Tag: Montréal QC

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Thaïs Shares a Club Friendly Bop

Rising Paris-born, Montréal-based singer/songwriter and JOVM mainstay Thaïs specializes in an atmospheric and delicate pop sound, which compliments her ethereal delivery. Thematically, her work typically focuses on melancholy, loneliness and dysfunctional, confusing, heartbreaking love.

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past handful of years, you may recall that 2022 was a breakthrough year for the JOVM mainstay: She signed with Bravo Musique, who released her highly anticipated full-length debut, Tout est parfait.

Since then the French Canadian artist has had busy couple of years: She has expanded upon her growing profile, opening for KYO, M, Arianne Moffatt, Dumas and Suzane while working on her Blaise Borboën and Thaïs co-produced sophomore album Personne. The album also features contributions from La Faune’s multi-instrumentalist Jay Essiambre and bassist Émile Farley.

Slated for an April 4, 2025 release, the rising JOVM mainstay’s sophomore album will reportedly be “extroverted music for introverts” — energetic tracks that lead towards self-affirmation while allowing listeners to delve deeper into her universe.

Personne’s fourth single “Taxi” is a slickly produced, dance floor friendly bop that sounds as though it were inspired by Robyn. And while arguably being the most club ready songs of her growing catalog, the song is anchored by her penchant for pairing introspective lyrics with remarkably catchy hooks. The song’s narrator is on her way back from a night out, sitting in the backseat of the titular taxi, when she’s caught the ghost of a past relationship — through a favorite song or a passing by a place that reminds of her this past lover or something along those lines.

Directed by Alexis Boudrias, the accompanying video introduces us to a bruised and battered Thaïs waking up from some sort of accident and then performing the song in a bare studio. We also see the rising French-Canadian heading to a party and when she arrives, quickly realizes that she doesn’t belong. She makes an attempt to leave and winds up in the studio, where she presumably feels more like herself.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: DVTR Shares a Mischievous and Breakneck Ripper

With the release of their debut EP, 2023’s BONJOUR, the French Canadian JOVM mainstays DVTR —  Le Couleur‘s Laurence G-Do a.k.a. Demi Lune and Gazoline‘s,  Kandle‘s Xavier Caféine‘s and Gab Bouchard‘s JC Tellier, a.k.a. Jean Divorce — burnt up the Canadian indie scene: The EP amassed a plethora of rapturous reviews, landed on a number of Best of 2023 Lists and earned the duo a handful of awards in Québec. 

Last year saw the duo building upon the momentum of the previous year, with an expanded edition of their debut EP, BONJOUR (BIS), which featured two bonus tracks that I wrote about on this site:

The Montrealers supported both the original and expanded editions of BONJOUR with a frenetic tour schedule that included an Asian and German tour. They closed out the year with a sold-out show at Montréal’s Les Foufounes Électriques and Revelation of the Year, Punk Album/EP of the Year and Animated Video of the year award wins at last year’s Gala Alternatif de la Musique Indépendante du Québec (GAMIQ).

The duo begins 2025 with the breakneck and mischievous “Né pour flâner (Born to loiter), a song that further cements the duo’s uncanny knack for mosh pit friendly, catchy hooks, punchily delivered vocals and furious synth and guitar riffage.

The accompanying video features footage shot while the band was touring across Germany and Asia, capturing their raucous and goofy energy.

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: La Sécurité Returns with Breakneck and Woozy “Ketchup”

Montréal-based art punk quintet La Sécurité features a collection of current and past members of Choses Sauvages, Laurence-Anne, Silver Dapple, DATES, Pressure Pin, and others. Since their formation back in 2022, the French Canadian quintet developed a sound and approach that meanders around the fringes of punk, New Wave and krautrock paired with jumpy beats, off-kilter arrangements and minimalistic yet melodic hooks, seemingly run through an insomniac filter.

While their music is razor sharp and danceable, their lyrical content is rooted in the feminist community-centric ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement. “It’s not just fun and games… it also bites. It’s catchy earworms delivered with a punk attitude,” guitarist Melissa Di Menna says. 

With the release of 2023’s Samuel Gemme-produced Stay Safe!, La Sécurité exploded into the national and international scenes, supporting the album with a busy period of touring with stops across the North American festival circuit, including M for Montréal, New Colossus and SXSW among others, as well as opening for The Go! Team.

Late last year, the JOVM mainstays shared “Detour,” a joint release with beloved indie label Bella Union and their label home Mothland. “Detour” continued where Stay Safe! let off: motorik grooves paired with spiky, off kilter arrangements and minimalistic melodic hooks that bring a synthesis of DEVO and the B52s to mind.

The Canadian outfit starts off 2025 with “Ketchup,” a breakneck post-punk ripper anchored around dizzying synth arpeggios and a distorted, down-tuned bass line paired with the JOVM mainstays’ uncanny knack for punchy, shout-along friendly hooks that continues a run of material that seemingly draws from Freedom of Choice-era DEVO.

The verses are coupled with a chord change that helps build the collective’s compelling case against small talk. And while the song isn’t about condiments; instead it sarcastically alludes to ketchup with the line “L’affaire est ketchup,” a Québécois expression meaning: “All is well.”
 
“Though we knew we wanted to write a song about small talk, when we started working on the music, I was mostly scat singing, save for the words ‘L’affaire est ketchup.’ Hence, the song title,” La Sécurité’s frontperson Éliane Viens-Synnott says. “We noticed while playing the song live, that the tune got people bouncing all over the place. The track seems to have that special energy. To keep that energy, Renny [Wilson] went all out with the production. To be fair, we did suggest that he made every track ‘clip.’”
 

Philippe Beauséjour, who directed the accompanying video, explains, “Upon listening to the song, I noticed that it was about small talk, and all these subjects that come up in conversation when we have nothing to say. These empty conversations are often about what ‘normal’ people see on television (weather forecast, news, funny ads…). The papercutting animations stem from my love for Terry Gilliam’s work.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Psych Rock Supergroup MIEN Shares Brooding and Driving “Evil People”

MIEN is a psych rock super group that features some of the genre’s biggest and most accomplished artists:

Since the project’s inception, MIEN has been a confluence of diverse musical influences and shared histories: The band’s origins can be traced back to 2004 when Dihr crossed paths with Maas during a serendipitous encounter at SXSW. That meeting sparked a deep friendship and a series of critically applauded collaborations. Around the same time, Dihr met Lapham, whose electronic and production expertise would later become a cornerstone of MIEN’s sound. These connections led to MIEN, a band that sees its members seamlessly blending their varied musical backgrounds into a unique sound. The band’s newest member Kidd joined on in 2018.

The psych supergroup’s long-awaited sophomore album MIIEN is slated for an April 18, 2025 release through Fuzz Club. The sophomore album reportedly marks a bold new chapter for a band known for an alchemical approach to their work. Building upon the foundations of their critically applauded self-titled debut, MIIEN finds the band and its members pushing their collaborative and explorative ethos into uncharted territories.

Recorded in studios between Montréal, Abilene and Austin, the psych supergroup’s sophomore album captures a unique creative process: Most songs began as a simple idea — a loop, a vocal phrase or a groove — passed between members and meticulously layered.

The band’s collaborative workflow saw each individual sketch evolving as each member contributed their distinct sonic palette. “It’s an organic process,” Rishi Dihr says. “A simple idea can become something monumental when we each put our stamp on it.”

The album’s creative journey was heightened during key in-person sessions, including an intensive recording period in Austin during SXSW. The rare opportunities for the band to work together in the same space added a dynamic immediacy to several album tracks.

Overall MIIEN represents the strength of the band’s collective vision. Each member brings their unique perspective to the table, creating music that is simultaneously personal and universally resonant. Anchored around richly textured soundscapes and fearless experimentation, the album, purportedly sees the band crafting material that actively bridges the golden age of 60s psychedelia with the cutting edge of modern music. Lapham reflects, “Working with these guys has been one of the most enjoyable experiences in my music career. Our synergy is seamless, and I’m excited to see where this next chapter takes us.”

The album’s first single “Evil People” is a propulsive bit of synth-driven psych rock featuring a relentless motorik-like groove paired with Maas imitable delivery and a rousingly anthemic hook and chorus with expressive bursts of reverb-drenched guitar.

“‘Evil People’ has its roots in a 2015 collaboration between Alex and awesome Danish musician Trentemøller,” the band explains. “Fast forward to March 2022, when MIEN reunited in Austin for three intense days of recording during SXSW. Given how rare it is for all of us to be in the same room at the same time, the creative energy was electric—music and ideas flowed effortlessly, and ‘Evil People’ was born.”

The accompanying video by the band’s John Mark Lapham and Raz Ullah features scorching VHS fuzz, collages of the band member’s faces, psychedelic art and more.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Super Plage Shares Breezy, Dance Floor Friendly Bop

Jules Henry is a Montréal-based singer/songwriter, electronic music producer and creative mastermind behind the acclaimed recording project Super Plage.  And if you’ve been following this site over the past couple of years, you’d recall that I’ve written about the acclaimed Montréal-based artist a bit over the past couple of years.

Last year, he released two singles:

  • “Ton chien,” a flirty bop anchored around a breezy and summery production featuring glistening synths and skittering beats as a lush bed for Henry and Parsian artist Sainte Nicole to trade ethereal and dreamily delivers verses. It’s the sort of song that’s perfect for hanging out in the park — or the beach — with the pretty someone, who’s got your heart skipping beats. 

  • A cover of  Jimmy Hunt‘s 2013 hit “Nos corps,” with longtime collaborator Virginie B and Nectar Palace that turns the disco-tinged yet atmospheric original into a New Wave-like tune that reminded me a bit of Blondie-meets-Soft to the Touch-era Jef Barbara with a Robyn-like disco groove, some squiggling funk guitar.

Henry’s fourth Super Plage album, GROSSE MAISON is slated for a May 16, 2025 release through Montréal-based label Lisbon Lux. The album’s second and latest single “Tip Top” continues a run of breezy, 80s-inspired dance floor friendly bops anchored around squiggling funk, glistening synths and a relentlessly infectious groove serving as a lush and woozy bed for Henry’s dreamy falsetto. “Tip Top” is a track that invites you to get up on that dance floor and shake your ass — while dreaming of the summer.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Guillaume Michaud Teams Up with JOVM Mainstay Naomi on Sultry “Poison”

Guillaume Michaud is a Montréal-based choreographer, dancer, producer and DJ. After initially gained recognition as a dancer and choreographer in season 2 of TVA’s Révolution and starring as the lead character in Cirque du Soleil’s Andorra-based 2022 production of MÜV, Michaud’s DJ career gained recognition as he played sets at Piknic Electronik, Igloofest, PY1, Burning Sun, Frontrite and a list of others.

Deriving its name for the Irish Gaelic word for “my heartbeat,” Michaud’s recently released 5 song debut EP, Macushla draws from deep techno, minimal house, house music and the raw energy and drive of the afterhours/rave scene. Sonically, the material sees the Montréal-based artist pairing deep bass grooves, immersive melodies, carefully layered buoyant percussion and catchy vocal hooks. While specifically crafted to make people dance and connect with one another, the material was written with musicality of choreography in mind, informed by the mathematically precise understanding of rhythm he developed as a dancer and choreographer.

EP single “Poison” is a collaboration with rising Montréal-based JOVM mainstay Naomi. They have a professional and personal relationship that goes back to when the pair were both 13. As they both pursued their respective careers in dance, they remained connected and eventually co-founded Audiomatique, an independent collective that organized techno and dance music events. Audiomatique helped to kickstart Michaud’s DJ career and led to building connections with many future collaborators — including DJ’ing for the rising Montréal-based artist.

“Poison” is a seductive, hook-driven club banger, featuring reverb-soaked skittering clang and clatter, trap-like triplets, broodingly atmospheric synths serving as a lush bed for Naomi’s sultry delivery. It’s the perfect song for late-night, hazy, smoke-machine, neon and strobe-lit rooms with sweaty humans dancing the night away.

Directed by Élise Lussier, the accompanying video follows Michaud and Naomi as they head to a neon-lit warehouse with a collection of fierce as fuck dancers.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Brooklyn’s TVOD Shares Punchy “Car Wreck”

Brooklyn-based post punks TVOD (Television Overdose) can trace their origins back to 2019 when its founder Tyler Wright recorded a high-energy cassette of punk songs on a Tascam 4-track tape recorder in the abasement of the DIY space he was living in at the time. Since then, the band went on to independently release two EPs, 2020’s Daisy and 2021’s Garden along with standalone singles “Alien,” “Mantis,” “Goldfish” and “Poppies,” and two limited run 45s.

Influenced by post-punk, krautrock and egg punk, the Brooklyn-based post punk outfit quickly established a sound and approach that sees them pairing emotional, sometimes juvenile lyrics with driving, hook-driven arrangements that get crowds moving and moshing. Thematically, the material draws from personal and external inspirations like the nightlife/music scene, heartache, World War II, the untimely death of a beloved pet fish and more while telling a gritty, often tongue-in-cheek picture of being a DIY artist grinding it out in New York, complete with tales about the degenerate lifestyle and all the good and bad that comes with it.

Wright then recruited a standout lineup of freaks from the Brooklyn scene that includes Mem Pahl (drums), Micki Piccirillo (bass), Jenna Mark (synths), Serge Zbritzher (guitar) and Denim Casimir (guitar), who now join I’m both live and in the studio. Now, as a sextet, the rising, Brooklyn-based sextet have quickly developed a reputation for raw, unpredictable and explosive live shows, which they’ve taken across the North American and global festival circuit, making stops at SXSW, Hopscotch, Sled Island, Concrete Jungle and FME among others. They’ve also shared stages with the likes of Warmduscher, Snõõper, Gustaf, Civic, Soul Glo, Balkans and Iguana Death Cult.

The rising Brooklyn outfit went up to Montréal-based Gamma Recording Studio with producers Félix Bélisle and Samuel Gemme to record their Mothland debut, “Car Wreck” features a krautrock-like baseline, a steady backbeat, fuzzy and squiggling guitar lines, woozy synth bursts and the band’s penchant for catchy, shout-along worthy hooks serving as a propulsive bed for Wright’s punchy delivery singing lyrics about being reckless and happily embracing it.

Based on an illustration by TVOD’s Tyler Wright, the animated visual by Scott Palazzo features a Batmobile-like car speeding through a New York street.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Choses Sauvages Shares Tense and Danceable “En joue”

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. 

Throughout 2019, the French Canadian outfit supported their full-length debut with a relentless touring schedule across the province. During that tour, the band quickly developed a reputation for a must-see live show that they’ve 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 found the Montréal-based outfit pushing their sound more towards electronic dane music and nu-disco influences like L’Imperatrice and Lindstrøm while still drawing from their love of funk, Bowie and Bee Gees. The album also sees them furthering their approach which pairs rigorous and meticulous songwriting with a rebellious spirit. 

Choses Sauvages’ highly-anticipated third album, Choses Sauvages III is slated for a March 28, 2025 release through Audiogram. Earlier this year, I wrote about the album’s first single “Incendie au paradis,” a decidedly New Wave/post-punk song anchored around a propulsive bass line and a guitar driven melody paired with squiggling synth arpeggios and a subtly vocodered vocal. Seemingly drawing from Heroes and Low-era Bowie and Pleasure Principle-era Gary Numan, “Incendie au paradis” depicts artificial intelligence as angels that can transform and improve our daily lives. While addressing the technological advance’s promises and benefits, it raises concerns with an uneasy trepidation.

“I wanted to highlight the need to think about the ethical and moral implications and the still unknown limits of these new technologies, and the influence they have on our lives,” Choses Sauvages’ Félix Bélisle explains. 

Choses Sauvages III’s second and latest single “En joue” features a propulsive bass line is paired with angular guitar stabs, bursts of glistening synths paired Bélisle’s punchy delivery and the band’s unerring knack for catchy hooks. Seemingly drawing from Freedom of Choice-era DEVO, Pleasure Principle-era Gary Numan, Entertainment-era Gang of Four and even La Femme, “En Joue” manages to be simultaneously tense yet danceable.

The song as the band’s Bélisle explains “refers to the helplessness in the face of extremely violent international news of recent years. It also deals with the fear of the other, the dehumanization of certain populations taken hostage in armed conflicts.”

“En joue refers to the feeling of helplessness in the face of the extremely violent international news of recent years. It also deals with the fear of the other, the dehumanization of certain populations taken hostage in armed conflicts,” explains Félix Bélisle, the group’s singer and lyricist.

En joue pulses with a jerky rhythm, offering a danceable melody that manages to evoke the breathlessness of flight, of a race against the fears and anxieties that lie in wait for us and stick to our skin.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: VICTIME Shares Woozy and Glitchy “Résonne encore”

Initially formed in Québec City back in 2016 and now currently featuring members split between the Québecois cities of Montréal, Québec City and Gatineau, VICTIME — Ponctuation’s and Pure Carrière‘s Laurence Gauthier-Brown, Album’s Simone Provencher and Corridor‘s and Kee Avii‘s Samuel Gougoux — quickly made waves across the province with 2017’s Mon VR de rêve EP, 2018’s full-length debut La femme taupe and Mi-tronic, mi-jambe EP.

With their first three releases under their collective belts, the trio began to make the rounds of the Canadian festival circuit, playing sets at Sled Island, Up Here, Francos de Montréal, FME and Taverne Tour. Adding to a growing profile across the country, the band opened for the likes of Lydia Lunch, Guerilla Toss, Frigs, Ponctuation and Jesuslesfilles, as well as a series of tour dates in France.

The band’s forthcoming effort, En conversation avec is slated for an October 25, 2024 release through Mothland. En conversation avec is the result of a new creative process for the band, informed and inspired by the band being split across different cities in the province. Written over the course of the past five years, the trio frequently relied on the spontaneity of sporadic get-togethers and remote work in which they shared files among each other.

Reportedly the effort sees the band simultaneously showing a newfound patience while being among their most layered. While still holding on to their post-punk and noise rock roots, the trio explore a wide-spanning spectrum where tensions and openings coexist, colmating breaks and ruptures, cracks and fissures with elements of trip hop, avant rock and IDM. Thematically, the material touches upon feminism, vengeance, violence, being a female, speaking out, obliterating patriarchy and more.

“It was a long process, the sum of three minds in three different cities. We felt the urge to create in a new way, to break out of our guitar-bass-drums mold, to be less of a rock band,” the band explains. “So, we started from sounds and sonic explorations, finally recentering everything around a more simple songwriting process. And though it is packed with weird sounds and whatnot, we feel this is the best music we have ever written. It is informed by the many projects, contracts, experiences, etcetera each of us took on over the past few years, a logical follow-up to our individual paths.

We were inspired by many things, namely: the Sisters with Transistors documentary film, Kim Gordon and everything she represents, the sadness of roadkills; electronic prototypes, breadboards and sonic experimentations; musique concrète [or concrete music], mechanisms, eye (but also other parts of the body) surgeries, Giacometti, The Da Vinci Code, the total solar eclipse, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn.”

“We produced the album ourselves. We recorded everything way too hot, so it’s distorted. Also, we didn’t use a grid when tracking, so we struggled with the sessions quite a bit. Amongst the files we sent to Simon Labelle, who mixed the album, there are easily 47 tracks with takes we had no business keeping and well over a dozen tracks named “Noise 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8…”, so he probably hates us now. I guess we kept our reckless-kids-playing-in-the-back-alley mentality, all the way to the financial means. Simone [Provencher] builts effects pedals with Fairfield Circuitry, which meant we could use breadboard prototypes on a few tracks, so that’s pretty legit, right?”

En conversation avec‘s latest single “Résonne encore,” is the band’s first ever love song. Anchored around a propulsive and forceful, tribal drum pattern, “Résonne encore” features reverb-soaked vocals, angular guitar stabs and bursts of synth oscillations for the song’s first two-and-a-half minutes, before abruptly stuttering into a glitchy trip hop-like bridge seemingly inspired by Portishead’s “Machine Gun.” The song’s coda features bursts of guitar dissonance, the introductory section’s propulsive and forceful tribal drum pattern paired with an ethereal and dreamily sung vocal incantation. The result is a song that feels feverish, woozy and a bit heartsick, much like an uneasy yet new love.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy Belated 90th Birthday, Leonard Cohen!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates the 90th anniversary of the birth of Leonard Cohen.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Choses Sauvages Share Post Punk-LIke “Incendie au paradis”

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 French Canadian outfit 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’Imperatrice and Lindstrøm while still drawing from their love of funk, Bowie and Bee Gees. They also managed to further establish their approach with pairs rigorous and meticulous songwriting with a rebellious spirit.

The Montréal-based outfit’s highly-anticipated third album, Choses Sauvages III is slated for a Spring 2025 release through Audiogram. The album’s first official single “Incendie au paradis” is a decidedly New Wave/post punk song anchored around a propulsive bass line, a guitar-driven melody paired with squiggling synth arpeggios and a subtly vocodored vocal harmony. Seemingly drawing from Heroes and Low-era Bowie and Pleasure Principle-era Gary Numan, “Incendie au paradis” depicts artificial intelligence as angels that can transform and improve our daily lives. But while addressing the technology advance’s promises and benefits, it raises concerns with an uneasy trepidation.

“I wanted to highlight the need to think about the ethical and moral implications and the still unknown limits of these new technologies, and the influence they have on our lives,” Choses Sauvages’ Félix Bélisle explains.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Diamond Day Shares Brooding and Shimmering “Tina”

Montréal-based duo Diamond Day features two highly acclaimed musicians and recording artists in their own right:

  • Vermont-born Béatrix Méthé was raised with the traditional music of rural Québec. Her family moved to Canada when she was baby, and she grew up acquiring Lanaudiere’s regional repertoire from her father, the founder of legendary folk-trad group Le Rêve du Diable. Her mother, a singer-songwriter and fine arts graduate versed in early digital media, inspired Méthé’s own aesthetic. After spending some time venturing deeper into visual art, Béthé moved to Montréal to study filmmaking, but wound up discovering indie and psychedelic folk music along the way. She cut her studies short in 2015 to pursue music full-time, fronting acclaimed outfit Rosier, whose unique fusion of Québécois folk and indie rock garnered multiple nominations and awards — and lead them to tour across 15 countries with stops at SXSW, NPR’s Mountain Stage and the BBC. 

  • Western Canada-born Quinn Bachand grew up in a home where art was omnipresent and the family’s 40-year-old record collection was on an omnipresent loop. As the son of a luthier, Bachand began playing guitars handmade by his father and was touring internationally by the time he turned 12. After graduating from Berklee College of Music back in 2019 on a presidential scholarship, the Western Canadian-born multi-instrumentalist spent time in the Grammy-nominated band Kittel & Co. His involvement in the US folk scene prompted collaborations with a number of like-minded artists, including Chris Thile. In 2019, Bachand began collaborating with Méthé and Rosier, quickly establishing himself as an influential, genre-bending producer.

That initial successful collaboration with Rosier lead to the duo’s forthcoming full-length debut as Diamond Day, Connect the Dots. Released earlier this year, the album saw the duo establishing a sound that weaved elements of folk, indie rock, electronica, shoegaze and dream pop into a unique take on alt-pop.

In the lead-up to the album’s release, I’ve written about two of the album’s singles:

  • “Noisemaker,” a song built around tape-saturated organ echo, fluttering synths, blown out beats, a sinuous bass line and lush, painterly sheogazer-like guitar textures paired with Méthé’s gorgeous vocals. The result — to my ears at least — reminded me of a mix of Beach House and Souvlaki-era Slowdive with a subtle amount of glitchiness.

  • “Fiction Feel,” a breezy, summertime dream of a song built around a glitch pop soundscape featuring vintage tape recordings, glistening synths and a shuffling organ drum machine before quickly morphing into a lush New Wave/post-punk anthem that brings Cocteau Twins and Violens to mind. 

Connect The Dots’ latest single, album closer “Tina,” is a slow-burning and brooding, Beach House and Pavo Pavo-like ballad featuring strummed acoustic guitar, twinkling keys, skittering tape saturated beats serving as a dreamily uneasy bed for Méthé’s gorgeous and expressive delivery. Arguably one of the most personal songs on the entire album, “Tina” tells a story about schizophrenia and anosognosia, a neurological condition in which the patient is unaware of their neurological deficit or psychiatric condition. it’s often associated with mental illness, dementia and structural brain lesion, as seen in right hemisphere stroke patients. As the band’s Quinn Bachard explains, “The song is super personal. It’s about my family, schizophrenia and denial.”

Directed by Robert Desroches, the accompanying video for “Tina” features the band’s Béatrix Méthé in a candy colored room playing keyboard with a DIY set up made of various bric-a-brac. As the song progresses, the videos’ protagonist goes through a deeply hallucinogenic experience.

“Robert had a strong vision for this one,” Méthé says of the video. “He saw something that was dark and luminous at the same time. As if one fueled the other. He pictured a colorful implosion cutting through the softness of the song, in this spooky retro-futuristic setting à la Severance.”