Selective Listening | Fire! Chatterton, Simon Kearney and Valaire

Every week, our music journalists add songs to the playlist of The Press on Spotify. Here are three recent titles that are in our selection.

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The red poster, Fire! Chatterton

The music lover as well as the lover of French song will tell us that this piece is far from being a novelty, and they will be right. Since 2021, the rock band Feu! Chatterton resumes The red posteran original song by Léo Ferré, released in 1961, celebrating Missak Manouchian, hero of the French resistance shot 80 years ago by the Germans. But now, the said song has been available for a few days on music platforms, while Manouchian was inducted into the French Pantheon last Wednesday. A limited edition vinyl has also been on sale since Friday with versions by Léo Ferré and Feu! Chatterton. In short, this cover is topical and is a happy pretext to listen to the unique, warm and precise voice of Arthur Teboul, leader of Feu!. It is here placed in front of discreet and minimalist instruments (synth and soft guitar). Thrills while listening, we guarantee it.

Philippe Beauchemin, The Press

Île d’OrléansSimon Kearney

Everything that links Simon Kearney to the Île d’Orléans permeates the first extract from his fourth album. The piece is simply titled Île d’Orléans and it is to this territory that he encounters every day that he addresses in the intimate and gentle refrain. The song demonstrates his deep attachment to place, like a love song, set to folk and pop tunes that the singer-songwriter has infused throughout his upcoming album, The island (which will be published on April 26). The music video which accompanies the release of the piece was concocted by Simon Kearney himself, with the help of his friends. Filmed on old VHS tapes, it reveals to us the corner of Île d’Orléans that the artist loves, in a winter landscape.

Marissa Groguhé, The Press

What I DidValaire

After an absence of seven years, Valaire seems to be in a new creative vein. Barely a year after the release of his excellent album Jazz Futonthe band of musicians will launch an EP on March 5, which is the logical continuation… and this, even in the title Sofa So Good which promises to be just as richly jazz, funk, electro, and many other things as its predecessor. In any case, this is what we can guess What I Dida new piece released this week, with soloist Amen Deniro, a soul singer from Quebec whose caressing voice blends perfectly with the languorous rhythm of the song.

Josée Lapointe, The Press