On A man and his pianoP’tit Belliveau’s second album, we discover a song called Return to us. What he did a year ago, leaving Moncton where he had settled for a while before concluding that the salty air of his native Nova Scotian hometown, Baie Sainte-Marie, suited him better. It is, he says, the last song composed for this remarkably pensive album in its themes: “You have to understand that I wrote all these songs during the pandemic. Normally, I draw inspiration from everyday life; I write about the absurdity of normal situations. However, I was, like everyone else, locked up at home… It gave an album just a little more emo than usual. »
In his texts and his music, Jonah Richard Guimond specifies not to be subtle, even in the visual accompanying his album releases. The cover ofA man and his piano shows him in the backyard of a friend who lives a five-minute walk from his house, sitting alone in front of an electric piano, his face painted in black and white “in homage to black metal, a musical style that I love for true,” he says. “I wouldn’t call my new songs sad, but they’re definitely more emotional, and that’s kind of what I wanted to reflect on the cover. Like the P’tit Belliveau version of sad clown or lonely cowboy. »
We will need a few listens to this fascinating new album to understand it: if, on the surface, P’tit Belliveau’s song seems light, jovial and comical, by lingering over the text, we take the measure of the emotions that the author -Acadian singer-songwriter wants to share. Passages of glaring lucidity as in I feel like an aliena ballad with a catchy melody from the first bars opening on upright piano chords before taking on soft rock colors: “The world says they want you to be honest / But they don’t want to hear the truth / ‘Because I learned how to be simple to hide / There, it’s the only way I know how to be’.
The album opens with I would like to have a John Deere which, by barely forcing, could have appeared on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) by Elton John. Epic, tender, lyrical, the theatrical electric guitar, its orchestral finale, Belliveau even surpasses himself in the text set with pearls like this: “I would like to have a John Deere / With all the garlands of amanchées / Ej I would go to the great desert / Sow seeds so that everyone can eat”.
“It’s one of my favorites too, I’m proud of it,” Jonah said. It’s very different from what I’m used to — and to be nerd, in terms of production, there are a lot of little complicated details. This is the kind of technical challenge that I am proud to have overcome. »
He knew that, from the title, this song was going to be perceived as a joke by “the inhabitants of the city”. It sets the tone for the rest of the disc: beneath the surface, a reflection on the world that surrounds P’tit Belliveau. “To be honest, there is always something deep in my songs — anyway, that’s what I try to do. I find the best thought-provoking way to change perspective [de l’auditeur], is that the message is not obvious and that it is said without lecturing. You have to give the impression that it comes from deep inside you. One of my strategies for doing this is to use images that I know will sound ridiculous, so the listener lowers their arms and absorbs the message without realizing it. »
“That being said, continues Jonah, I never use images that mean nothing to me. But I can assure you, every man here at the bay wants a John Deere, guaranteed. Each pops here wants his big tractor to work his land. But the image is wanted: if you listen to it for the first time and you think it’s a funny song, I think it’s easier to get the message across. »
Paradox
This is the paradox with P’tit Belliveau, which we discovered with an amusing country formula at the Francouvertes, then, after he had joined the Bonsound label, with singular synthetic pop songs like income tax and the beautiful The boats in the baytaken from his first album Greatest Hits vol. 1 (2020). Very inspired by what is referred to as the Japanese city pop of the 1980s — “Hiroshi Sato, for me, is one of my big heroes, like Baptiste Comeau”, the little-known Acadian songwriter to whom he paid tribute on his latest mini-album — his songs make you laugh, but should also make you think. P’tit Belliveau is not, as one would say in his part of the country, a ” novelty act “.
“I know a lot of people assume it’s a comedy project, I guess, perceives Jonah. But I also believe that I will never be able to convey the meaning of the project well because I sense a fundamental difference in perception between the public of Quebec and that of Acadia with regard to musical projects that are said to be serious or humorous. »
“When I started performing on stage in Quebec, people always asked me if my project was humorous or serious, and I always found this question strange because I had never asked myself it. Because it’s a bit of both, but it’s mostly serious. For me, it is so obvious that it is above all serious! Humor is sometimes part of the songs, but for me, growing up with Acadian artists, it was always normal to hear serious artists who had a humorous component to their project. In fact, I cannot name an Acadian artist who does not have at least a little humor in his project: Cayouche, Baptiste [Comeau], Radio Radio, Angèle Arsenault, they are all funny songs and serious songs, and sometimes both at the same time. In Quebec, it seems to be one or the other. »
” In the end, I made peace with the fact that many people will think that my project is humorous and will not look further than that, assures P’tit Belliveau. And it’s okay as long as people enjoy my songs and have a good time performing with me. »
” On that stage is where I’m supposed to be / Causin’ smiles, it makes the air feel clean / But no one seems to know just what I mean », sings P’tit Belliveau in I feel like an alien.