Disappeared on November 15, 2023, Karl Tremblay sings his last breath on half of the songs from Royal Pub, the twelfth and final original album by Cowboys Fringants, in which the fictional story, staged in the musical of the same name, intertwines with harsh reality. Impossible to separate the two: the character of the “old rocker” Johnny Flash and the real Karl; that of the waitress Loulou Lapierre by Marie-Annick Lépine, who shines with incredible authority on the album of the group she co-founded with Jérôme Dupras, Jean-François Pauzé and her late partner.
Everything about this album takes us back to the late Karl, starting with the brass and the old upright piano serving as the instrumental introduction (Hopes of cause) which evoke the jazz funerals Louisianans. The brass band then wishes us Welcome to our house, composed for the musical; Tremblay and Lépine sing this “demilitarized zone between life and death” in turn on a deceptively cheerful rhythm evoking at the same time the atmosphere of jazz cabarets, the explosiveness of gypsy ensembles and the memory of Colocs albums.
The acoustic guitar, the dominant color of Cowboys’ work, regains its rights on the magnificent Loulous vs Loulou, recalling how Pauzé is an inspired melodist. Marie-Annick Lépine asserts herself, her boyfriend Karl comes to answer her, giving us a first punch in the stomach, relieved by the tavern humor of the text of It’s 3 o’clock we close! which comes afterwards — all sung by Tremblay, except for the reply of the matron Lépine: “ Sorry boys, it’s 3 o’clock, we’re closing! “.
Side A ends with the song that will elicit the most reactions from the fanswritten (as welcome to our house And Loulous vs Loulou) for the musical. Intense rock ballad sounding as if we had grafted Ordinary from Charlebois to While my Guitar Gently Weeps by George Harrison, it stretches over seven minutes; performed by Karl Tremblay, The end of the show will be listened to as a form of will. A brutal reflection on life which leads to death and death which leads to nothing (“Each life ends in the same way / It’s the only justice on Earth / All equal in the cemetery”). A text that comes out of Johnny’s mouth, but sung by Karl, who we would never imagine writing a verse like: “I don’t want your pity or anything else / My life was much more cool than yours.”
Side B opens with another instrumental (What do we do now ?), followed by the most astonishing song on this album which sounds like no other in the group’s discography: sung by Karl, the impeccable Unanswered questions, a future radio hit, has a je ne sais quoi of pop-punk that reminds us of the sound of Violent Femmes. It is also, on an aesthetic level, in the image of the whole of Royal Puban album — co-produced by Daniel Lacoste and Gus Van Go, at the helm of the previous The Antipodes (2019) — on which bold arrangement decisions push the Cowboys’ sound elsewhere, without however breaking with its essence.
The brass instruments have a new personality, less incidental than on previous albums; Marie-Annick’s violin, an essential ingredient of the Cowboys’ sound, is less present, first appearing only on the fourth song (It’s 3 o’clock we’re closing!), even though we prefer the sound of the melodica to counterpoint the melody of Unanswered questions. Almost everywhere, the tone of the guitars is fiercer, more electric.
Even using her violin sparingly, Marie-Annick Lépine shines more than ever on Royal Pub. At the end of the album, she delivers one of her own compositions, on a retro country ballad tune accompanied by a twang guitar completely new in the group’s repertoire. Presumably composed after the departure of her husband, the text of The White hairs is addressed to the young daughters of the couple: “You will see my fleas / That life is often unfair, often unfair / Especially for those who leave before / Before the gray hair”, she sings in a voice imbued with gentleness and resignation which can only bring tears to our eyes. There where The end of the show errs by excess, in the duration as in the text a bit starched, the elegant and fragile The White hairs touches the heart.
And what a finale Thank you well ! Pure Cowboys Fringants, a reminder, in sound and rhythm, of the formative years of the group’s beginnings, sung as a duet by Lépine and Jean-François Pauzé – had it not been for the text in the form of a career review, the song would have could appear on Motel Capri (2000) or Union break (2002). The Cowboys must be applauded for not succumbing to nostalgia by offering an album that stands out from the classic sound forged at the turn of the millennium.
Royal Pub comes full circle with nods to the great history of Cowboys Fringants — the title of the album refers to a song from the album October (2015), we find the character of Gina Pinard met on the first album 12 great songs (1997), and in the text of Thank you well!as in that of The end of the showare rehashed of glorious (and less glorious) moments of excess and ecstasy.
Those that these musicians experienced, and that they made us experience for one last time on this final album.