We have known for a long time about the environmental commitment of Cowboys Fringants bassist Jérôme Dupras as an environmentalist, scientist and university professor. This winter, he pushes the alliance between the arts and science even further by releasing an instrumental album inspired by the climate crisis.
Solastalgia, the title of this album which will be launched on Friday, means “a form of nostalgia and sadness in the face of elements of the past that are lost and what we foresee for the future”, explains Jérôme Dupras. This concept, developed 20 years ago by an Australian philosopher, is now used in psychology to describe one of the faces of eco-anxiety. Not that paralyzing anxiety attacks, but rather that of mourning “in the face of something that is lost and goes away”, he specifies.
Solastalgia is therefore not a tormented or agitated work. It’s more of a soft and melancholic album, a breath of fresh air inspired by the “intersecting preoccupations” of three musicians and young fathers worried about the legacy they are leaving to their children.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Jérôme Dupras is also the bass player of Les Cowboys Fringants.
The idea was to make music and art on a subject important to us, from a rather organic and individual perspective. It’s a current capture of the situation through the eyes and hands of three musicians who wanted to create a beautiful object with a beautiful gait.
Jerome Dupras
Therapeutic outlet
The album was composed, produced (with Sébastien Blais-Montpetit) and played almost entirely by Jérôme Dupras, the multi-instrumentalist Jérôme Dupuis-Déry, who has accompanied the Cowboys on stage for years, and the pianist and musical director Guillaume St -Laurent. The project started two years ago, in full confinement, a bit like a therapeutic outlet
– “In the context of a pandemic, with three young children at home, the smoke was coming out of my ears! – and with the aim of continuing to create.
“We started, Jérôme and I, and it was he who offered to call Guillaume. His piano is more elaborate than we could do, and it clicked right away musically. For a year, we worked remotely, we sent pieces of room left and right. The album was 95% complete when I finally met Guillaume in person! And there it clicked on the human level too. »
The album is constructed in eight very cinematic tableaux inspired by themes related to the environment, whether it be melting ice, whales or the forest. The “patchwork” composition gives it breathing space and travels between neo-classical – Guillaume St-Laurent’s piano has a lot to do with it – and jazz, with plenty of room for improvisation.
“We say it’s instrumental pop, because of the structures with recurring patterns. This alloy is what came naturally. Our trio works well, the piano with the rhythm section, the bass and the drums as well as the brass. »
Breathing
We can “read between the musical lines” of the album a narrative framework that is neither defeatist nor too optimistic, a soothing and “a little Buddhist” approach, underlines the bassist. “We can’t change everything, but we can change what is within our reach. Accept the world around us, take a breath and create something that reflects this state of mind. »
And these 35 minutes of music are there to transport the listener into a more sentimental and reflective state, he believes. “In all the rooms, except one or two, there is little relief. It passes slowly, it leaves room for mental openness. »
This open structure will leave room for even more improvisation in future shows. For the three musicians, they will be the extension of the creation with a multidisciplinary approach, getting closer to the installation with video montages to “give a cinematic side to the adventure”.
It’s a chance, a freedom to have a vehicle like that and we will keep it very active. The album is not an end, it is a chapter of the book which is being written.
Jerome Dupras
After more than 20 years of scientific research and music, Jérôme Dupras is happy to see that he has succeeded in uniting the two poles of his life around this common denominator which is the future of the planet. “When I was in high school and the band was starting out, it was really two different worlds. But I saw all the strength it gives to cross worlds. It really enriches when you dialogue in this way and it can carry the message in a new and innovative way. »
And for the environmentalist who spends his life in his laboratory “observing disturbing data”, talking about mourning and the end of a world to make beauty out of it is also comforting. “Out of every shock can come opportunities. There are landscapes in transformation, moments of beauty that can be captured. And this form of hope can bring about individual, societal and human change,” says Jérôme Dupras.
Instrumental
Solastalgia
Jérôme Dupras, Guillaume St-Laurent and Jérôme Dupuis-Déry
The tribe