter Jr. on guitar. For most of the show, she performed her own interpretation of such timeless hits as Elvis Presley’s Suspicious Minds and Ben E. King’s Stand by Me. Throughout, the audience responded to her performance, in true communion with the artist.

Halfway through, Staton showed slight signs of fatigue, so she sat down and told us various anecdotes. These calmer moments between songs made the whole thing even more intimate, and we couldn’t complain. After more than 75 minutes of performance, the American concluded with her most popular songs, Young Hearts Run Free and You Got the Love, interspersed with a jam lasting several minutes where each of the artists on stage had their moment to shine. The atmosphere was festive, and it felt like a gospel mass!

At 83 years of age, Candi Staton gave a warm performance at the Rialto, proving that there’s no age limit to being a diva!

Janette King, pure R&B

Before Candi Staton, Rialto guests were treated to two other performances, including that of singer, multi-instrumentalist and DJ Janette King. Based in Montreal for several years now, the British-Colombian made a name for herself in 2021 with her excellent album What We Lost.

Under the spotlight, Janette King shines with remarkable ease and a sublime voice. A drummer and keyboardist accompany her with a jazz and soul soundtrack. The singer slaloms between sensuality and aplomb; the crowd is hypnotized by her various proposals. Her rhythms are catchy and make you want to get up and dance, which is what many spectators did throughout her show. There’s no doubt that Janette King has a bright future ahead of her!

THEHONESTGUY, une proposition douce et sensible

To kick off the evening at the Rialto, the crowd met singer THEHONESTGUY. Originally from Nigera and now based in Toronto, Mubarak Adeyemi’s real name is his R&B and pop sound, tinged with funk and soul inspirations. In 2023, he was nominated at the JUNO Awards for “Best Traditional R&B/Soul Project of the Year” with his EP HOW TO MAKE LOVE.

Dressed in a mauve outfit, THEHONESTGUY has a sensitive voice and interacts a lot with the crowd. Accompanied by a guitarist, he played a number of previously unreleased tracks. As the concert progressed, people became more engaged and receptive to the artist’s various tracks, a sign that his music was appreciated.

THEHONESTGUY may not be reinventing the R&B formula, but his sincere, honest melodies are sure to please.

Pop Montréal Day 3 | Shabazz Palaces and Bahamadia, nec plus hip- hop

by Laurent Bellemare

Friday l’Entrepôt 77

Thelonious

Straight from Toronto, Thelonious bravely took to the stage of a virtually empty Entrepôt 77. Aided for a few tracks by a guest MC, he delivered a fast, powerful flow of lyrics over rather quiet instrumental tracks. Not averse to swearing, the aggressiveness of the lyrics seemed to convey an expression of personal narrative and committed awareness. The highlight of the performance was Thelonious’s ability to interact with his audience, despite the fact that they arrived in dribs and drabs. He was indeed very communicative with the crowd, whether between songs or between verses, showing a promising potential to hook the Montreal audience. All in all, the artist and his acolytes set the stage well for the hip-hop-filled evening that was to follow.

Blxck Cxsper

As the sun set, Blxck Cxsper took to the stage in solo mode, lights and pre-recorded tracks in tow. Already, the tone was darker and heavier for the opening tracks. The artist’s non-binary identity was an important element of the performance from the outset, an aspect emphasized in particular in the conceptual explanations provided between pieces. Blxck Cxsper has indeed built a whole mythology around their music, where a world of superheroes enhanced with queer references runs through the bilingual lyrics. This world is even expressed through extramusical media such as a comic book and a video game.

Musically, the instrumental tracks sometimes ventured closer to warm jazz, with brass sections to the fore. Blxck Cxsper had a good command of their vocal range, switching easily between high-pitched melodious vocals and lower rap. Nevertheless, there was some friction on the tonal accuracy side, notably between the artist’s vocal performance and the layers of vocals already present in the tracks. This detail only slightly affected the interest of the performance, which was otherwise varied and engaging despite the still small audience.

Shabazz Palaces

When the five members of Shabazz Palaces took to the stage, a whole parallel universe of sound took over. By this time, the crowd had suddenly expanded, ready to bathe in a dynamic continuum of sound. The multi-instrumentalists supporting Ishmael Butler’s rap switched easily between acoustic instruments and synthesizers. Clearly virtuosic, these musicians occasionally moved in perfect synchronicity, an energy that drew the audience into a collective bounce. We heard saxophone, electric bass and electric guitar, all with their own solo during the performance. Butler was also a master of his tools, sometimes creating loops with his voice and transforming all his interactions with the crowd into slams that served as transitions between pieces. He also used the tambourine sparingly and noisily, contributing to the music’s soaring effect. Clearly, the band indulged in a fair amount of improvisation, resulting in a performance distinct from that heard on album. True to form, Shabazz Palaces didn’t serve up any rehash to their audience, who were visibly grateful given the vigorous applauses. A highlight of the festival.

Bahamadia

In front of a warmed-up Entrepôt 77, Bahamadia took to the stage to close the evening, with her hip-hop performed to the highest standards. The soul and funk-infused beats were immediately reminiscent of the 1990s, a musical decade to which she was a contributor. Bahamadia’s rhythmic flow was powerful, precise and generally fast, demonstrating a total mastery of the microphone and the rhymes projected onto it. This continuous flow was also interspersed with interventions from the beatmaker and various vocal interjections, stimulating a dialogue with the audience. With hip-hop in her soul, the pioneer gave a masterful performance. The contrast between the casualness of the instrumental tracks and the intensity of her rap was spot on. The bass lines were particularly present in the sound balance, which further supported a highly contagious movement easily induced in the crowd. It was hard not to bop your head from start to finish under such circumstances.

POP Montréal, Day 2 | Post-rock orchestral at l’Entrepôt 77

by Alain Brunet

Bell Orchestre

Following the release of the excellent opus House Music, Bell Orchestre created a symphonic concept in Germany around this corpus. Subsequently, in autumn 2021, the Montreal ensemble performed the material with the OSM. Superb, we recall. And then everyone went about their other professional occupations, we know the painful episode of the last Arcade Fire cycle, Richard Reed Parry once again concentrated on other projects less mainstream than this one. In the process of being created, Bell Orchestre offered a symphonic-free performance at Entrepôt 77 on Thursday, in front of a crowd well-versed in instrumental post-rock… and in the Pop Montréal vibe, which has always been an important stage for this aesthetic.

We’re dealing here with a cohort of experienced performers and improvisers, who have reached a level of excellence on an international scale. The level of each has continued to improve, notably violinist Sarah Neufeld, who occupies an important place in the current cycle. The compositions/improvisations are more mature, and we discover more singularity in the corners, without transgressing the post-rock and post-minimalist foundations of this expression. And so we were treated to a solid performance from the Bell Orchestre, who don’t seem to be on the verge of taking an extended break given their upcoming projects – recording a new album in the coming months.

Sauf les drones

Instrumental post-rock has been around since the 90s, and Sauf les drones (what a great band name!) is one of those musicians whose rock culture just isn’t enough to satisfy them – Godspeed YBE, Sigur Ros and… Bell Orchestre spring to mind. To better nourish themselves, these young musicians integrate elements of post-minimalism and other contemporary music from the classical tradition. More post than rock, Sauf les drones is remarkable for the fullness and calm dominating this expression. In this case, the concern for a collective sound clearly outweighs the individual performances of nonetheless well-educated and professional performers. With keyboards, violin, trombone, drums, bass and electronics, this Montreal sextet has been around since 2017, and today manages to present a coherent and attractive performance, banking on the idea that apparent calm can underlie an intensity far greater than it seems.

Anjimile

In the middle of the program, Anjimile Chithambo suggested a similar approach to the other two, but with a touch of African ancestry – his family hails from Malawi. A second-generation immigrant to the USA, where he grew up and moved around (Dallas, Boston, North Carolina), Anjimile offers a body of skilfully orchestrated songs that don’t take us where we might think at the outset. His biographical profile states: “Anjimile’s songwriting is inspired by everything he’s learned, from the African pop his parents loved, to the youth choir he attended, to the influences of ’80s music and even his contemporaries and fellow 4AD label mate, Big Thief. Thus, the author, composer and performer (guitarist and singer) thwarts clichés by downplaying the groove and banking on a Western culture whose bedrock is the indie folk of the 2000s,renowned for the richness of its arrangements and its concern for melodic limpidity. Prolific since 2015, he has already released 5 albums, including the recent The King on 4AD.”

POP Montréal Day 2 | Loraine James In the Night

by Alain Brunet

Thursday Evening at Piccolo Rialto

Loraine James

Loraine James has just released Gentle Confrontation, a 16-track album on the Hyperdub label. That’s pretty much what it was all about on Thursday night at Piccolo Rialto. Hailing from the UK, the producer and DJ had shone at last year’s MUTEK, and this time she migrated to Pop Montreal to present a thoroughly conclusive set. The material of Gentle Confrontation was not duplicated on stage; instead, the musician opted for an inspired re-reading of this material. The more conceptual elements of the album are set aside in favor of an energetic approach, given the context of a set presented at 1 a.m. in a nightclub setting.

The foundation of this material lies in the contrast between rhythmic machine-gun fireworks in the tradition of Afro-British electronic culture (jungle, dub, drum N bass, dubstep, grime) and “orchestral” counterparts featuring rich harmonies and gentle melodies, sometimes vocal, that are at once tributary to soul, modern classical music and electronic ambient. The key to this brilliant art lies in the dialectic between these muscular pulsations and the ethereal music that hovers over them. Some of this tension is exaggerated, with too much percussion confronting melodic-harmonic voluptuousness.

Kate NV

The previous set on the program was by Russian producer Kate NV alias Katya Shilonosova, a program that was certainly electronic, but more pop and even traversed with jazz-world harmonies, involving various on-stage manipulations. Her biographical profile indicates that the 30-year-old studies architecture creates “curious and colorful” characters and improvises live with various gizmos such as bells and toy synthesizers. Kate NV’s universe is clearly linked to childhood, to phantasmagorical worlds where sounds are at the heart of wonder. That said, we’re not exclusively in the world of childhood, as beefier beats and more complex harmonies come into play, leading to the conclusion that Kate NV has notions of instrumental composition in addition to being the electro producer of an original if not at times disheveled, corpus.

LaFHomme

First up was LaFHomme, a visibly gender-neutral artist from Montreal, who presented a dynamic set with Afro-British and soul/R&B influences. Jungle/drum’n’bass rhythms alternated with typical soul harmonies and melodies. In short, quality is the order of the day in this nice set, but we’re left to conclude that it’s more a case of synthesizing than asserting singularity – musically at least.