Initially known for his roles as co-founder, co-lead vocalist, guitarist, lyricist and songwriter in internationally acclaimed JOVM mainstay act Corridor, Montréal-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, animator and visual artist Jonathan Robert is by both necessity and nature, a prolific and versatile artist.
Back in 2015, he began archiving his overflowing ideas, when his girlfriend gave him a Tascam four-track recorder. This opened a world of possibilities for the French Canadian artist, fueled by his enthusiasm for a wide range of musical genres aligned by his lo-fi sensibilities. He began compiling demos with similar sounds and inspirations, and before publicly releasing a song, a discography was taking shape.
This creative process eventually evolved into Robert’s solo project, Jonathan Personne, which derives its name from the French version of John Doe — or perhaps a bit more accurately, Jonathan Nobody. The project’s name reflects his determination to simultaneously not represent a specific person and to better reflect his multifaceted artistic identity. Over the past seven years, he released four albums that saw him drawing from a wide range of influences including desert dream pop, Morriocone-esque Spaghetti Western rock, The Clean-like jangle pop, Latin-influeinced grooves, Galaxie 500 and Yo La Tengo-like indie rock, as well as sampling, sequencing and beatmaking. And he’s done this while working on albums with his primary gig, Corridor.
Typically, Robert finds himself working three albums simultaneously. Although he gives each project the time it needs to be distinctive, there’s always one that’s on the verge of completion. The French Canadian artist’s Jonathan Personne debut, 2019’s Histoire Naturelle drew from desert dream pop, Morricone-esque Spaghetti Western rock and jangle pop, showcasing some of the project’s earliest written and recorded material. Thematically, the album’s material focused on the potential end of the world, which with the album’s timing, may have been alarmingly prescient.
His sophomore Jonathan Personne album, 2020’s Guillaume Chiasson-produced Disparitions was primarily written while the Montreal-based artist was touring with Corridor and his full-length debut was being mixed.
He began 2022 by signing with Bonsound, who released his Emmanuel Éthier-produced self-titled third album. Written alone on an acoustic guitar in a cottage, the album took an unexpected turn, when the Montreal-based artist went to Quebec City-based Le Pantoum with his friends and frequent collaborators Samuel Gougoux (drums), Julian Perreault (guitar), Mathieu Cloutier (bass) and the aforementioned Éthier (violin, synths, mellotron, vocals and production), who helped flesh out the album’s material with arrangements featuring electric guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, Rhodes, timpani, mellotron, synths, violin and samples from obscure TV shows and movies. But unlike his previously released Jonathan Personne work, the self-titled album had a much more polished production.
His fourth album last year’s Nouveau mode was a melodic, sometimes noisy effort that brought together previously unreleased songs from different periods of the project.
Robert’s fifth Jonathan Personne album, Répertoire is slated for an August 28, 2026 release through Bonsound. The album’s material can trace its origins back six years ago: When he began working on what would eventually become Repertoire, the Montréal-based artist sensed a significant change in direction and chose to focus on another set of songs instead. This lead to his acclaimed, self-titled third album. Répertoire reportedly sees Robert bringing some light to his firmly established melancholic sound, with the album’s material drawing from yacht rock and dream pop to create something entirely unexpected. Anchored around melodic bass lines, looping figured and self-sampled guitars, the result is a sound that’s groovy yet contemplative, dreamlike yet noisy.
Thematically, the 10-song album sees the French Canadian JOVM mainstay reflecting on his relationship with music, vacillating between moments of repulsion and ones that remind him why he chose — and loves — his career.
Répertoire‘s first single, album opening track “Rêve américain” may be the funkiest song of Robert’s growing solo catalog to date. Seemingly a mind-bending blend of yacht rock, Les Imprimés and Monophonics-like blue-eyed soul and indie pop, “Rêve américain” explores the feeling of disillusionment over an idealized notion of success, specifically referencing his last tour across a dysfunctional, fucked up Trump-era United States with a droll sense of irony, exasperation and fear.
