Emmanuel Alias is a French-born, Montréal-based singer/songwriter multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, dilettante and polymath who had had a varied career in music before he started his eponymous psych rock project ALIAS.
After spending nine years studying jazz at the Darius Milhaud Conservatory in Aix-en-Provence, France, Alias relocated to Montréal in 2014. Upon his arrival in Québec, Alias landed a job at XS Music, where he worked on scores for HBO’s Big Little Lies and Sharp Objects, ICI Télé’s Une autre histoire, Hubert et Fanny and Cerebrum et Mon fils, Mariloup Wolfe’s feature film Jouliks and for a number of Cirque du Soleil productions. In 2017, Alias has also worked for Musique Nomade, where he produced multidisciplinary Oji-Crie’ and Mi’gmaq artist Anachnid‘s DREAMWEAVER, which was nominated for an Association québécoise de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la video (ADISQ) Award and long-listed for the Polaris Prize.
The French-born, Montreal-based artist also produced singles by Q-052, Annie Sama, Chances, iskwē and Beyries. He has also had a stint as the musical and stage director for Ananchid
He has also managed to have had a host of different projects to accommodate a need to explore different genres, releasing punk, hip-hop and even ambient material under different monikers, before starting ALAIS, a cathartic psych rock project that has seen him crating retro-tinged songs rooted in fantastical, batshit crazy, hallucinogenic tales paired with fuzzy guitars and wild tempo changes.
Alias’ sophomore ALIAS album will be released through Simone Records next month. Clocking in at little over 68 seconds, the album’s latest single “TRUTH OR TRUST” is woozily euphoric bop featuring glistening synth arpeggios, whirring bass synths, relentless four-on-the-floor paired with razor sharp, incredibly catchy hooks creating a LCD Soundsystem-meets-Psymon Spine-like soundscape that’s roomy enough for Alias, along with fellow Montréalers Virginie B and Meggie Lennon to playfully trade neurotically self-aware and vaguely paranoid verses and hooks throughout.
Directed by Gabrielle Thiffault, the accompanying video for “TRUTH OR TRUST” is a remarkably stylish and woozy romp that visually looks a bit like Missy Elliot‘s “The Rain” but fueled by psilocybin or Molly.
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