SOMMM

Producer D R M S and Ariane Moffatt deliver SOMMM, an ageless and uncomplicated collaborative work that comes at just the right time. Musician, songwriter and director Étienne Dupuis-Cloutier (aka D R M S) is the man behind the albums by Fanny Bloom and Dumas, and now SOMMM, created in collaboration with Ariane Moffatt after connecting on tour. This unique opus features eight original songs produced entirely by the duo, who invite singer-songwriters Marie-Pierre Arthur and Rosie Valland to join them on pop-tinged tracks. For nearly 30 minutes, SOMMM not only borrows the codes of keb rap, alternating fluidly between French and English, but also its beatmakers. Producer Ruffsound, to whom we owe some of Quebec hip hop’s greatest hits, puts his commercial pop touch on “Finir seule” and “Sunshine”, enhanced by the bilingual rhymes of the catchy Clay and Friends. FouKi, LaF and Maky Lavender, up-and-coming rappers from Montreal’s emerging hip hop scene, are also featured on the brilliantly crafted summer rap tracks. While SOMMM’s rhythms evoke summer, their lyrics also recall the anxious atmosphere that currently prevails. Dealing with loss of bearings, life’s challenges and relationships with lightness, the collaborative album can be listened to again and again, from one end to the other with ease. A whole that is undoubtedly more than the sum of its parts.