Born in Côte d’Ivoire and originally from the “land of upright men”, Burkina Faso, Dramane Konaté masters the djembe like a heart that beats to the rhythm of the world. With his opus Touman (Disques Nuits d’Afrique), due for release on November 3, 2023, the born traveller invites us into a West African immersion for a melodic pause anchored in the perfect moment of listening. His program: twelve songs rich in emotion and rhythm for this undisputed master of Faso.

Read Frédéric Cardin’s Review of Touman on PAN M 360

PAN M 360: First of all, congratulations on your album, Dramane!

Dramane: Thank you, thank you.

PAN M 360: I listened to it this morning and it put me in a great mood. How does it feel to be about to release this album to the world?

Dramane: I’ve got goosebumps. Because for me, it’s a very important album. And it’s also about my personal life. And I also think that this album can resonate with the public and allow them to learn and discover new things.

PAN M 360: Is this your first album?

Dramane: Yes, it’s my first album and I put a lot of work into it. I had to double my efforts because that period was a really complicated time in my life. I was lost and didn’t know where to start. I didn’t really have any hope in music, but in the end, it was a lifesaver: it helped me a lot to express all my pain, all the things I kept inside me, in order to free myself. In the end, making this album turned out to be beneficial and helped me get to know myself better.

PAN M 360: It’s interesting to hear you say that. When I listened to your album, I felt a real sense of catharsis at the end. I can imagine you’ve been working on this album for a long time?

Dramane: It’s been a long time in the making. I did it on my own with everything I earned. Nobody helped me. I did it alone and I was the one looking for artists. I arranged everything. I paid the studios, I paid the artists. I did it on my own because I know that in Africa, back home, artists don’t make a living from that. So you can’t tell an artist to come and make your album or you do rehearsals and then you give them nothing. They need to eat, it’s like their job. So for me, before I did that, I tried to prepare myself a bit for the concert I was doing. I took a bit of money, I put it aside and when I was ready, I called the musicians, we did some rehearsals, I called the studios, that’s it, then that’s it.

PAN M 360: And how did the composition process go? As a djembe player, the rhythm was the basis of all the songs?

Dramane: Yes, but there are songs that aren’t my own compositions. There are melodies, very old ones, that my grandparents would have known, and I’ve added layers of rhythm to them. I tried to really arrange them according to how I react to these melodies, and really understand how I feel about this music.

PAN M 360: Can you tell us a bit about your history with the djembe?

Dramane: I started playing when I was very, very young, at the age of seven, in 1983. My mother sings she loves music and she has a beautiful voice. But in the village where I lived in Côte d’Ivoire, there were no musicians. So you see musicians at weddings, christenings and annual celebrations, and that was my first introduction to music and the sound of the djembe.

As the only musician in my family, I met with a lot of resistance. Especially from my father. He didn’t want his son to play music. Back then, if you said you wanted to be a musician, you had no future. No parent would allow their son to become a musician. He yelled at me, he hit me, he bad-mouthed me in front of people to discourage me from pursuing music, and I knew what music made me feel because my father is a tailor.

Do you know why I gave the album that name? Because every choice has its time. My father wanted me to become a tailor. That was his dream. He did everything he could to make me a tailor. But a problem came up because I can’t see myself very well. I have very serious eye problems. At the workshop, it became obvious that I couldn’t see the needle and thread very well, and my father didn’t help me either. He had the option of getting glasses so I could see or simply sending someone to help me, but he never did. From then on, he wanted me to do something else, and I decided to do something else with my life. My logical choice was music. Because for me, music gave me love. For me, music was love, for me, music was my life. I let all these emotions escape on the djembe.

PAN M 360: You’re from Côte d’Ivoire, but you play music from Mali, is that right?

Dramane: It’s Mandingo music.

PAN M 360: Is it your tradition, in fact, or do you love this musical genre?

Dramane: Yes, that’s my tradition.

PAN M 360: Who or what were some of your inspirations?

Dramane: Do you know Salifou Keïta? He’s from Mali. Salifou Keïta, Toumani Diabaté. There are a lot of artists who inspire me and then there’s a great artist too, Amadou Sodia, who inspired me a lot.

PAN M 360: Have you experimented with other types of music, such as fusion or pop, or is it really traditional music that speaks to you the most?

Dramane: I do a bit of everything. I accompany groups, contemporary dance, modern music, jazz and blues. Yes, jazz inspires me a lot. Jazz is music, and it really brings a lot to me.

PAN M 360: And is there a lot of improvisation in the music you play, like jazz?

Dramane: When I do solos, I take a lot of inspiration from jazz music. Ok. Jazz afro, a bit, everything. Of course I do.

PAN M 360: You speak with a lot of passion, and I imagine your show will be really exciting. For your concert in Montreal, will you be performing the whole album?

Dramane: Yes, I’ll be playing the whole album with a great band. I’ll do my best for November 4. I’m really looking forward to it. Thanks so much for talking to me.

PAN M 360: Is there anything else you’d like to say?

Dramane: I’d like to say thank you. I really salute Papa Touré, Touré du Balattou, he’s really a father who’s given me a lot of advice, I often have advice, I go to him and he’s always taken me as his son, he’s considered me as his son, he’s given me advice and I’ve always felt like my father and I really really wish him all the best again. He really is the baobab, the baobab of all Africans, all Quebecers, all the people here. Really, we hope that God gives them a long life, that artists always manage to express themselves, to give everything we feel, everything we want to come one day, Inch’Allah. We really do. And I salute you too. It’s been a great, great pleasure to “free” myself too. So thank you very much and I also thank René Pierre. Thank you very much.

PAN M 360: Wishing you an incredible show Dramane. Thanks again for taking the time.

Jeanne Laforest is a singer-songwriter from Quebec City. She presents a sophisticated pop style in which choir and strings make her compositions shine. Her album released last year, Puisque les heures nous manquent, is a striking work that blends the intimacy of the lyrics with the serious tone of the rich arrangements. With a musical and academic background that crosses the ocean – from McGill in Jazz to Finland – the artist has much to offer and fuses her different horizons into a harmonious vision.

Jeanne Laforest will perform at Le Verre bouteille on November 6 as part of Coup de cœur Francophone, a showcase festival highlighting new forms of francophone creation across Canada.

PAN M 360 took the opportunity to speak with her. On the menu: her solo career, Nordic folklore and the strings on the latest Radiohead album.

PAN M 360: How long have you been making progress in the musical field?

Jeanne Laforest: Yes. I started playing piano as a child. I was immersed in classical music. My father, who was a musician, taught me. I also did a lot of choir. When I got to high school, I started wanting to do popular music, and I was very attracted to improvisation. That’s why I wanted to take a little detour into jazz. So I went to CEGEP in jazz pop and then to university in jazz, with a student exchange to Europe. In university, I was able to dabble in a lot of other things, like contemporary music and more improvisational stuff, and it gave me a great mix to sit with when the pandemic arrived.

I was able to delve deeper into songs I’d been writing since I was a teenager. Because I’ve always had a dream, or a need, to write songs and have a project of my own, and the pandemic made that possible. And that led to the album I released a year ago.

PAN M 360: You studied Nordic folklore at the Sibelius Academy of Music in Finland, among other things. What does this background bring to Quebec?

Jeanne Laforest: My relationship with the choir has always been omnipresent. In Finland, traditional music is vocal music, sung exclusively by women. I took lessons there because I was interested in this tradition. There’s this sound that I really wanted to learn more about. I also discovered that there are a lot of similarities between folk songs over there and here. In general, too, life in Europe made a big impression on me. So it’s all these interests that came across on the album.

PAN M 360: After studying music for a long time, you’re now doing concerts, playing at festivals and winning awards. Is this a logical progression for you? Do you see this as something that “begins”?

Jeanne Laforest: I’d say it’s starting for my own project. But I’ve been working in music full-time for several years, so it’s also something that adds to the diversity of other things I do. But it’s true that a solo project is different. There’s something more intimate about presenting your texts and having to take responsibility for them. This debut has been a learning experience. Compared to a year ago, I’m more relaxed, and above all happy to be able to get my band together. I’m going to cherish every opportunity I get to do so, and I feel grateful to have a small place in this very rich amalgam of Quebecois chanson.

PAN M 360: Have you always wanted to do a solo project?

Jeanne Laforest: Initially, I would have liked to have had a band, to write with several people. But it’s hard to find the right people to do that with. During the pandemic, the need to do something and release something took over. But it was a slow decision because for a while I wanted to have an artist’s name, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to put my name forward. But in the end, that’s what happened, and I don’t regret it, it’s going well.

PAN M 360: Listening to your music, we notice the importance of string arrangements. Do you have a particular reference, or a favorite string piece that inspired you?

Jeanne Laforest: One album that really stood out for me in terms of string treatment was Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped Pool. When I discovered that album, I listened to it over and over for months. It was from that album that I wanted to learn how to write for strings.

PAN M 360: This album fascinates me too. “Glass Eyes” and “Burn The Witch” in particular, for the strings.

Jeanne Laforest: Yes! And it’s a bit of a fly-by-night approach. They’re not just pretty, harmonious sounds, and that’s good because it shows the aggressive, violent side that the instrument can have.

PAN M 360: Because it can say a lot about the artist, and it’s fun to think about, what would be your greatest dream musical career?

Jeanne Laforest: God… I really wouldn’t hate to do shows all over the world. For my project or for someone else’s project, if I could go and play in Japan, in Germany, in faraway countries, I really wouldn’t hate it. That’s my unattainable dream! (laughs) And it would be interesting, through that, to measure myself against the different receptions people have to live music around the world.

PAN M 360: Finally, what can we expect from your concert at CCF? Are there any surprises in store?

Jeanne Laforest: I have a tendency always to want to do lots of things and complicate my life. I was wondering if I should keep it sober, a show that does the first album… but I’m thinking of tweaking a few things, inviting someone, adding a little fly touch, yes. It’ll still be a surprise!

PAN M 360: Certainly! Thanks, Jeanne!

Jeanne Laforest will be performing on November 6 at 9pm at Le Verre bouteille as part of Coup de Coeur Francophone. Tickets are available HERE!

Three years after winning “Revelation of the Year” at the Gala de l’ADISQ, pop artist Eli Rose returns this Friday with Hypersensible, her second career album. In this emotionally charged, introspective new chapter, the Montrealer offers a more mature version of the sound that has set her apart in the past. PAN M 360 spoke with her about her life over the past few years, the birth of her son and the creation of her new opus!

After several years as part of the duo Eli et Papillon, the Quebecoise had made a good impression with her homonymous album, notably with the track Carrousel. Then came the pandemic, preventing her from meeting her public on the various stages of Quebec and, like most artists, putting her career on hold. Since then, the 36-year-old singer has become a mother and spent a great deal of time in the studio, giving birth to her second album.

For Hypersensible, Eli Rose collaborated with lyricist Gaële to write the lyrics, and the productions are signed by the best in the business, such as Ruffsound, RealMind and DRMS, the trio she worked with on her first project. We hear more instruments than on Eli Rose, giving her music a more organic feel. Her vaporous voice blends extremely well, her choruses are catchy and it’s easy to identify with what she’s saying. Mission accomplished for this comeback.

PAN M 360: You’re back this Friday with your first album in four years. What state of mind are you in right now?

ELI ROSE: I’m very serene, and I think that’s because I’ve matured since my last project. When I launched my first solo album, I was really nervous. I was proposing a completely different sound to what I’d been doing with Eli et Papillon, so it was quite stressful. I think Hypersensible is more like me. I’m simply looking forward to presenting it to the public. I’m also looking forward to meeting my public live, which I wasn’t really able to do on my first album with the arrival of the pandemic.

PAN M 360: Since the release of your first album in 2019, a lot has happened in your life, including the birth of your son. Has his arrival changed the way you see your career in music?

ELI ROSE: Completely. I think that explains why I feel calmer about the launch of this album. The arrival of my son has sort of put my values in the right place. Becoming a mother wasn’t easy. It was a real ordeal. I missed a lot of sleep and had a difficult pregnancy. It turned my life upside down. Now I feel more stable and I feel like I’m at a good time in my life. My son is older and all is well. I think it’s a good time to launch this album. It’s an emotionally charged album and writing it was very therapeutic for me, I think I needed it at the time.

PAN M 360: What did you manage to do better with Hypersensible than with your previous project Eli Rose?

ELI ROSE: I think I’ve improved a lot in terms of managing my emotions. Of course, I’m still going to be very sensitive and I’m still going to experience my emotions intensely, but I think I’m learning to manage them better. It’s funny because, as mothers, we have to teach our children to manage their emotions, but I have to do it too!

PAN M 360: How did you go about creating this new opus?

ELI ROSE: It wasn’t an easy composition. My team and I started when I was pregnant. I had a really difficult pregnancy. I was vomiting and nauseous 24 hours a day, but I didn’t stop myself from composing. I just kept going. That’s why the album was made over a longer period. If I come back four years later, it’s not because I wanted to wait four years. It’s really because I had a difficult pregnancy and became a mother. The year I became a mother, I wasn’t really thinking about writing songs. We put it on hold and then I came back to it. It was a long process. My team and I really took it one day at a time. If it was a good week, we wrote. If it was “I’m not sleeping, my son is colicky”, we waited. We ended up with this album, which took two and a half years to write.

PAN M 360: Tell me more about your meeting with artist Gaële Cockpit, which was a turning point in the development of Hypersensible.

ELI ROSE: After winning “Revelation of the Year” at ADISQ in 2020, everything came to a halt for me with the pandemic. I really didn’t know what I was going to do. At one point, I tried to recreate it, but it wasn’t working. That’s when I thought of Gaële, whom I’d met at a Kenekt camp in the past. I knew she was extremely talented, so I gave her a call. She invited me to her place and we had coffee together. We opened a document and brainstormed. Talking to her, I quickly realized that I’d found the best person to co-write the album with. I felt she understood where I was coming from and what I wanted to say.

PAN M 360: With this album, you wanted to return to a production style that was more organic than electronic. Why did you do this?

ELI ROSE: When I was part of Éli et Papillon, we only made music with real instruments. When I went solo, I wanted to show people what I could do. I wanted to do things differently, and I went totally to the extreme with 100% electronic music. For Hypersensible, I wanted to find a balance. This album is a happy medium between folk and electronic music. It’s a middle ground in which I feel more comfortable than in one of the two extremes.

PAN M 360: How does the album title represent you?

ELI ROSE: I’m definitely a hypersensitive person. It’s a word that comes up all the time in my life. I experience emotions very intensely. I cry easily and have a lot of empathy. Emotions are part of my daily life. I think it was an obvious choice to write an album called “Hypersensible”. I’m more comfortable with this side of my personality than I used to be. I’m more open to saying to myself “Look, this is who I am.”

PAN M 360: In your song Ace of Hearts, you say “Following the rules we dictated to her. Is she too sensitive to play?” Do you often question your own hypersensitivity?

ELI ROSE: It’s funny you should mention that phrase. I’ve often asked myself, “Am I too sensitive to be in music? Because the truth is, when you’re a singer, you’re in the spotlight, people criticize you and have opinions on social networks and all that. At one point when I launched my first album, I said to myself “Wow, I don’t know if this is for me. I don’t know if I’m capable of living it and taking it on.” Over time, I realized that I needed music to live. I need to describe my emotions. Now I’ve got a certain step back from all that, and that helps me a lot. I don’t dwell on all the criticism and negativity. I dwell more on the positive.

PAN M 360: Are you also at this stage of acceptance in your life in general?

ELI ROSE: Yes, I try. I tend to see things negatively, but I’m really working on seeing things more positively and not dwelling on them. I think being a mom has taught me that. I’m more attracted now to spending time with my son and picking dandelions than dwelling on criticism.

PAN M 360: What’s your title CDN all about?

ELI ROSE: CDN is short for Côte-des-Neiges. When I was 16-17, I was working at the Saint-Hubert on Côte-des-Neiges and fell in love with a boy. I’ll spare you the details of the story, but I really broke this guy’s friend’s heart. So much so, that 15 years later, I was still thinking about it and felt like writing a song. In writing an album about emotions, I obviously revisited a lot of stories from my past. I’m an emotional person, so I have a ton of stories to tell. When I wrote the song, I said to myself, “I’m going to call that person. He’s in a pharmacy in Granby. I found his number and called him at the pharmacy. In the end, it was a bad idea because he didn’t really want to talk to me. But anyway, I was happy to write that song. My past will always be part of me and I draw a lot of my inspiration from it.

PAN M 360: I think a lot of people will recognize themselves in this song. Are you the kind of person who looks back and asks questions?

ELI ROSE: That’s something that used to bother me a lot. I’m someone who thinks a lot about the past. I tend to be very nostalgic, thinking about my high school years and what I used to go through. My song CDN seems to have taught me to turn the page on the past and let go. It’s always going to exist and be a part of me, but that doesn’t stop me from looking forward and moving forward.

PAN M 360: “N’oublie pas,” your first collaboration with rapper Koriass, comes at the very end of your album. What is this track about?

ELI ROSE: “N’oublie pas,” it’s our two perspectives on yo-yo love, the kind that goes wrong. It’s love that’s hard to let go of. I’ve always loved writing about love because I’m a romantic. I’ve listened to Dawson’s Creek 16 times now, and it’s a series about love. I think I’ll always, in spite of myself, write love songs. Don’t forget, it was a beat that Ruffsound and RealMind sent me at the very end of writing the album. I really felt it was the missing piece to bring the whole thing together. I was really happy that Korias agreed to do this collaboration with me, he’s an artist whose work I greatly admire.

PAN M 360: For two tracks on Hypersensible, you’ve reunited with producers RealMind, Ruffsound and D R M S, the trio you worked with on your first album. What does this reunion mean to you?

ELI ROSE: As I mentioned earlier, I have a nostalgic side. Although I’m moving forward, my past is part of me. These are guys who have supported me since day 1 of my solo project. To have managed to get them all back together in the same room, in the studio making music, was really special. It’s an honour to be able to collaborate with such talented people. It’s really an album we enjoyed making. There was no stress, no pressure. I think that’s why I’m so proud of it. I hope this isn’t the last collaboration we’ll do together.

PAN M 360: You mentioned you were disappointed not to be able to go on tour due to the pandemic after being crowned “Revelation of the Year” at the ADISQ Gala in 2020. I imagine you plan to make the most of the months following the release of your album!

ELI ROSE: Certainly! I hope the pandemic doesn’t come back so I can enjoy it. I’ve got a tour starting in February, including the Montreal premiere at Le Ministère on February 1. There are several shows coming up and lots of promotions. It’s only after the holidays that things really get going!

Photo credit : Universal Music Canada

Last Thursday, the CIRMMT (pronounced Kermit, like the frog) inaugurated its new multimedia room. A state-of-the-art infrastructure, whose use is threefold: as an acoustic research laboratory, a concert hall and a recording studio capable of comfortably hosting a symphony orchestra. Montreal is now equipped with some unique infrastructure in the world that opens up avenues of research for an entire generation of Quebec researchers and musicians.

The auditory experience of this room is of an enjoyable sensuality, every self-respecting Montrealer should experience it. We met the man who has been carrying out this project for twenty years: Marcelo Wanderley, professor of music technology at McGill University.

PAN M 360: Why was this multimedia room project needed at the Interdisciplinary Center for Research in Music, Media and Technology (CIRMMT)?

Professor Marcelo M. Wanderley: In 2006, we had a room that was good for music, but our setup was rustic; the floors were made of plywood, we used curtains to manage the reverberation of the sound, so to meet the needs of the CIRMMT researchers we needed a multi-functional, high-tech room, a place where we can play music but also where we can study music and sound. For that, we were missing millions of dollars, because a floor of 400 square meters, in addition to acoustic treatment with a volume of 7,000 cubic meters, is expensive, all the same.

Professor Wanderley smiles as he talks about the acoustic tiles, the removable curtains, the wooden reflectors that make up the essence of the room. He pursues:

We invested $6 million. Constellation alone costs over a million. The Constellation sound system is 62 speakers, microphones, equipment that adjusts the reverberation of the room according to our projects, a technological gem that allows us to modulate the acoustics of the room at will.

PAN M 360: What was your role in the project?

Professor Marcelo M. Wanderley: (laughs) Well, I wrote it, five times. With other researchers, of course, we presented the project to the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, we explained to them what research we planned to do in this room, it was the fifth time that we presented our request ; in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2012, and each time it didn’t work, finally in 2014 we got the green light.

PAN M 360: What made it work this 5th time?

Professor Marcelo M. Wanderley: The partnership with the University of Montreal! We made it an 11 million project, where there were three million for the Salle Claude-Champagne and suddenly it became a project that affected practically all music students in Quebec. In 2014, we were preparing to submit a new application, the U of M team was preparing their project on their side and contacted me to collaborate on their own application, we married the projects, we went beyond the idea of the bell tower, where a university owns a room which allows it to say that it is the best. We don’t care about that. It’s taxpayer money whether at McGill or the U of M.

PAN M 360: Let’s talk about the taxpayer: why do we need cutting-edge infrastructure like this in Montreal in 2023?

Professor Marcelo M. Wanderley: First, for its realization, we developed knowledge in acoustics which is unique in the world; the architects and engineers who worked on the project learned to do things that have never been done. What has been done here is very exportable. I think the Montreal Chamber of Commerce should look at this project and brag about it.

Then, with this equipment we will attract the best researchers from around the world because there are not five laboratories like this in the world.

There is monstrous economic potential here.

PAN M 360: So this is cutting-edge research that is highly applicable?

Professor Marcelo M. Wanderley: “Yes, for example, if the OSM has to do a concert at the Orange Bowl in Los Angeles, obviously it is a very particular acoustic, the Orange Bowl. This must be taken into account when preparing for the concert. However, we can recreate the acoustic conditions of this stadium in our own room.

We can simulate a lot of environments. For musicians, we don’t play the same way in the Maison symphonique, in an arena or in a cathedral. This is an example of practical application of the room.

PAN M 360: If we enter CIRMMT in the coming months, what research projects will we be exposed to?

Professor Marcelo M. Wanderley: Our first axis is the development of new instruments, new interfaces for creating music, we create sounds never before imagined. The second axis is computer science, the entire musical database, scores, image recognition, the third is the study of movement, cognition, playing style and the last is is the application of all that in performance, in practice. We have more than 60 researchers from 8 or 9 universities working here.

PAN M 360: Are you an engineer by training? This leads us to discuss interdisciplinarity, which is one of your hobby horses.

Professor Marcelo M. Wanderley: I am not a musician. I am an engineer, and I am very humble in the face of the musicians around me (laughs) but at CIRMMT, we touch on all areas. It ranges from philosophy, electrical engineering, mechanics, physics, through history, music, neuroscience.

This is something that I find great in Quebec, we have funding for a transversal center like ours. We are shaking up silo structures with the multidisciplinarity of projects; for example, one of my students is leading a project which allows a musician in training to physically feel, with the help of sensors, the action of the muscles, tendons and breathing of a professional musician and therefore to inspire one’s own practice. This is an unclassifiable project, is it a music or engineering project? The CIRMMT allows this type of project that the faculties do not know where to classify.

And we sense that Professor Wanderley has a lot of fun with the idea of instigating projects of this type which challenge established structures.

Professor Marcelo M. Wanderley: In closing, the CIRMMT is also a place of performance. The general public can see concerts there, most of them free, just go to the Schulich Faculty of Music website.

To get an overview of the room click here

With his Au bon endroit EP unveiled last Friday, singer-songwriter Erwan transports us into his enveloping, ethereal folk world, greatly inspired by the likes of Blake Mills, Louis-Jean Cormier and Patrick Watson. A few days before the release of his project, PAN M 360 met him at Picnic Vélocafé to discuss his young career and his second mini-album.

A graduate of the École nationale de la chanson in 2020, the Quebecker’s folk sound occasionally veers into rock and electro. Two years ago, Erwan made quite a splash with his debut EP Dis-moi où tu m’emmènes, and has since gone back to the drawing board to bring us his second project.

With Au bon endroit, the singer certainly doesn’t disappoint; on the contrary, he impresses. The soundtrack is organic, and his gentle voice blends in perfectly. On the project, Erwan makes frequent use of a toy guitar from the ’60s, to which he has added a rubber bridge and nylon strings, giving his songs a distinctive timbre. Through his meticulous songwriting, he tackles subjects such as anxiety, the sometimes dizzying hubbub of the city and the soothing effect of nature.

PAN M 360: To find out more about you, tell me a little about your personal history. When did you start making music?

ERWAN: I was born in Montreal and grew up in Pointe-Calumet. In the past, I took piano lessons and taught myself guitar. I also did choral singing with Les Petits Chanteurs de Laval. That’s what introduced me to singing. I started writing at the age of 11. More recently, I studied music at Collège Lionel-Groulx in Sainte-Thérèse, then at the École nationale de la chanson.

PAN M 360: Where does your passion for music come from?

ERWAN: Music has always been part of my life. My father listened to a lot of vinyl and I was exploring percussion at a young age. From a very early age, I was able to sing nursery rhymes by heart, and my mother couldn’t understand how I managed to remember them all. My relationship with music is very natural.

PAN M 360: Let’s move on to your second mini-album, Au bon endroit. The influences of artists like Louis-Jean Cormier and Daniel Bélanger are striking. Where do you draw your musical influences from?

ERWAN: Over the years, I’ve definitely listened to a lot of Louis-Jean and Daniel Bélanger. I’d also name Patrick Watson and Coldplay as big influences for me. These days, I seem to be getting into a lot of stuff with Spotify. It’s so easy to discover new music. Now it’s hard to focus on just one artist.

For this mini-album, I’d say I also went for rubber bridge sounds, which you hear a lot in California, with a rubber bridge over a guitar. I was influenced by Phoebe Bridgers, Blake Mills and Andrew Bird. At times, it sounds very indie.

PAN M 360: How long did it take to create this second mini-album? How did it all unfold?

ERWAN: We’ve been hard at work on Au bon endroit for almost a year now, but some of the tracks are 2-3 years old. Over the past year, I’ve mostly been recording at Makina studio in Montreal with Mathieu Quenneville, with whom I co-produced the project. He handled the mixing and acted as sound engineer. With the various musicians, we did two recording sessions for four of the project’s six tracks, like “Helena” and “L’hirondelle (au bon endroit).” We really recorded in one take, just like in the old days. I wanted to go for a pure, organic sound. Once that was done, I went back to Mathieu several times to work on the arrangements, adding my final vocals, synthesizers and guitars. For the tracks “Photosynthèse” and “Tant mieux,” I didn’t think it was necessary for several of us to create them, I needed more intimacy.

PAN M 360: Why did you need more intimacy for these songs?

ERWAN: It came about quite naturally, depending on the titles. Honestly, I also created with fewer people for some songs because of my budget. I thought “Okay, how can I do this song by myself.” I wanted an organic, more acoustic aesthetic for those songs, so I adapted to do it in collaboration with Arthur Bourdon-Durocher.

PAN M 360: What’s the story behind your project Au bon endroit?

ERWAN: During the creation of my microalbum, there were a lot of things that inspired me, like the pandemic. My move from the North Shore to Montreal also inspired me. I also love nature. In Au bon endroit, there’s this idea of wanting to get into the great outdoors and out of the city. During the pandemic, it wasn’t easy for me and I felt trapped in the city. The seasons also have a big influence on me. I love the sun and the good weather, and then when autumn comes, you get a bit more cooped up. That’s the kind of feeling I was trying to capture with my project. “L’hirondelle (au bon endroit)” is about living in the moment, observing the world around us and knowing how lucky we are to be here. “L’hirondelle (au bon endroit)” tells the story of a time when I broke down in Gaspé. It was the most beautiful thing that could have happened to me that day. I couldn’t go anywhere, I was stuck there and could only enjoy the surroundings. It was that song that guided the title of my EP, because there’s this concept of being in the right place at the right time. It kind of ties in with all the themes of the songs.

PAN M 360: Does this project give you that sense of calm?

ERWAN: I think so, that’s really what it brings me. As much as it brings calm, as much as it makes me feel in the right place. Some songs move more, others less, but in the end, it’s all about that spirit of inner peace and balance.

PAN M 360: Let’s talk more about your song “Helena,” how did it come about?

ERWAN: I wrote “Helena” and “Tant mieux “when I spent the winter in Rivière-du-Loup. I wanted to do a song with a first name because I didn’t have one, and I thought of Île Sainte-Hélène, where there’s the round. I thought Helena was more beautiful than Hélène, so I decided to go with that. Then I wrote a song in which Helena is caught up in La Ronde, in her fears and anxiety. She’s not able to get off her rides, she doesn’t know how to deal with them. We’ve just shot a music video for Helena, which will be released soon. I was able to work with a great team and I’m very grateful. We managed to create a great universe, and there’s dancing too. We expressed the theme of the song with a rather strange universe. I won’t say any more, but it’s coming out just before Halloween, and that’s no coincidence!

PAN M 360: What can we expect from you next?

ERWAN: There’s a launch on October 24 at Le Verre Bouteille in Montreal. Otherwise, I’m already getting ready to record my third EP. For each of my projects, I have specific themes. For the next one, I’m going to a cottage this winter. Last year, I went to a chalet and wrote six songs in the space of three days. It really just came out. There was something magical about it and I want to recreate that.

PAN M 360: How important is it for you to work on several EPs before embarking on a debut album?

ERWAN: I’m still an independent artist and I like to get more stuff out quickly. I’m definitely looking forward to doing a debut album, something really complete. I figure I’m trying to do something consistent with smaller projects. The album will probably be the next step for me!

Erwan will be performing at Le Verre Bouteille on Tuesday, October 24 at 8:30 pm for the launch of his EP.

Photo credit: Marc-André Dupaul

Following the success of “Run Away to Mars” and, more recently, “A Little Bit Happy,” Nicholas Durocher, aka TALK, needs no introduction. This Friday, the Ottawa native unveils Lord of the Flies & Birds & Bees, a powerful debut pop-rock album that draws on his rock roots. For the occasion, Pan M 360 chatted with him about his new project, his busy past year, and his love for Quebec!

On July 8, 2022, TALK took on stage at the Festival d’été de Québec, just before country star Luke Combs. At the time, the Canadian artist had no idea that his career was about to take off. After his show, a video of his excellent song “Run Away to Mars” at the festival went viral on social networks, propelling him to the top of the Quebec charts and helping him gain popularity around the globe. Since then, TALK has once again performed at the FEQ last summer, and his love affair with the province continues. He even recently got a tattoo of the Quebec flag.

Lord of the Flies & Birds & Bees is TALK’s first album, rich in emotional diversity and authenticity. Whether on an energetic track like “Wasteland” or a more acoustic one like “Afraid of the Dark,” his lyrics and voice shine through and connect directly with the listener. His universe is accessible and personal, with catchy melodies. For his Quebec fans, the singer has added a surprise track to the physical copies that will be distributed in the province: his cover of La Ziguezon by La Bottine Souriante, a local classic he’s particularly fond of.

PAN M 360: Hi Nicholas! Congratulations on your debut album. After the huge success of your track “Run Away to Mars,” did you feel any pressure writing this project? 

TALK: I think so. I wrote “Run Away to Mars” in 2020 and only started work on Lord of the Flies & Birds & Bees in 2022. I wanted to take my time and create the best possible album. I was aware that it would be difficult to release a project after having had so much success with “Run Away to Mars.” I did my best, and I think my team and I did an excellent job. I think the quality of this opus is equal to or better than anything I’ve released before. I think it’s a very good project.

PAN M 360: What have you learned about the music industry since the release of “Run Away to Mars?”

TALK: I’ve learned that you have to be very patient. I’ve also learned that the tracks we decide to release have to be important to us because you never know if people will like them. So it’s vital to love your own tracks and be happy with what you’ve created before you share it. That way, you don’t have to worry about what people will think because you love your music. I really appreciate that listeners like my songs, but it’s important for me to be at peace with my art. 

PAN M 360: How does your new project Lord of the Flies & Birds & Bees represent you? 

TALK: It’s a great representation of my journey over the last few years. It talks about where I came from, what happened to me, and where I am today. In my album, I talk about the times when I didn’t give up, did my best, met new people, and fell in love. It’s really about my life over the last two or three years. It’s a pretty coherent project and I think the different themes work together beautifully. 

PAN M 360: How did the creation go? 

TALK: It went really well. My last year was very busy because of the growing success of “Run Away to Mars,” and I had a ton of different opportunities coming my way. As a result, I didn’t have much time to go into the studio, and I had to work on the album here and there. The writing took place in several small sessions scattered over a long period of time. Nevertheless, the project came to life and I’m extremely happy with the final product. I didn’t really have any problems during the creative process. Let’s just say that I still have a lot to say, and this album is the first chapter of what I want to tell. 

PAN M 360: Even though your track “Run Away to Mars” was released in 2021, it appears on your new album. Why was it important for you to include it? 

TALK: It’s simple because it’s the song that started it all for me. “Run Away to Mars” plays an important role in the story I tell. It was important for me to give it another opportunity to shine because that song had an impact on all the others on the project. It was the first song I released, and it launched my career. This album is about my journey over the last few years, and it was inevitable to include it. 

PAN M 360: On Lord of the Flies & Birds & Bees, we hear a panoply of different influences, including rock, which is very present. What do you listen to on a daily basis? 

TALK: I have different phases when it comes to listening to music. I listen to a lot of Foo Fighters, Coldplay and Elton John. I also like Queen a lot, and I think you can hear the British band’s influence on my album. I also like Tom Odell’s music. I think I could name a ton of others, but that’s what I mainly listen to. I also listen to a lot of Disney songs; I think the lyrics are really good. 

PAN M 360: The first thing we see of your album is the magnificent cover, which features you in a world reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings. Tell me about the idea behind it. 

TALK: I had several ideas for the cover and shared them with my team. At first, I was an astronaut, and then I became a guardian of a special forest. We asked an artist to draw the whole thing, and here’s the result! I think it works with the music on the album. It’s colourful, light and imposing, just like the music on Lord of the Flies & Birds & Bees. It’s the perfect cover for my project. 

PAN M 360: You describe your music as “colourful, light-filled and imposing”, and this fits perfectly with the opening track “Fall for You.” How did this song come about?

TALK: One day, my team and I were playing with a guitar and some other instruments when we came up with the idea of doing a Broadway-style song, with lots of vocal layers and singing. That’s when “Fall for You” came to life. It’s a love song, about the moment when you meet someone, and you immediately understand that you’re going to fall in love. The idea is that you could do anything for that person because love is so powerful.

PAN M 360: “Afraid of the Dark” is definitely my favourite track, and it stands out from the rest of your project. What is this song about? 

TALK: This song is dedicated to my grandmother. When I started writing my album, she became ill, and I had to choose between going to Los Angeles to write or spending time with her. My grandmother told me to go and create, and all I could think about in the studio was her. So that was the first song I wrote for the project. The main message of “Afraid of the Dark” is quite simple; it’s about accepting that there are things we still fear, even as adults. It’s also a reminder of the importance of family and enjoying every moment we have with the people we love. It also says that it’s important to listen to other people’s stories. That’s what this song is about.

PAN M 360: You were back in Montreal last Monday for a private album launch. You seem to have a special relationship with the people of Quebec.

TALK: Yes, certainly! My mother is French-speaking and met my father in Val-d’Or. At the time, my mother was a teacher and my father was a miner. So, I have several family members who live in Quebec, and I spent a lot of time there when I was young. I’m a native of Ottawa, and I’ve often been to Quebec City and Montreal. I’ve always been close to Quebec culture, and the Quebec public was one of the first to welcome me. Two years ago, I took on stage at the Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ) before Luke Combs, and it was an incredible show. Videos of “Run Away to Mars” at the FEQ went viral on social networks. Quebec has played an important role in my career, for which I’m extremely grateful. That’s partly why I recently got the Quebec flag tattooed on my left arm. By the way, only the physical versions of my album in Quebec will feature my cover of La Ziguezon by La Bottine Souriante!

PAN M 360: Why was it so important for you to pay special attention to your Quebec listeners?

TALK: First of all, I’ve loved that song ever since I heard it when I was young. Also, I wanted to show my immense respect to my Quebec fans. It’s probably the place where there’s the greatest concentration of fans of my music. It would have been a mistake for me not to think of them after all they’ve done for me. I plan to play it at all my future shows in Quebec. 

PAN M 360: I’m sure you’ll want to get this project into shows over the next few months and let it live, but I can’t help asking, what the future of TALK will look like?

TALK: That’s a good question because, over the next few months, I’ll definitely be doing a lot of shows and singing this album to my fans. But I can’t wait to get back into the studio and start creating again. I finished Lord of the Flies & Birds & Bees a few months ago, and haven’t really written much since then due to my busy schedule. I can’t wait to see what the future holds. 

PAN M 360: Do you already have an idea of where you want to go next?

TALK: I think I have an idea, but it changes almost every day. Sometimes I want to go even further into rock, and other times I’d like to tap into folk. I don’t necessarily know what lies ahead, but I know it will always sound like TALK. I’d like my career to be like Coldplay’s, which has managed to evolve steadily over the years.

Photo credit: @iamtalk

Friday, Montreal sensation Rêve released her debut album Saturn Return. With this offering, she makes dance-pop shine in all its forms and once again confirms her immense potential. PAN M 360 talked to her about her new project, her creative process, and astrology.

Since the release of her song CTRL+ ALT + DEL in 2021, Rêve has kept on getting better. Following in the footsteps of British star Dua Lipa, her music is danceable and highly rhythmic. With Saturn Return, the singer-songwriter has just one goal in mind: make dance music shine.

PAN M 360: This Friday, you unveil your debut album Saturn Return. Dance music and its derivatives are at the heart of this project. Where does your love for this style come from? 

RÊVE: My passion for this music began when I went out to a nightclub in Montreal. At the time, I was definitely too young to go to that kind of place, but let’s just say I was about to turn 18. Before that, I’d been to concerts, but I’d never seen a DJ set. I remember walking into the club and heading out onto the dance floor. Immediately, I felt a connection with the others and the DJ’s music. The music was transcendent and the mood was euphoric. I immediately fell in love with dance music. Since that night, my goal has always been to recreate that atmosphere through my music. 

PAN M 360: How would you describe your music in general on this project? 

RÊVE: I’d say it’s a dance-pop album influenced by a multitude of different genres. My aim with this project was to prove to people that dance music can be very diverse and versatile because I find that people who don’t consume it regularly believe that the genre is limited to what you see on a stage like the Tomorrowland festival. There’s so much more to dance music, and you can listen to it on so many different occasions. That’s really what I wanted to show. 

PAN M 360: What does the concept of Saturn Return mean? 

RÊVE: “Saturn Return” means the moment in a person’s life, around the age of 27 or 30, when the planets return to the same place in the sky as they were at the moment of their birth. In astrology, this is considered to be a time when you learn the most lessons. You learn a lot of hard truths, and anything that isn’t made for you will disappear and you’ll become more aligned with who you were always meant to be. It’s certainly not easy to get through this period, but the result of it all is magnificent. This album highlights my journey over the last few years, the joys, the loves, the losses, and the moments of sadness. It’s also about vulnerability. It’s about all the things we face during the Saturn Return. 

PAN M 360: You seem to attach great importance to astrology.

RÊVE: At home, it’s always been a very important thing. My mother was always obsessed with astrology and still is to this day. If I’m signing a contract or getting ready for a concert, my mother says things like “Be careful, Mercury is in retrograde today.” She’s very religious about astrology. I’m not as religious as she is, but it’s still part of my life.

PAN M 360: What impression did you want to leave your listeners with this first album?

RÊVE: It was really important to me that this project serves as a safe place for people to experience and celebrate their emotions. I want my listeners to be able to experience the good and the bad with this album. Saturn Return is a celebration of all the emotions humans experience. Life is hard, and I want people to find comfort in listening to my songs. As I mentioned earlier, I also want people to see how versatile dance music is.

PAN M 360: Saturn Return features several collaborative tracks with Quebec producers Banx & Ranx, including “CTRL+ ALT + DEL” and “Big Boom.” Tell me about your relationship with them.

RÊVE: They’re like brothers to me. It’s very rare to collaborate with people you adore as much as humans as artists, but that’s the case with them. They’re my favourite people to work with. We speak the same language and understand each other so well. We have a great energy together. We have an incredible relationship. 

PAN M 360: What’s your favourite track with them?

RÊVE: I’d say it’s “CRTL + ALT + DEL,” because it’s our first big song together and the one that really helped propel my career. 

PAN M 360: Halfway through the album, we find your excellent track “My My (What A Life)” How did this track come about?

RÊVE: Oh my God! My My (What A Life)” is the last track I added to the album. When I was listening to the project, I was thinking “Oh, I’m missing a drum ‘n’ bass track! I’m a big fan of this type of music. I created part of Saturn Return in England, and this style is extremely popular there. I was almost at the end of creating the project, but I decided to go ahead and create the song. I just had to.

PAN M 360: Without a doubt, one song stands out on Saturn Return. “Past Life” is a softer ballad that moves away from dance. Earlier this week, you mentioned that this track took you back to your musical roots. Why was it important for you to have a track of this style on your album?

RÊVE: It was very important to me. It’s a dance album, but I wanted to pay tribute to my musical roots. I started making music while crying, sitting in front of my piano. It was a form of therapy for me. “Past Life” is exactly that. I wrote the chorus “Looking at you when I wake up in the middle of the night I’m thinking ‘God damn, I must’ve been good in a past life'” two years ago, but I’d never managed to finish the song. It’s about a relationship I dreamed of having. At the time, I wasn’t in the best relationship, and I thought, “I’d so like to feel these emotions one day.” And then this year, I met someone who made me feel that way, and I managed to write the rest in less than 15 minutes. That must be the power of love!

PAN M 360: You’ve also said that you need more intimacy to create songs like “Past Life.” Why do you think that is?

RÊVE: When I write ballads like this, I really have to be in my own bubble. As I said earlier, I’ve always used the piano as a therapeutic tool, and it’s in those moments that I write my truest, most honest songs. Being alone at the piano with a glass of wine allows me to really experience my emotions.

PAN M 360: Will you be touring the album over the next few months?

RÊVE: Yes, I’ll be touring across Canada early next year. I can’t wait to connect with my fans and let them experience the world of Saturn Return.

Photo credit: revemtlmusic.com