Discovery | Émile Bourgault and the French-speaking heritage

Inhabited by the heritage of French-speaking Quebec music, Émile Bourgault continues through his work the legacy of a culture that he wants to make exist in our time. The singer-songwriter’s debut album, So much the betterextends the path traced by his idols before him.

When he discovered his musical tastes at the start of his adolescence, Émile Bourgault developed a passion for the work of Paul Piché, Robert Charlebois, Laurence Jalbert and Gilles Vigneault. But it was before that, thanks to a slightly more contemporary artist, that young Émile found “the flame” in him, the one that led him to pick up a guitar too and write his own songs. “When I discovered Rite of passage, by Émile Bilodeau, everything has changed”, tells us the 20-year-old singer-songwriter, during his visit to the premises of The Press, a week before the album’s release.

At the start of secondary school, he took guitar lessons, having played the piano for a long time. “It wasn’t yet concrete at the time, but that’s why I started: I wanted to make albums. » Although he didn’t grow up in a family where music was played professionally, we listened to a lot of it on a daily basis. For Émile, this “learning” through the discovery of the artists that his parents introduced him to was decisive.

A few years later, he released his very first album. “It’s a bit of a goal to perpetuate the French-speaking heritage, in song and writing,” says Émile Bourgault. I was blessed to have access to a lot of culture. I can’t break away from this. It’s not a burden or a responsibility. »

If he feels the freedom to make “an album in English or an instrumental jazz album, if that [lui] tries”, at the moment of creation, everything brings him back to this: “the song, in its purest sense”.

Group and time work

So much the better is exactly that (and more). An album of lyrics, where pop, rock and folk meet. An album where the words have all their importance, but where instruments other than the voice also take an essential place. “It was the humans who joined the project who added the layers that constitute the album,” describes Émile Bourgault. It’s really a band album. I have melodies, but I can’t write scores. »

Émile Bourgault reflects on these years spent working on his songs and his record with a kind of tenderness. “I was lucky enough to take my time, we’ve been working on it for two years. And when I listen to it again now, I know we didn’t cut any corners and I’m happy. We played these songs in competitions, we worked on them and reworked them, we scrapped some, we kept some. I tell myself that we have the best of what we could have. »

This “we” is made up of the group of musicians who play on the album (including Emmanuelle Brin-Delisle, Simon Boisseau, Florence Beauquier-Léger and Adèle Saulnier) and Félix Dyotte, mainly responsible for production. “When I did the My First Place des Arts competition, we had four hours of mentoring before the final and it was with Félix,” says Émile. After this meeting, I naively wrote to him to find out if we could work together. We had a coffee, we talked for three hours and it clicked. »

It was over time that he realized that he was collaborating with a director of great experience. “In the studio, we were musicians aged 19 to 24, there weren’t any big names, but I felt that he was having fun with the rest of us. I’m so grateful for that, because the album wouldn’t be what it is without him. »

Move forward and grow

Before this album, Émile Bourgault accumulated experience. First by releasing two mini-albums, Light blue (2020) and We will always have sky (2021). But also by participating in competitions. In 2022, he made it to the grand final of the Francouvertes, then he won the 2023 edition of Ma première Place des Arts and was crowned winner of the 55^e edition of the Granby International Song Festival the same year.

“I am lucky to have had pats on the back, recognition for the things I do,” says Émile Bourgault. I built confidence. At the Francouvertes, I wasn’t confident, we were 17 years old, I hadn’t done a stage apart from the Secondary in show. I didn’t understand anything about this industry and I felt a little alone in my boat, but I wouldn’t have had the confidence I have if I hadn’t done that. »

Émile Bourgault looks over his shoulder and sees how far he has come in a very short time. He who started writing songs at the age of 12 has seen his pen evolve.

If he can’t really trace how his songs are written because he has some sort of ” blackouts » arising from impulses which lead him to texts, he has now learned to work a posteriori on the words he has written. But no more than is necessary. He quotes Jimmy Hunt, who once said that he doesn’t try to pad out a song just because it’s short or doesn’t have the standard structure you often expect. “If I repeat the same thing twice and that’s the tune, then that’s it,” says Émile.

The singer-songwriter never stops learning and growing as the first major chapter of his journey is written. In all his wisdom, he perceives the release of his album with great lucidity.

“I feel well anchored, especially because I am so well surrounded. It puts me in a zone where I tell myself that even if it didn’t work, we’ve experienced so many beautiful things that I’m going to stay in peace, he says. I’m willing to put up with the album for two years if it works or get back to working on the next thing if not. »

Émile Bourgault will give the launch show of So much the better at the Lion d’Or on April 9.

Song, pop-folk

So much the better

Émile Bourgault