New album | Florent Vollant and his family

The road was longer than expected, but Florent Vollant finally arrived at his destination: two days before National Indigenous Languages ​​Day, he published Tshitatau. His sixth solo album was born from a… collective effort.

Hurrying is not Florent Vollant’s habit. He likes to give time to time and happily lets three or four years pass between two records. Yet six years separate Mishta Meshkenu (2018) and the all new Tshitatau. That he got through it is even a small miracle.

The project was already in the works when, in April 2020, the Innu singer-songwriter suffered a stroke. He eventually recovered, but no longer has the vigor of his 60 years. He who loved long walks in the forest now has difficulty moving around. He can no longer play the guitar and also gets tired more quickly than before.

Before Florent Vollant even thought of giving up, his son Mathieu Mckenzie reminded him that he had taught him that you should always finish what you start.

His father agreed: “We’ll finish it, but in another way.” »

His “I” is another

This “other way” involved guitarist André Lachance. This guy from Quebec, whom the Innu singer noticed when he played with the late Wendat bluesman Gilles C. Sioui, became the main architect of Florent Vollant’s new record. He not only composed the music, he also wrote the lyrics. In Innu-aimun, yes.

This was not the original plan. The words he had put on the first models were only used to launch leads, he said. However, Florent Vollant stuck to the things that were mentioned in these embryonic songs. “When I saw that, I said to myself: I’m going to force myself, I’m going to try to write substantial things,” says André Lachance. I delved into dictionaries and tried to create images that would allow him to make sense of the song at the end of the song and add what was missing to make it all come together. »

This collaborative work, initiated before the stroke suffered by Florent Vollant, proved beneficial for the future. “We had around ten songs in the works [avant mon accident] », recalls the Innu singer. When he returned to work, all he had to do was concentrate on his voice, find the necessary breath and bring light to his singing. What he achieved with the support of a coach vocalist, Mathilde Côté, who provides backing vocals throughout the record.

From country… to reggae!

Tshitatau, like other Florent Vollant records, has folk foundations. Which doesn’t stop him from flirting with reggae (Nishim EU) and above all to display a deep affection for country. “I was born in Labrador, there was a lot of country music with a Nordic, Newfoundland, let’s say, flavor there,” says the Innu singer. My father played the harmonica very well and one of my uncles played the violin. It influenced me a lot. »

“Florent and I have always had the same musical language,” adds André Lachance. It was easy for me to suggest things without trying to make them look like Florent Vollant. He asked me for reggae and we both like country, then different kinds of pop. I sent it to him raw. »

The only thing that André Lachance had to adapt were the rhythms.

Tshitatau exudes a certain fragility and certainly marks a transition. Maybe the end of something. Because Florent Vollant is less solid on his legs, but also because one of his faithful collaborators, the guitarist Réjean Bouchard, passed away in the middle of the summer.

“He told me: ‘this is the last thing I’m going to do, but I won’t be able to be there like before,’” says Florent Vollant. He did a lot more than we thought, but he was at the end. […] He held us and supported us until the end. »

Innu folk

Tshitatau

Florent Vollant

Makusham Music