David Marchand, vocals, guitars, lyrics, Francis Ledoux, drums, percussion, backing vocals, Étienne Dupré, bass, synthesizers, backing vocals. Keep these names in mind, for they will be circulating for many years to come within the French-speaking music-loving community. Like such excellent groups as Corridor, Population II, and La Sécurité, Zouz is riding the new rock wave sweeping Quebec. Make no mistake, we’re not talking about a tsunami here, but a wave strong enough to be heard and distinct enough to be seen rolling over the ocean of sonic possibilities offered by the landscape of 2024.
We don’t mean to assert that there was nothing before them either; let’s face it, this rock community has always been active, but it has become confidential over time, less and less dominant. Now, it seems, the tide is partly turning, and Zouz is partly responsible. As a side-project, the trio released their first recordings in 2016. Today, the side-project has become a priority, particularly since the release of Jours de cendre. In the context of the Coup de cœur franco, at Club Soda last November, Zouz’s appeal was tangible, as the main attraction in a triple bill that was (almost) sold out.
The Montreal band is gaining momentum in the midst of a renewed interest in muscular, saturated frequencies, adorned with all the asperities essential to rock expression. So far, so rock? You still have to listen carefully to these musicians, you still have to reread Zouz’s words to realize their substance, you still have to listen to this music to realize its capacity for innovation. You listen, you listen again, you identify the instrumentation, the rhythmic cells that go beyond binarity, the synthetic coatings coupled with the acid guitars, rooted in rock.
Another competitive advantage: few musical proposals of this kind are accompanied by a solid poetic approach, especially those from French-speaking America.
David Marchand dips his pen into phantasmatic inks that multiply the colors of his autobiographical and analytical diffraction. He evokes the sensation of full awareness, sobriety, nature’s warning signs, the quest for self-identity, conjunctural pessimism, and the denunciation of lies. In short, he offers us the feelings of a sensitive, intelligent human being, who has no choice but to get through this period, which is indeed conducive to the Jours de cendre.
