Osheaga | Beyond the headliners

The international stars are back at Parc Jean-Drapeau for the first “real” Osheaga festival since 2019. But beyond Future, Dua Lipa and Arcade Fire, it would be a mistake to overlook the names that appear in smaller print on the poster for evenko’s flagship event. Our journalists reveal eight of their favourites, to be discovered before sunset on Île Sainte-Hélène or in the comfort of your own home.

girl in red

girl in red is the project of Norwegian Marie Ulven Ringheim who, at 23, has accumulated millions of plays online. Since the release of his single i wanna be your girlfriend in 2018, she won over a growing number of music lovers and critics. His soulful indie pop is about love, mental health, but also about his experience as a queer person. girl in red is an “LGBTQ+ icon”, claimed the magazine paper in a portrait he dedicated to her.

Listen if you like: King Princess, Phoebe Bridgers, Taylor Swift

Bell River Stage, Sunday, July 31, 5:40 p.m.

Marissa Groguhe, The Press

Edwin Raphael

For those who like to be lulled to the sound of melancholy lyrics and melodies, Edwin Raphael will surely satisfy you. Originally from Dubai, but living in Montreal for years, the musician offers an indie folk leaning between shadow and light. Its stories are told in prose as haunting as the melody that envelops it. His sensitivity leads him to create introspective music imbued with vulnerability, in which he does not hesitate to speak of anxiety as of romance.

Listen if you like: Ben Howard, Matt Holubowski

Sirius XM Tree Stage, Saturday, July 30, 2:15 p.m.

Marissa Groguhe, The Press

Skifall

Skiifall (Shemar McKie) is a rapper that all ears are listening to lately. Originally from the island of Saint-Vincent, but a Montrealer by adoption, he is one of the rising figures of drill, this style of hip-hop that British and Americans know well, but that Quebec has not yet implemented. ‘before. So Skiifall is making its mark in London. Invited to do the soundtrack for a Louis Vuitton campaign, he took part in a session for the popular YouTube channel COLORS and was on tour with Badbadnotgood: Skiifall is out to conquer the world.

Listen if you like: Stormzy, Chief Keef

Sirius XM Tree Scenes, Saturday, July 30, 4:45 p.m.

Marissa Groguhe, The Press

Plots

What better than disco to rekindle the flame of the party? The genre popularized in the late 1970s inspired a new generation of designers, from Clara Luciani to Lizzo. In a more indie-rock vein, the Australian quintet Parcels is enjoying great success on listening platforms. It doesn’t hurt that Daft Punk recognized him as a worthy successor, to the point of co-signing his catchy overnight before hanging up his silver helmets. Parcels has ambition: his double album Day/Night is a studio fantasy sprinkled with orchestral interludes. But the formula also lends itself to crowd baths, as evidenced by the recordings of concerts that the group publishes on YouTube.

Listen if you like: Daft Punk, Nile Rodgers, Steely Dan

Green Stage, Friday, July 29, 6:15 p.m.

Frederic Murphy, The Press

King Hannah

We discovered, in 2020, this duo formed by Hannah Merrick and Craig Whittle by a haunting first song with an enticing title — Creme brulee. We’ve been listening ever since, linking songs from the two discs released over the last 24 months. We are here in a world of distorted guitars, detached voices and Americanized rock, even if the two musicians are from Liverpool. This music is in harmony with mature and down-to-earth texts, well glued to the reality of a youth who have suffered from the pandemic.

Listen if you like: Yo La Tengo, Sharon Van Etten

Scène des Arbres, Friday, July 29, 5:20 p.m.

Philippe Beauchemin, The Press

Turnstile

Although associated with the hardcore scene, the Baltimore band sees the genre in a fluid way, more as a basic framework than a specification to be obeyed. Glow On, his third album released last August, has everything to satiate those who, in the 1990s, listened to what was called alternative rock. Its melodic explosions are so many invitations to break your voice and throw your fist in the air.

To listen if you like: Jane’s Addiction, being in a belly

Vallée Stage, Friday, July 29, 7:50 p.m.

Dominic Tardif, The Press

100 gecs

Hyperpop? It is to this migrogenre that belongs the voluntarily ornate work of 100 gecs, an American duo who place everything that comes to hand in their great mixer of influences. Inseparable from web culture, their tracks condense 50 years of popular culture into maximalist two-minute rants that sound like your radio is having an epileptic fit. Excessive, stunning, rowdy: it would be more appropriate to compare their music to a La Ronde merry-go-round than to that of another artist.

Listen if you like: Charlie XCX, CRAB

Green Stage, Saturday, July 30, 7:50 p.m.

Dominic Tardif, The Press

Lucy Dacus

With Phoebe Bridgers and Julian Baker, her comrades in the boygenius supergroup, Lucy Dacus is one of the most brilliant representatives of a cohort of indie rock creators who express themselves in their songs as one would confide in a loved one. On Home Video, a third album as comical and moving as life can be, the American digs into her childhood memories, recalls her first sexual experiences or her summers in a Bible camp. Vulnerability is her strength.

Listen if you like: Mitski, Big Thief

Vallée Stage, Sunday, July 31, 7:05 p.m.

Dominic Tardif, The Press