Resonance Library | New address for music lovers

It is a unique and innovative concept. A neighborhood bookstore where you can find everything – novels, essays, children’s books, united by a common thread: music. Open in mid-November rue Beaubien, a stone’s throw from Little Italy, the Résonance bookstore not only wants to become a reference in the field, but also a meeting place for music lovers.

Laila Maalouf
Press

We enter Résonance as a sort of time capsule. A wall of audio cassettes. Old radios that sit above the shelves of books and that Jean Lavigne, the owner, has always collected. Books on David Bowie, the history of rap or that of prog in Quebec. So many symbols straight out of the musical culture of the 1980s and 1990s, and more. Amy Winehouse, Arcade Fire, Lhasa …

Bob Dylan’s most recent biography may not be found at the Résonance bookstore, but one will find exceptional books – chosen individually and with the greatest care by Jean Lavigne – such as The Sonic Ecologies of Black Music Where Justify My Love: Sex, Subversion, and Music Video. During our visit, he was also reading Kosmos – A Quebec adventure in the era of progressive rock, written by Michel Maltais and published earlier this year by Septentrion.

“Yesterday there was a client who came and I had read a book by Warren Ellis the day before, which is really interesting and called Nina Simone’s Gum. I talked to him about it and he left with it, ”says Jean Lavigne with emotion.

The choice of titles offered is bilingual and varied: essays on fascinating subjects related to music – the representation of women in certain musical genres, for example; novels that vibrate to the rhythm of this art – we notably came across copies of the series by Virginie Despentes Vernon Subutex, as well as on the superb novel by Olivier Bourdeaut Waiting for Bojangles.

And Jean Lavigne knows each of his works. “I almost remember when I found all these books,” he says.

There is even a section for children’s books focused on music. Titles from the Quebec publishing house La Montagne secrète, others like Octopus’s Garden, by Ringo Starr, one Love, inspired by the song by Bob Marley, or Hip Hop Speaks to Children – books that all parents who love music will want to share with their children.

“The first book I sold was a children’s book and it touched me: it was With a Little Help from My Friends [écrit par John Lennon et Paul McCartney, avec les illustrations de Henry Cole]. Because it is thanks to my friends and my wife that I started all this. I found that symbolic. ”

A dream born from the pandemic

It was only six months ago that the owner of Résonance embarked on the adventure. As with many others, the pandemic has taken over his livelihood for the past 13 years – a bed and breakfast located on rue Saint-Denis that he believed to run until his retirement. “I admit that it was still a difficult period, to find oneself, at 55, with nothing left in front of you,” he recalls. But encouraged by his wife who reminded him of his old dream of opening a bookstore, he gave it all.

This is how he began his efforts, met local players and sought a space that would correspond to his vision. In his spare time, he carried out research to discover rare gems in music – one of his first passions – and specialized publishing houses. A real work of monk… and of passion.

Then, at the beginning of October, he finally found the ideal room: a small, pretty 400 sq. Ft. Space.², with a high emerald green ceiling. All that remained was to add the final touches.

Résonance wishes to hold launches, conferences, readings and even intimate musical performances. The walls of the bookstore already host the works of a local artist, and a rotation will be established over the months.

Ultimately, Jean Lavigne’s dream would be to be able to become a benchmark, the kind of bookseller that we will come to find to know his latest discovery on music. A dream that he seems already well on the way to achieving.

Resonance Bookstore, 40 Beaubien Street East

Cartoonist Philippe Girard, author of Leonard Cohen – On a Wire, will be visiting the bookstore on Saturday, December 18 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. for a signing session.