Alex Burger wears loaned cowboy boots for a photo shoot for THE Duty, worrying that the exercise would make him want to spend a small wad of cash for real and leave with a brand new pair. Suddenly, the owner of the place also hands him a leather hat, but the musician politely declines. Yes to country, but not necessarily labeled, and with a slightly restrained intensity.
The guitarist, also a member of the group Bon Enfant, has just released his second solo album, It can’t be invented, a title that could captivate the story of this fitting session which smelled of leather. This new collection of 11 pieces embraces multiple textures around his favorite style. The record also flirts with rock, folk, and even disco — on a Mother’s Day song.
“It’s an album of songs,” he summarizes. Quebec songs. Then in French. » This is what counts, we understand, from the man who won the Félix for best country album in 2021, an ADISQ gala where he was also a finalist for the title of Revelation of the year.
“Since the award, people often tell me that what I do isn’t really just country. And I say: well no! » Alex Burger understood with his first record, Sweet Montérégie, that “it’s more purist as a genre”. Country flirting with rock raises questions, while the opposite goes like a letter in the mail. “Like the Stones, they make a lot of country tunes on their albums, but it’s still a band rock music, and no one cares about it. »
Alex Burger doesn’t make a big deal out of it, and advances in music in his own way, covering the miles and increasing the number of concerts. And his audience is hybrid, both young people close to the alternative scene, a more traditional country crowd and also people who have heard him on commercial radio or seen him on The voicein Pierre Lapointe’s team, in 2020.
The former member of the Caltâr-Bateau group wanted to make his new compositions “hold” differently, a reaction to the titles of Sweet Montérégie, more “smoked” in the studio, constructed in segments over a long period. “We were often told during the tour that people loved it and cursed it. show, but that they did not find the same thing on the album. »
So we had to bite the bullet and think about everything differently. For It can’t be invented, “I was kind of in a state where I wanted the piece to exist just standing with a guitar, and then we recorded it. It’s a bit old-fashioned, but it wasn’t even a desire to be vintage. Above all, I wanted to prove to myself that I was capable of doing that.” The result, recorded entirely live in six days with his group, proves that Alex Burger is capable of it.
With the price [Félix du meilleur album country en 2021], people often tell me that what I do isn’t really just country. And I say: well no! Like the Stones, they make a lot of country tunes on their albums, but they’re still a rock band, and no one cares.
These days in the studio, supervised by director Alexandre Martel (Hubert Lenoir, Lou-Adriane Cassidy), were still a test for Alex Burger, who lost his brother a few days before recording. A song was already dedicated to him, The king of the mountain, which closes the record and where the singer says: “Where is it to get a little better? »
“Canceling everything was a bit complicated because it had been “booked” for months, it’s a lot of people, it’s a lot of organization, it’s money… Then, I I said to myself: this is what I love most in life, we’re going to go do that. » But he insists: “We have not fallen into melodramatics. My brother liked it when things continued. »
So the record is not about that, but the event colored its recording. Alex Burger notes that his voice tone is different, but above all emphasizes the contribution of his musicians, who were able to be there for him. “They’re not big talkers […], but on the other hand, they played, they played their support. »
“And we laughed a lot too!” » says Burger, who adds that the watchword in the studio was to respect an energy worthy of a “Brazilian Sinatra”. “I said to imagine Elvis’ microphone, but with palm trees a bit like Joannie Lafrenière, a director well into the rococo”, to whom we owe, among other things, the documentary Snowbirds.
The texts of It can’t be invented, they do not weave a conceptual framework, but embroider around everyday moments, celebrations and the road. Alex Burger is a big fan of Stephen Faulkner and his lyrical touch, but gives the example of hip-hop to illustrate his approach. “You can say a line that is not necessarily connected to the one before, it sometimes touches on collage, and I really like doing that. »
As for the themes, they are “still country, and that’s something I don’t shy away from,” says Alex Burger. Going by car, for example, “it’s part of my life,” explains the native of Saint-Césaire. “I’ve always loved seeing things through my windshield, then, you know, just move forward… When you’re traveling, you don’t go backwards. It doesn’t seem like much, it’s really simple, but that’s the road. » And life, too.