Alexandre Poulin leads his career far from the spotlight, followed by a loyal audience who love the folk singer-songwriter as much as the philosophical storyteller, in song and in performance. He will launch his sixth album on Friday, The sum of loved onesa tribute to life and to what unites us to others, inspired by the mourning of his father.
What makes you happy? asked researchers, over a period of 85 years, of people at the end of their lives. To love and be loved, the participants responded, regardless of time or social level.
“It has never changed, everyone answers the same thing,” marvels Alexandre Poulin, who is in an incessant quest for the meaning of life. This question of happiness had interested him for a long time when his father, this “titan” who had always been in great shape, received a diagnosis at the age of 70 giving him less than a year to live, and he was able to accompany until the end.
“He left with medical assistance in dying. It’s a priceless gift: he welcomed me when I was born, I had the honor of walking him to the door. » And seeing people passing through his room during his last week of life, Alexandre Poulin arrived at the same observation as the authors of the study.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Alexandre Poulin
Finally, at the end, there is the love you gave, the love you received, and that’s it. I dared to ask my father, the morning he died, what had made him happy. He replied: this is the time I spent with you.
Alexandre Poulin
“He taught me so much,” he adds. It’s there that The sum of loved ones took root in this unique and overwhelming experience. And he knew how to transcend it to tell stories of love and friendship, past, present or future, because we are all inhabited “in layers” by the people who have crossed our path.
“I found it difficult to go deep into my gut, to go there for real. It came to me hollow, but that’s so much the better. »
At the heart of the two “parentheses” that are the first (Lovedose) and the tenth song (Saying goodbye), who talk about his father, so there is life. It’s in his nature, Alexandre Poulin can’t help but see the bright side of things.
“It’s just a matter of perspective. Like the song Bad blood, you read it backwards or forwards, and it says something else. It’s my pride for this record, to have faced an ordeal like this, and to come out with a vision. »
Uniqueness
Alexandre Poulin will release his sixth album in 16 years on Friday… and he can’t believe it. “Especially since at the start, I was told it wouldn’t work. People told me: your songs need to be shorter, there is no chorus, it needs to be more commercial…”
While his new tour will include a good hundred dates over two years, the 46-year-old singer now believes that it is by keeping his uniqueness that he has made his way, “far from the established roads and the big lights”.
“I didn’t decide it, it happened by itself. I’ve been doing this for 16 years and selling tickets… Is it niche? I don’t have the impression. I was told that people wouldn’t listen, that they would tune out after five minutes. I think that if you take the world for caves, they will become one. My audience is silent and attentive. I find it exceptional. »
Of course, he pinches himself often, takes nothing for granted and rolls up his sleeves every morning to work. “By telling myself that every day is one more day to do what nourishes me the most. The best job in the world. »
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Alexandre Poulin
Spark
Alexandre Poulin was a teacher before becoming a singer. We still associate him a lot with the world of education, even if he hasn’t taught since… 2008! It’s a lot because of his song The writer, released in 2010, which became a classic in schools, and also because its songs are used in ministry exams. But it’s true that he still has “hands and feet” in it.
“My best friends are teachers,” says the man who has been a spokesperson for school perseverance and who, in his Outstanding Humans project, paid tribute to teachers who do things differently – this theme was even the heart of his previous tour .
In light of the recent strike in the public sector, when asked if he thinks education is well treated, he shakes his head. “If they leave me on that, I’m going to get away with it. I have a hard time talking about it because it upsets me so much… I don’t know what it’s going to take for it to change. Do we have what it takes as a people? »
So as not to have the impression of “criticizing all alone in a corner”, he continues to speak and act within his means. Although he feels a responsibility, he is well aware that he cannot change things alone.
But if you’re not the stick of dynamite, you can be the spark. Or you can even just blow on the embers, and it will trigger something you won’t even know about.
Alexandre Poulin
Now that the album is about to come out and he’s ready to go on tour again – “I’m sitting on the train, waiting for it to leave” – he hopes his new songs will get a lot of attention. road with him. And that they will be heard “by people to whom it will speak”.
“It was visceral to write these tunes, to defend The sum of loved ones, this deep connection that we have with human beings. It freed me to write them, it did me immense good. I hope listening does that. »
Folk
The sum of loved ones
Alexandre Poulin
Cardinal Blue