The temperature affects my mood, ”says Emerik St-Cyr Labbé, who sits in the Quai des Mists. Fortunately, he chose a gently sunny day to conduct interviews around the release middle age, his third album titled Mon Doux Saigneur. The good weather suits him well after the winter we have just experienced “prisoners, with snowstorms and without friends, in my little apartment. That’s why I bought myself a cat, “he adds, smiling. It was in this context that he wrote and recorded the brightest of the albums he has offered us.

Some of us will interrogate him that day in a nice little room on rue Saint-Denis, Emerik is happy. “It’s the first time I’ve given so many interviews, that’s good news,” he says. It’s mostly a sign that no one has forgotten his previous album, Horizon, one of the best albums in his cuvée in Quebec, was named one of the best “alternative” music albums at the ADISQ celebration and the Lucien Award-winning GAMIQ folk album of the year. An album whose country-folk-psychedelic wealth was unfortunately not heard on stage: Horizon was published in January 2020. In the middle of a coronavirus wave!

“I, my life is very sociable, even if I’m basically a shy person,” explains St-Cyr Labbé. Since I play music, I don’t seem to see people anymore. Music has become my social circle, my inspiration, what fills me; Since I no longer saw people, the pandemic gave me the impression that I no longer had anything to say or say. But then the situation turned into a kind of meditation for me. A quiet moment to be able to compose “peaceful songs from middle age“even if every day I had the feeling that the apartment was gradually getting smaller …”

Like all of us, Emerick “hit the wall,” he sings Jojoone of the songs he describes as “très Mon Doux” because backbeat directing a national melody in harmony with the glissandos of the pedal steel his friend David Marcand said: “I miss driving, I miss talking to you / I miss sleeping in my tank / I miss touring over the bars / I can’t wait to see you again. “It will come from May 26 with the launch of the concert in La Tulipe.

Listen to this light and smile middle age, the musician can recognize the optimism that was lacking in his previous recordings. The sadder lyrics also echo the hope, “Will you go or stay / We’ll always come here / Melodies in brackets,” he sighs in the excerpt. Melodyin the intelligent pop-rock rhythm, vaguely reminiscent of the 20th century. 80s sound. Since opening the album at living artEmerik shows his flair for hook and his devotion to the work of Thomas Pete, singing in as open and convincing a voice as a deceased rocker.

“Do you feel that way too?”

middle age is an album “with chapters, each song has its own theme,” says Emerik St – Cyr Labbé, acknowledging the optimism that characterizes his new repertoire when compared to his old material, which is still mourned by his deceased father. at that time.that he attended Frankover. “I only recently realized: am I going further? I like that it scratches the cavity [dans mes textes]I will never write anything frivolous or decorative, but this time I wanted my music to be fun share so I can be generous without showing my pain. I ask people more, “Do you feel that way too?” Do you want us to experience it all together? »

“It simply came to our notice then fun to sing when you can dive into the text and say a phrase that is clear, easy to understand, ”adds Emerik. middle age is overwhelmed with texts of this kind with clear emotions. Unclearfor example, one of the country music in the record is a love letter to the music and others who bring it to life.

“I consider this album to be a lyrics with a lot of verses written in a very common language that speaks to the reality of us as artists. Dedication also to my musicians who work so hard; consciously or not, I rely heavily on our friendship bond [en concevant mes albums], it is something that goes beyond a simple musical vocabulary. As if we were playing together in the studio, it goes without saying [le résultat] will be consistent. This is my philosophy: we are not always the best musicians in the world, but we speak the same language. You immediately fall into the music, ”Emerik says, as if talking about falling in love.

Between this new album andHorizon Previously, Mon Doux Saigneur and his colleagues explored new musical lands. Always rooted in folk and country, Emerik St-Cyr Labbé finds other rock colors in its palette, such as Shoegaze – which is not a shoegaze, but almost “krautrock” with this Mandela Kupala-Dalglesch metronomic drumming game, supported by a drum machine manipulated by multi-instrumentalist Eliot Durocher-Bundock.

“I told my co – director [Jean-Bruno Pinard] that i wanted less sound effect. No more duplicate voices, we’re removing special effects. I wanted good sound without mixing it – it’s silly, but only a good microphone in front of a good Martin & Co guitar can hear it! Then, if you double him, it makes you think of Tom Pete; and yours reverb no trap have got [du fabricant américain] In the vocabulary of the ’80s, you think of Nashville’s sound at the time, like Willie Nelson’s. I like it, the sound of it kitsch, the crystal guitar, that’s what we were looking for. The less, the more cool. »

“There are songs from my first album [Mon Doux Saigneur, 2017], I listen to them again and can’t believe it’s a choir! There I created an album for people to recognize me, without hidden messages. »

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