HIGHLY RECOMMENDED W/ CE QUI NOUS TRAVERSE
* Providing the A's to the 5 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Q's today is ce qui nous traverse — a group of music-makers out of Montreal who recently dropped an album called ‘Le sacre de Sainte-Barbe’ that you should stick in your headphones one of these late nights / early mornings (and catch the track ‘La nuit renait toujours‘ in the HI54 Mix CD ‘QUEBEC’)
#1 - WHAT IS THE ONE ALBUM (OR EP OR SONG) THAT YOU THINK SHOULD BE THE VERY NEXT MUSICAL THING THAT EVERYONE PRESSES PLAY ON THE NEXT TIME THEY FIND THEMSELVES THINKING “WHAT SHOULD I LISTEN TO NOW”?
First, we approach this Q&A as a rare opportunity to share the aesthetic universe surrounding the creation of our latest album, Le sacre de Sainte-Barbe (Cuchabata Records, 2021), which is a concept album on the singular relation we crafted over the years with a small town of Quebec. As artists, we get our inspiration from a wide variety of artistic propositions, and it’s really a pleasure for us to present some of the works that have been influential for us in this process of creation.
On a music level, there are many influences that we would like to acknowledge of course, but one of the most important of these probably are the last two albums of the English group Talk Talk, and more particularly the first of these, Spirit of Eden (EMI, 1988).
A sublime album on the aesthetical level in its carefulness to sound textures and ambiances, the balance between some kind of simplicity in the composition (in the conventional sense), but with an impressive complexity in the arrangements. Moreover, the artistic process of these two albums also inspired us a lot: these are radical gestures of artistic freedom, with no compromises on the formal level. This story is pretty well known, but for those who don’t know the album (and the masterpiece that followed in 1991, Laughing Stock), Talk Talk, who were previously known as a synth-pop band producing some eighties hits, decided to make the music they really wanted to do, even if it meant no commercial and relatively little critical success (at the time). To achieve this delicate assemblage, the mixing work was immense; it took so long to create because this is really where all the sonic interventions took place. Their approach was to take the best of every (mostly) improvised contribution of the many musicians they invited.
In the process of composition of Le Sacre de Sainte-Barbe, which was mostly created during long nights of improvisation in an old house, we found ourselves welcoming the slowly emerging morning with that album. That was just perfect with the soundscape of the rural area that was surrounding us in these memorable moments.
#2 - WHAT IS THE ONE MOVIE OR TV SHOW THAT YOU THINK SHOULD BE NEXT IN EVERYBODY’S NETFLIX QUEUE (OK, DOESN’T HAVE TO BE NETFLIX, WE’RE ALL INTERNET ADULTS HERE AND KNOW HOW TO FIND ANYTHING ONLINE, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER)?
Of course, through our exploration of the strangeness of some nights in a very small North American town, many cinematographic influences come in mind. But our main video recommendation would be the work of Guillaume Vallée and Larissa Corriveau, the two talented video artists we had the chance to work with in the creation of the cinematic universe of the project. Their singular visions and their amalgam of experimental and mixed media re-appropriation techniques were excellent to develop an unsettling graphic poetics in concordance with our music and with the richness of the textures and the ambiances of the place.
For more specific recommendations, see are you haunted, daddy? (about anxiety) by Guillaume Vallée, a rhythmically dense and texturally rich depiction of the fragmented anxiety and existential thinking that emerged during the first phase of the pandemic. And À travers les murs, by Larissa Corriveau, a poetic and mysterious short film exploring the strange ambiances of an old house and the singular relation between a women and her neurodiverse and silent son.
#3. I (AND BY “I” I MEAN “THE PERSON THAT IS READING THIS”) AM GOING TO THE LOCAL BOOK STORE (OK, MAYBE THE LOCAL LIBRARY FIRST) TO FIND THE VERY NEXT BOOK THAT I WILL BE PUTTING SOME EXTREMELY VALUABLE ‘ME-TIME' ASIDE FOR. WHICH BOOK WOULD YOU GET, IF YOU WERE ME (AND, I SUPPOSE, YOU HADN’T ALREADY READ WHAT YOU’RE ABOUT TO SUGGEST)?
Following our own artistic and intellectual trajectories, it is probably through philosophical readings that this project has been conceptualized. There are of course many books that we would like to recommend here, but one author seems to be a shared inspiration of all these: Friedrich Nietzsche, and more particularly its first book, The Birth of Tragedy.
The way it reassemble the relation between the sacred and the profane, the relation to tragedy and affirmation, the call for renewed rituals and the whole concept of the Dionysian have been crucial in our discussions and shared ideas surrounding the creation of the album.
We would also like to acknowledge the work of philosophers Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, among many others, who were all taken in “the Nietzsche jolt” (to borrow Derrida’s work).
#4 - WHAT IS THE ONE WEBSITE (OR JUST ANY OLD INTERNET THING: APP, GIF, SERVICE, WHATEVER) THAT YOU WOULD GET REALLY DOWN IN THE DUMPS ABOUT IF IT WERE TO SUDDENLY GO AWAY?
We looked at plenty of stuff from the artists that inspired us, not in order to emulate them but to understand more what they have done to do our own things afterwards. For instance, some websites around Sonic Youth’s gear and open tunings have been a major source of inspiration.
We like their work’s ethics and the way they approach sonic textures, ambiances and experimentations, and knowing more about the concrete approach of this band and the devices at play have been important in our sonic researches.
#5 - AND FINALLY… PLEASE GIVE ONE COMPLETELY UNAIDED RECOMMENDATION THAT YOU THINK EVERYONE SHOULD START DOING / USING / WATCHING / EATING / THINKING / QUITTING / ETC-ING TO MAKE THEIR LIVES A LITTLE BIT MORE BETTER AND/OR BEARABLE.
Well, following the creation of Le sacre de Sainte-Barbe, two main recommendations come in mind at this point.
First, go make music/art in places that have not been designed for it. The contact with new and unusual environments is often a great source of inspiration, and it’s often a good way to explore new areas of your creative territories. That’s how we have been taken in the process of making a concept album around our relation with a small town: we were making a different kind of music there, like if the surroundings were playing with us.
Second, try to not compartmentalize the different experiences you make. Living and making art involves a constant mix of approaches, influences, regimes of perception, meanings, etc. We are made of a multiplicity of moving forces and this has to be welcomed and sustained. Be open to what touches you, and do not try to find “your true self”, or to express “the core of your person”, it’s what we want to become among the multiple becomings that that traverses us that matters the most. So in that perspective, listening, reading, looking at stuff, even when it’s not related to your practice/your approach, is crucial in nourishing a singular creative process. We are largely made of the relations and the inclinations that have moved us in the course of our trajectory, so better be open and constantly search for great connections.
OK folks, there you have it. Things that ce qui nous traverse think you should consider incorporating into your day/life. Before you log off and go look for a place to make art & connections, make sure to follow the ce qui nous traverse on the Facebook / Instagram and then also give ‘La nuit renait toujours’ a listen below…
