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Feu Thérèse
Ça Va Cogner
CST049 180gLP • CD • DL
Release date: 23 October 2007
Duration: 37:24
Feu Thérèse caught spark from the embers of Fly Pan Am’s break-up in 2005, when FPA guitarist Jonathan Parant joined forces with longtime collaborators Alex St-Onge (bass, electronics) and Stephen de Oliveira (synths, voice) to form the group. Painter turned drummer Luc Paradis completed the new line-up. Their debut self-titled album, released on Constellation in spring 2006, expanded on FPA’s sonic agenda, while relying more on instumental juxtapositions – rather than electronic interventions or intentional sabotage at the mixing desk – to hijack the music. The Feu Thérèse mandate of knitting critical and non-conformist elements right into their song structures, instead of having these ‘collide’ with the music as if from outside, has reached a new level of bizarre sublimation on their new record.
Ça Va Cogner sticks to these conceptual guns, as Feu Thérèse aimed to recuperate and re-cast a ‘synthetic’ music that intentionally eschews the codified elements of 21st-century electro nostalgia: the ‘cool’ analogue keys, the heavy bass & drum mix, the overwrought faux-primitivism. Feu Thérèse embraced unfashionable synth stabs and arpeggiators, riding them high in the mix, along with the vocals, delivered with unapologetically forward, spoken-sung deliberateness by de Oliveira (in a clear nod to the poetics and production values of 1970s/80s French chansonniers). The overt suppression of ‘rockist’ production values – values that the band would maintain now condition every corner of DIY popular music – places this record strangely outside its times. With lyrics entirely in french, some will no doubt find the whole package impenetrable, while others will wonder what brilliant alternative reality (Cannes ca. 1985 in a parallel universe?) they somehow missed.
Ça Va Cogner sticks to these conceptual guns, as Feu Thérèse aimed to recuperate and re-cast a ‘synthetic’ music that intentionally eschews the codified elements of 21st-century electro nostalgia: the ‘cool’ analogue keys, the heavy bass & drum mix, the overwrought faux-primitivism. Feu Thérèse embraced unfashionable synth stabs and arpeggiators, riding them high in the mix, along with the vocals, delivered with unapologetically forward, spoken-sung deliberateness by de Oliveira (in a clear nod to the poetics and production values of 1970s/80s French chansonniers). The overt suppression of ‘rockist’ production values – values that the band would maintain now condition every corner of DIY popular music – places this record strangely outside its times. With lyrics entirely in french, some will no doubt find the whole package impenetrable, while others will wonder what brilliant alternative reality (Cannes ca. 1985 in a parallel universe?) they somehow missed.
PACKAGING NOTES
LP is pressed on 180g audiophile vinyl and comes in a thick printed jacket with 10"x10" artwork insert.
CD comes in a custom paperboard mini-gatefold jacket with a printed CD dust sleeve.
CD comes in a custom paperboard mini-gatefold jacket with a printed CD dust sleeve.
CREDITS
Stephen de Oliveira: synths, voice, arpeggiators
Jonathan Parant: guitars, effects
Luc Paradis: drums, singing
Alexandre St-Onge: bass, singing, keyboards
Jonathan Parant: guitars, effects
Luc Paradis: drums, singing
Alexandre St-Onge: bass, singing, keyboards
FEATURED GUESTS
The Brightening Star Choir on Track 6: Capucine Cyr-Picand, Morgane Cyr-Picand, Léo Bouchard-Babin, Arthur Parant, Antonin Ravatel, Yakim Cormier.
Recorded and mixed at Hotel2Tango in Montreal by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh and Thierry Amar.
Mastered at Grey Market by Harris Newman.
Recorded and mixed at Hotel2Tango in Montreal by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh and Thierry Amar.
Mastered at Grey Market by Harris Newman.