After her first effort with Hardwood, the label of Canadian indie folk singer Hayden, Lou Canon has signed to Toronto-based Paper Bag (Becky Ninkovic, The Dears, Yamantaka // Sonic Titan). With this third album, as suggested by the album cover, which depicts Lou in a fetal position, dressed in stockings and lingerie, the composer gives us access to a staging of her intimacy and corporality. The 10 tracks create for a moment an intimate universe with universal appeal, thanks to the lyrics, imbued with poetry and sensitivity. Death, love, sexuality, the relationship to the body, to others (“Next To You”, a proximity we share with the artist), and to time resonate with everyone’s experiences. The human being set to music, in their strength and fragility, fears and aspirations (“Invisible Desire”). The musical structures, often unexpected, show a true artistic vision that takes the project away from electro-pop and brings it closer to the experimental. The dark atmosphere of the work, labelled “noir pop”, floats the spirit of film noir over “M.O.T.R.”, and a special mention goes to “For Life”, which plunges into a spiritual atmosphere, a kind of very touching funeral oration, delivering a message of hope – “Don’t give up”. An encounter between heaven (the finesse of her voice, the choirs) and earth (the organ, the strings). Would it be a passage from one to the other? Yours to judge.
