At the first words, of an affectionate and beneficent banality — hello, how are you, and you? -, he is back. Still in France, in his suitcases, but already among us. Thursday and Friday in Montreal, Sunday in Quebec, he will put on his Franco-Japanese superhero costume (the fins invariably recall Astro Boy) and he will again become –M– as we have loved him since… When, exactly? Baptism, first album under the capital name between dashes, appeared in 1997. Twenty-six years on the clock.
We knew him before, notice, under his real name Matthieu Chedid: two years earlier, he was the appointed guitar-hero of the so-called Sinclair, for a few sweaty evenings at the late Spectrum. Very quickly, this worthy son of a family of writers and songwriters, this type both spectacular and endearing, was adopted by Quebecers, a bombarded friend for eternity. It’s an understatement to say that we’ve missed him for the last few times, the wagon in 2015 at Wilfrid and the total the year before at Place des Festivals, as –M–. M as in Montreal is mine.
The timeless friendship
The relativity of time catches up with us: it seems that all that, and the other memorable visits, the Métropolis in 2013, La Tulipe in 2009, the Métropolis again in 2005, the fabulous residence at the Spectrum in 2005 (which earned us a souvenir album , mazette!), it was yesterday. Friendship, the real one, escapes deadlines.
The list thus unpacked blows it a little. “It’s unbelievable, unbelievable. The pandemic hiatus seemed interminable to us, and yet vanished as soon as contact was reestablished. “That’s love! he says without flattery.
“It’s true,” he says. When you experience authentic things with people, time does not run in the same way. This link with Quebec and Quebecers is very important to me, –M– was practically born in Quebec. It clicked before France. Meetings with people, with other artists, it’s moving for me to finally come back. I am a bit of the family. Thinking of Sinclair at the Spectrum is crazy! It all started from there. »
The tenfold desire
And there, pandemic behind swallowing our dust, we have very strongly this invigorating feeling of driving again at full speed in the company of -M-. On board the vehicle at the Batmobile clip of revality, the album of 2022, we see him smiling, enjoyable, when weighing on the pacifier, as we say at home. Vroââârrrr, like in an episode of Speed Racer. Tenfold desire. “Lack creates consciousness. We measure the importance of things, we feel more gratitude. This is what this neologism, rêvalité, means, we are in between two worlds. “The one we dreamed of, and the one we are confronted with. “Even in the worst of this pandemic, we filled up on our dreams. What is the world we want? Let’s dream it. How to make it happen? Let’s act. »
And life has not ceased to take place, the clever, the magnificent. ” Yes ! I am twice a father again, of a little boy who is four years old and of a little girl who is not even two years old, it brought me back to this state of dreaminess of children, the border between dream and reality is much weaker between the two, and I was able to spend a lot of time with my children, it’s an immense benefit. »
Bowie and Dassin in the same boat
On the dark side of the moon, we lost Karim Ouellet, who sang The King of Shadows with –M– at the Place des Festivals in 2014. “It’s terrible, that…” There’s Bowie who is no longer there either. The presence of the extraordinary bassist Gail Ann Dorsey with –M– on the album revalityin the clip of In your radio and throughout the tour In revality, speaks to us very strongly of Bowie. “We met very simply, nothing forced. But it’s true that she accompanied Bowie for twenty years, that means. »
There is in the show a cover of Life on Mars which is worth the planetary displacement. There is also a cover ofYours, success of Joe Dassin. One does not preclude the other, on the contrary. It reminds radio of a time when good songs weren’t tucked away.
“Yes, people are much more able to move from one gender to another than you think. I believe that with the youngest, this fluidity returns. A song by Dalida can perfectly be linked to something completely underground. The fact of having access to everything that one can get lost in quantity, but also rediscover songs and juxtapose them. We find freedom. »
The unseen world
In revality, he says, life and death come together quite naturally. “It’s this invisible world that I try to talk about through the album. These souls are with us, my grandmother Andrée Chédid is extremely present in my life. Whether it’s David Bowie or other people who have marked me, I carry them within me, they are part of who I am. I felt that a lot when I worked with the Malians [le projet Lamomali, en 2017] : this invisible world that surrounds us. »
There is still and always this Mister Mystery side to –M–, this desire to make the unimaginable possible. So in the show, around the song Navel, a spectator (who previously sent his version) takes the stage for an acoustic duet. One for all, all for one: we identify with the chosen one, who has duly earned his place. “It symbolizes something very important to me. A mission, if you will. A transmission mission. I want people to leave with this, this taste for trying things with others. That’s dreaminess. » Dream and reality, in Quebec? It’s up to -M- to make us “want to want”, as Johnny used to sing.