Olivier Demers, fiddler emeritus of the trad band Le Vent du Nord, also teases the guitar with ease, at his personal discretion, far from public eyes and ears. With À l’envers d’un monde, he opens the door to this modest intimacy.
Twelve gently contemplative pieces, like whispered commentaries on Quebec panoramas that a Wim Wenders from our land would have dreamt of and put to film. Yes, Demers transports us into a universe like Ry Cooder’s for Paris, Texas, but with a different touch.
Demers’ guitars (acoustic, classical, electric) resonate soberly, but with melancholy strength. He weaves a soundtrack for an afternoon watching the rain fall through the window, admiring the delicate departure of a dead leaf from its tree in the autumn wind, sighing at a few scattered flakes in January, or tenderly marvelling at a few blades of grass caressed by an August breeze.
That’s how À l’envers d’un monde is. But it’s also, here and there, a string quartet, a double bass, a few percussion instruments, and even a trumpet. And then, a unique and specific added value to the album, there are also touching poetic texts, one for each musical walk, written by friends and authors such as Michel Rivard, Nicolas Boulerice, and Odette Lambert, which you’d be wise to absorb slowly and deliciously.
