After having been a DJ and producer of electronic music, Robert Robert launched an excellent first album of songs in French two years ago, Silicone Villeray. He’s doing it again this year with Welcome to the countrytransparent and vulnerable album which oscillates between the danceable electro pop of which it has the secret and more hovering atmospheres.
It’s clear, Arthur Gaumont-Marchand has a passion for writing. “I don’t know if I have talent, I hope so, but in any case, it’s my passion. I haven’t had my dose yet. For the 27-year-old singer-songwriter, this is one more string to his bow, which gives him even more tools to express himself.
The panoply of what you can make someone feel, I find it crazy. In French as well. You realize how much your mother tongue comes looking for you in places you didn’t even know existed. When you sing in your language, it’s the most you thing you can do.
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PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
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Robert Robert was precisely more him than ever in this album where he could not do otherwise than to shed several layers, he tells us during a frank and sincere interview.
“You can tell an anecdote, if you are transparent, everyone can recognize themselves in it. Because this vulnerability, it allows you to feel that this story is true. It’s like disarming the person listening to make them experience something and perhaps feel better. »
Extract of me hellby Robert Robert
Inner Explorations
Robert Robert explains that after years of therapy – which he is continuing – he has put his finger on the “challenges” he was experiencing. And this is very much what guided the writing of the songs, “in the rawest and least filtered way possible”.
His inner explorations taught him, for example, that he could get rid of his relationship with cynicism and competitiveness. Above all, he understood that the anxiety that eats away at him can be a strength, and that if it modulates his perception of the world, it’s not just negative.
“I couldn’t make the music I make if I wasn’t like that. It’s mine and I do what I want with it. It took me three years of therapy to find out. But if someone had told me about what I live this way, I might have understood more quickly. »
Excerpt from the clip of Welcome to the countryby Robert Robert
Welcome to the country is therefore the view of the world of an anxious person who assumes responsibility. “We grow up in spite of ourselves, I’m willing to try to be old,” he sings in the title track, which sums up the essence of the album and which is surprisingly folk and soft, given Robert’s penchant for Robert for the groove and dancing.
“I hope people aren’t going to be disappointed,” he says, explaining that the album curves “between non-danceable tunes and very danceable tunes”.
Extract of From time to timeby Robert Robert
“As much as I was very transparent in the lyrics, as much in the production I try to be more daring to support the story that I tell as much as possible. It gives a mixed result at first glance, but it makes sense with what the album has to say. »
Robert Robert surrounded himself with musician friends to create Welcome to the country, such as Hubert Lenoir and Vincent Roberge (Les Louanges), artists who have encouraged him since his debut, and also, among others, Fernie, Étienne Côté (Lumière), Félix Petit, Jeanne Gagné (MoKa), and Benoit Parent for co-production. “He is an integral part of this project. He also looked at all the texts. It’s the fun to be challenged. Make sure you say what you mean, not what you think you said. »
facets
In addition to writing songs, Robert Robert continues to explore other facets of his profession. For example, he composed the music for the excellent series seem to go broadcast on Télé-Québec, a conclusive and stimulating first experience, he says.
“You explore new parts of yourself as a musician. My biggest goal is to make as much music as possible, when I’m not with my family and friends. So when I’m told that we need 40 songs, it’s candy! »
Trailer of seem to go
For the past two years, Robert Robert has been quietly taming the stage, and he can’t wait for his outdoor show on June 14 at the Francos. “I don’t like the five minutes before you go on stage, but once you get more into the emotion of the song, and focus on living it, it’s such a challenge of vulnerability. »
He will therefore further refine his practice as a performer, because the stage remains an art apart which “continues to bring the songs to life in a different way”. And he hopes that his album will have a long and beautiful life, that people will feel “something nice while listening to him.
“I put a lot of love into it, I confronted myself a lot. Besides, he likes that his title, Welcome to the countryresonates in many ways.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Arthur Gaumont-Marchand, alias Robert Robert, launches his second album, Welcome to the country.
The word “country” is not loaded just in a political context. It is also emotional, social, communal. It seeks a desire for emancipation and freedom.
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That’s what it’s about, freedom?
” Yes. I emancipate myself from my negative feelings by writing songs. Often when I write, I give myself little advice. I feel a lot of freedom to make music. Nothing lifts my mood more than making a song. »
Pop
Welcome to the country
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Chivichivi