With the release of their Emmanuel Ethier-produced 2018 self-titled, full-length debut, Montréal-based dance punks Choses Sauvages — Totalement Sublime‘s Marc-Antoine Barbier (guitar), Theirry Malépart (keys), Tony Bélisle (keys), Philippe Gauthier-Boudreau (drums) and La Sécurité‘s Félix Bélisle (vocals) with Foreign Diplomats‘ and Frais Dispo‘s Charles Primeau (bass) as a touring member — exploded into the local and provincial scenes. The album was a critical and commercial success with the album topping Independent Radio Charts across Québec while receiving widespread critical applause. In 2019, the Montréal-based outfit landed Association Québécoise de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la video (ADISQ) Félix Award nominations for Alternative Album of the Year and Indie Rock Album of the year, with a Félix Award win for Indie Rock Album of the Year.
Over the course of 2019, the quintet along with touring bassist Charles Primeau supported their full-length debut with a relentless touring schedule across the province. And through this tour, the band quickly developed a reputation for a must-see live show that they’ve since brought across the global festival circuit, including stops at Reeperbahn, MaMA, FIMPRO, SXSW, Le Printemps de Bourges and Wide Days.
2021’s Choses Sauvages II saw the French Canadian outfit boldly pushing their sound more towards electronic dance music and nu-disco influences like L’Imperatice and Lindstrøm while still drawing from their love of funk, Bowie and Bee Gees while balancing a rigorous and meticulous songwriting approach with a rebellious spirit.
The acclaimed Montréal-based outfit’s latest single “Pression” (“pressure” in French) sees them continuing a new trend of pushing their sound into new directions. Sonically, “Pression” features a unique blend of their long-held disco punk sound with glistening and icy techno-like synth oscillations and subtle LCD Soundsystem/New York 00s indie dance punk scene nods. While being rooted in a dance floor friendly groove, the song possesses an underlying tense, unease air that should feel familiar to those prone to overthinking and self-doubt.
“At its core, ‘Pression’ is all about the anxiety and the sense of paranoia that accompanies it whenever you’re looking to prove yourself,” the band explains. “It’s that sense of feeling like you try and try but never quite succeed to hit that nail on the head. Even with how amazing this year has been, from making quite a bit of buzz at SXSW 2023 to embarking on our first-ever large-scale tour in the United States, that anxiety-induced ‘pressure’ still lingers.”
Directed by Philippe Beausejour, the accompanying video for “Pression” employs a distinct style through the application of several different animation techniques — i.e. paper cutouts, computer graphics, hand drawings and rotoscoping — and then processing the final video onto VHS, which creates a dated feel while translating the song’s anxious air into visual unsteadiness.