Posted at 9:00 a.m.
Just returned from a month in Mexico, the great traveler that is Geoffroy went to settle in his chalet in Saint-Sévère, in Mauricie. It is therefore safe from the virus and bad news that he tells us about Live Slow Die Wise, which is the exact opposite of the leitmotif that has always animated him, “Live Fast Die Young”.
“Want, don’t, the pandemic has brought out a wiser, more composed side of me. I’m getting old, if you will. Even if I don’t feel old”, explains to us on the telephone the one who is despite everything of a very calm nature.
Along the thread stretched between the title of the album and the last sentence of the last titled song Life as It Comes, “ Take life as it comes brother/Cause no one else will live it for you », the Quebec singer-songwriter talks about love and human relationships, but above all about the need to live your life well, without wasting it with futile and useless things.
“My previous album, 1952, was about the death of my mother. When we go through a bereavement, we realize, even if we already know it, that life is short, that we should not take it for granted. That’s what’s around this album. And not only was I writing it, but I was living it! I’ve made changes in my life to refocus, to spend time with the stuff that matters to me, and completely eliminate the stuff that doesn’t matter to me,” Geoffroy says.
Simplicity
Contrary to his habit, it is in solitude that Geoffroy wrote and composed the songs (in English) for this new album. It was at the very beginning of the first confinement, while his album tour 1952, which had just taken off in February 2020, had been discontinued.
“The album was released in November 2019 and it pulled the rug out from under me. But I’m not one to feel sorry for myself. So when I realized it wasn’t going to come back soon, I got back to writing. »
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Geoffroy composed his new songs alone on piano or guitar.
Confined like everyone else, he therefore composed his new songs alone on guitar or piano. Which explains their more folk style, and why he exposes more of a philosophical side.
” I have always been. I am an interested person, I have something to say, but there I was able to read, get inspired, ask myself big questions and try to answer them. I had time to think, let’s say. »
Time, and no support from outside. Since his first album Coastline in 2017, Geoffroy composes and develops his songs as a team and in the studio. This time there was no musician, no sample electronics to revive him and envelop the melody: there was only him, his instruments and the songs.
In the studio a year later with Louis-Jean Cormier as co-producer, the idea was to dress up the simplicity of these songs through instrumentation, with subtlety and delicacy.
It’s difficult, simplicity. We often complicate our lives, we make it more complex so that it is more refined or better. But no, on the contrary! The challenge is to keep it simple, but relevant and interesting at the same time.
Geoffrey
Touches of Louis-Jean Cormier’s “Nashville guitar” to give a more “sparkling” sound, Guillaume Chartrain’s six-string bass which makes a “deeper” sound, each intervention has been done sparingly and thoughtfully. , as he wished.
“I’m easily bullied by something that comes up too often, or is too loud. It has to happen slowly, it has to stay soothing, it has to fit with the mood of the song. »
Multiple
The start of Geoffroy’s tour is scheduled for March. By the time performance halls are closed again due to the rise of the Omicron variant, it’s keeping its fingers crossed. “I thought this time it was…”
In any case, it is time to apply what he has learned over the past two years. ” It’s true ! he replies, laughing a little. Nevertheless, if the 34-year-old singer has matured and calmed down, his “live fast” side is not very far away.
“A few shots of Mescal in Mexico, and you’re good! This record is a part of my personality, not all of me. We are all multiple, and Geoffroy likes to walk from one facet to another.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Geoffroy does not want to be caught in a box.
“All parts of my personality are true, and I bring them forward one after the other. I listen to all kinds of music. Sometimes more Paul Simon and Jeff Buckley, sometimes more Woodkid, Bon Iver or Jungle. I never managed to fit into a box. »
The singer hopes that this short album (seven tracks including one instrumental), a real concentrate of 26 minutes of sweetness and escape, will be able to connect with people and “do good from a distance”. “It’s the greatest gift,” he says, especially since it’s his “most transparent” to date.
“It’s always been important to stay honest and honest,” says Geoffroy. If you don’t have integrity, in art, it becomes business. To create, it has to come from the heart, that you tell real stuff. Otherwise, you lose all credibility with yourself. »
Alternative folk
Live Slow Die Wise
Geoffrey
Independent