Almost hidden at the opening of the first edition of L’Appel Montréal, a one-day festival organized Thursday by the group Half Moon Run, Almatooise Sandra Contour will defend pieces from her very first album. On I have no visitorsthe musician beautifully exorcises the dark moments of her last years, with a touch of soul and humor which serves as a hook.
At the end of the phone, the 32-year-old singer-songwriter still seems surprised to have arrived with a record, having always played music without thinking “that it could be a profession” for her. Her broken thread journey, punctuated by impromptu stops between Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec and Montreal, still led her recently to the Francouvertes stage, she who had already triumphed at My first Place des Arts in 2023 .
If it is the guitar which is at the heart of the nine beautiful songs of I have no visitorsSandra Contour always took violin lessons, an instrument that was “a bit [son] antidepressant” and which she handled more playfully than technically. After studying pure sciences and a master’s degree in occupational therapy, she had a “brain in stewed” and decided to go backpacking to Australia, and with her faithful four-string ally. And that’s where it clicked.
I met musicians playing on the street, I was intrigued. I asked how it worked, then they said: well, you open your box, and you play!
“I met musicians who were playing on the street, I was intrigued,” she says. I asked how it worked, then they said: well, open your box, and you play! But I was embarrassed, the first time I tried, I asked two of my friends to be there to clap after my songs! I made $50 in half an hour that day, I was completely overwhelmed by it. I continued to do this for a month nonstop, I made a good little salary to continue my journey. »
Earning a living from music was now within the realm of possibility for Sandra Contour. But the shock with the reality of returning to her profession was hard and plunged the young woman into burnout. It was there that she decided to follow her musical path even further.
“There is a lady at the campsite in Alma who told me that she would like to see me play for Cirque du Soleil. Then I looked at the details of the auditions, and you had to know how to improvise, which I didn’t know how to do. So I searched the Internet for “violin improvisation lessons” and it brought me up the Saint-Laurent CEGEP in jazz in Montreal. I applied and was accepted. »
These are years of transition, which I approach with empathy. I met a lot of people, I discovered myself from different angles too.
Another rebound, therefore, but not the last. Because a music teacher pushed her to opt for the composition aspect of the program, “which was not my number one option overall!” » She breaks her teeth on songs, improves, takes a liking to them. But it will take yet another meeting, that with the director and orchestrator Gabriel Desjardins (Philippe Brach), for Sandra Contour to really consider this first album tinged with her sadness, her loneliness and her unease.
“These are years of transition, which I approach with empathy. I met a lot of people, I discovered myself from different angles too, I think that it testifies to all this personal exploration, then friendly and loving, she explains. With occupational therapy, I quickly entered the health field, where I learned to take care of others before taking care of myself. And I think that these tunes were a bit my way of repairing myself. And I had to shed some light on that. »
Simple and intimate
Sandra Contour delivers arpeggiated guitar lines that have their roots in Nick Drake, Sibylle Baier and José Gonzáles. Everything is accompanied by simple string arrangements, but which draw in small doses from the imagination of composer Daniel Elfman, whom the musician adored in her work with Tim Burton.
I have no visitors remains a record of great sonic intimacy, due to the fact that the guitars and vocals were recorded in Contour’s apartment at the time, a small two and a half apartment in the Saint-Jean-Baptiste district of Quebec. An attempt in the studio displeased the musician. “I felt far from the point. I felt far from everything. I needed to get closer, to be in my bubble. Almost reliving them, these emotions. » The only downside in the modest accommodation: the fridge had to be closed due to the noisy compressor. “I was setting alarms to start it again because it happened that I forgot and lost things! »
The stage name Sandra Contour, a clever and rare play on bedding puns, reflects the more amusing and “sloppy” side of the young woman, according to her. “Maybe I let myself go more [avec ce nom]. And yes, a fitted sheet is difficult to fold, you don’t really know what to do with it! The imperfect side, then a little childish, I accept it! »