A long-time friend of Quebec, French singer-songwriter Albin de la Simone is not making his first Francos, but he will realize an old dream this year by playing with a group made up entirely of Quebec musicians. Warm discussion with an artist who doesn’t like to stand still.
What does it mean to you to come and sing at the Francos in Montreal?
It’s almost a tradition, and a pleasure. I have been coming to Quebec for a very long time, very often, and I have come to the Francos for each album. It’s rediscovering a part of my life and doing a concert in front of an audience that I don’t see often enough, who are loyal to me and to whom I am faithful.
Has it always been a priority for your career to develop on both sides of the Atlantic?
Yes. It turns out that as a teenager, I came to Saint-Hyacinthe on exchange. Since then, Quebec has been part of me. I feel good there and I have always done everything to come and play there, in multiple conditions and circumstances. And then I now have a sort of friendly family there, a whole bunch of people like Pierre Lapointe, Ariane Moffatt, Jérôme Minière, Philippe Brault…
So the secret to a long-term relationship is regular presence?
The secret to making friends in Quebec is to never try to imitate the Quebec accent! Ha! ha!
We know you as a singer-songwriter, but you recently played piano on the Beyries album…
My first job is playing and arranging records. I have played on over a hundred albums as a studio musician. I love doing that, I do it less now that I’m more of a singer, but when I’m invited, I’m happy. Beyries invited me, with Joseph Marchand, who is a kind of brother to me.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Singer-songwriter Albin de la Simone
What do Quebec artists bring to your work?
Lots of things at different levels. Pierre Lapointe is an inspiration, such a talented and brilliant, active and abundant being. Robbie Kuster, who was a drummer with Patrick Watson, I invited him to play on my most recent record, because I love his musicality, his sound. I have always thought that in Quebec, the musicians are really very, very good. That doesn’t mean that in France they are bad, but we don’t have the same instrumental culture. There is also the great tradition of singing by the wood fire. The acoustic guitar, the families singing… People all sing in Quebec, I have the impression!
What will the shows you are going to present at the Francos look like?
I finished my Franco-European tour a month ago. The Montreal shows will be unique and excite me a lot, because they are the perfect illustration of what we have been talking about for a while: I will be accompanied by Joseph Marchand on guitar, Robbie Kuster on drums and Virginie Reid on keyboards. I’m finally starting a Quebec band, with my friends! It’s really a deep desire that I had.
You will be at the Francos at the same time as lots of French artists, from Zaho de Sagazan to Francis Cabrel. How is French song doing?
There is also Alyocha Schneider, a Franco-Quebecer! He and Zaho de Sagazan are the perfect illustration that when French songs are original and of good quality, they do very well. A singer has no interest in looking like others, he rather has an interest in developing his uniqueness. Like Zaho de Sagazan, who is recognizable among a hundred thousand, who writes very well, sings very well. It is with joy that I see people like that appear. And then Cabrel is at the other end of the line, a great and beautiful career which becomes even more refined as he gets older. It really touches me too. We’re really talking about people who make songs in the noble sense of the term.
More than 20 years of career, 7 albums, hundreds of collaborations… At 53, can we consider you an old hand?
There is Cabrel all the same! (Laughing.) But yes, I realize that I’m holding on for the long term, and that I’m starting to be a kind of truck driver indeed. That’s great, because that’s what’s the most difficult, to last. And not only am I lasting, but I feel like I’m always progressing. I’m doing nothing more than trying to do my best, like everyone else, but things are constantly getting better and better it seems.
Always with the challenge of relevance, of saying something meaningful?
Oh yes ! You just have to remain permeable, and porous, and listen to yourself. There are so many things I haven’t resolved yet, including artistically. I have work ! I feel like it’s going to stress me out as time passes, in the sense that I don’t feel like I’ve said everything. Afterwards, the more we have said, the more difficult it is to formulate things without repeating ourselves.
What awaits you for the rest of 2024?
This fall, I’m locking myself in here and there, because I’ll have a very rich next spring. I am publishing a book of drawings and texts, on the theme of my adolescence. I’m also going to release an EP, and an exhibition, and I’m going on a solo tour during which I’ll play, sing, tell stories, draw on stage. I’ll mix everything together, and everything will be coherent. But I have a lot of work this fall to put this together.
Are you going to spend time in Quebec?
In addition to my two concerts at the Cinquième Salle during the Francos, I will play solo on June 16 in a church in Saint-Casimir. Then I’m going to come back to Quebec in August… to make a secret album.
Albin de la Simone is performing this Friday, June 14 and Saturday, June 15 at 7 p.m., at the Cinquième Salle at Place des Arts.
Visit the show page