Le Ministère
Garage Rock / Rock
Double Date With Death • Debate Club
Photo credit: Rowan Fraser-Taylor
L’Au-Delà, released at the beginning of January, is the second album from Double Date With Death, with a cover designed by none other than Elzo Durt, one of the masters of psychedelic visuals in recent years. The band doesn’t even hide it, it’s clearly influenced by Californian psychedelic garage rock (think Thee Oh Sees or Ty Segall, to name only the most famous). In this case, however, the Montreal band has chosen to express itself in French. The album, recorded, produced and mixed by Guillaume Chiasson (Ponctuation, Jesuslesfilles), is divided into eight short tracks just psychedelic enough to take us on a journey to the beyond.
Samy Ben Redjeb is the founder of the Analog Africa label, based in Frankfurt, Germany. A true archeologist of musical treasures, he travels in South America and Africa to unearth tropical sounds, Afrobeat, cumbia and salsa from the 1960s and 1970s. The result of all this work is a panoply of compilations of totally unheard, groovy and catchy sounds. He’ll be sharing his gems when he hits Montreal for the first time, to the delight of ears in search of exotic discoveries.
Electro-Pop / Electronic / Pop / Soul Pop / Synth-Pop
Anna of the North
Norwegian songwriter Anna Lotterud is known publicly under the pseudonym Anna of the North – for obvious reasons. In this case, indie pop, synth pop, soul pop and dream pop all contribute to a resolutely… pop approach. Melodic accents, consonant harmonies, romantic themes… nothing could be more pop. For the moment, the economy of means and artifices confers upon this Scandinavian singer expressing herself in English (perfected during an extended stay in the Antipodes) a freshness and lightness beyond the apparent conformity of her songs. If all goes well for Anna of the North, the stopover at Ministère should be a step towards much larger venues – not a foregone conclusion, despite the esteemed success of the albums Lovers (2017) and Dream Girl (2019).
Experimental / Contemporary / Pop
U.S. Girls + Lune très belle = sold out
Photo: Julio Henriquez
Meghan Remy, an American transplant based in Toronto, is the pilot of U.S. Girls, whose eighth album, Heavy Light, will be released on March 6. If an early taste is what you want, too late, her show at Le Ministère is already sold out. It’s not unreasonable to presume that the band will be back soon enough to meet the demand. So while awaiting the release of her opus and her next Montreal stopover, we can share a few clues: on the Royal Mountain (Canada) and 4AD (international) labels, Heavy Light is a composite album: disco-funk, indie chamber pop, rock, lounge jazz, chanson d’auteur… Meg Remy and her ace team have put together some very ambitious arrangements with sensitive, subtle and often self-deprecating lyrics. Read more here on 6 March!
Flèche Love is of Amazigh (Berber) origin, lives in Switzerland and presents herself as a citizen of the world, striving to transcend her cultural heritage through superb, multilingual auteur pop. She’s eloquent, imposing on stage, haughty despite her delicate physique. Amina Cadelli’s (real name) powerful voice and excellent delivery are propelled by a globalized strain of synthwave, adorned with touches with hip hop, Berber, Mediterranean, Iberian and more. Without a doubt, Flèche Love is a unique figure with multiple identities, and whose story is just beginning.