New Video: Montréal’s Grand Public Shares Shimmering and Hazy “Goutte à Goutte”

Montréal-based indie outfit Grand Public features a collection of accomplished local musicians: The band’s frontman and founder Gregory Paquet has played with The Stills, Alvvays‘ Molly Rankin and Peter Peter. The band’s three other members are childhood friends, who have played together in several other local bands including Reviews, an act that has played with JOVM mainstays Corridor, Omni, and others. 

The members of Grand Public took advantage of pandemic enforced downtown to develop and refine their sound, and then write and record their four-song Dominic Vanchesteing-produced debut EP Idéal Tempo. Released last Friday, the EP sees the Montréal-based outfit pairing angular guitar textures, ethereal melodies and hypnotic rhythms with an explosive release of tension.

Earlier this year, I wrote about the EP’s second single “Lundi normal,” which featured reverb-drenched, angular guitar, ethereal vocals and rousingly anthemic hooks paired with a propulsive rhythm section. While sonically bringing Junior-era Corridor to mind, the song is rooted in surrealistic, seemingly stream-of-consciousness lyrics.

The recently released EP’s latest single, “Goutte à goutte” is centered around shimmering and swirling guitar textures, the Montréal-based outfit’s penchant for multi-part harmonies and propulsive rhythms. While still recalling JOVM mainstays Corridor, “Goutte á goutte” also nods at 120 Minutes-era MTV alt rock and 60s psych rock. The band explains that the EP’s producer “put a lot of emphasis on the harmonies, which add a layer of richness to the songs and color the mood of the EP. All of the songs on Ideal tempo were recorded live with the most standard rock instrumentation: two guitars, bass and drums. But we used a 12-string guitar on ‘Goutte à Goutte’ to add a touch of magic, and we really like the result — the sinuous, swirling, hazy feel that come through.

“Our director put a lot of emphasis on the harmonies, which add a layer of richness to the songs and color the mood of the EP,” explains the band. Along with the release, the band shares the music video for the album’s lead song, Goutte à goutte. “All of the songs on Ideal tempo were recorded live with the most standard rock instrumentation: two guitars, bass and drums,” the band adds. “But we used a 12-string guitar on Goutte à Goutte to add a touch of magic, and we really like the result – the sinuous, swirling, hazy feel that comes through.”

Directed by Joe Pelletier, the accompanying video for “Goutte à Goutte” is split between footage of the band playing the song in a studio, shot through fisheye lenses, and an illustrated black hole traveling through the universe, paired with lyric cards. The video emphasizes the song’s hazy feel.