Return of the Galaxy | Because God wanted it

For seven months, during the pandemic, Olivier Langevin did not touch his guitar at all. See you tomorrow maybeGalaxie’s sixth album launched by surprise on Friday, is nevertheless the group’s best since Tiger and diesel.

Everyone needs a kick in the butt sometimes. Before starting to createSee you tomorrow maybe, Olivier Langevin marinated in the miasma of his doubts. “I didn’t know how to get in line, I was a kid, I found that I didn’t have a tune,” he explains, seated in a bar in Rosemont where he is accustomed, in front of a Laurentide. “Then Pierre [Fortin, batteur] said to me: Now, we’re going to stop fooling around, we’re going to go to the studio, and at worst, it won’t be good and we’ll go have a beer afterwards. »

They will indeed treat themselves to a mousse, not to drown their disappointment, but rather to celebrate their resurrection: this initial session will give Dolbeauone of the most sweeping tunes of the new Galaxie, the first since 2018.

If you only learned today that there is a new Galaxy, the moment it appears, it’s normal: Langevin can no longer stand the waltz of extracts that artists release in dribs and drabs for up to a year before the advent of the full album, a modus operandi blunting the surprise effect of a series of songs designed to be listened to one after the other. “I’m tired of tunes that just come out the same,” he says, his face splitting into a big, teasing smile.

Galaxie is one of the rare groups that can afford, thanks to the many followers of the son du Lac cult, not to precede a new album with an endless promotional campaign. In 2002, the guitarist launched under the name Galaxie 500 the first disc of a group which was not really one at the time, recorded with the means at hand while he was making Butterflies, of her eternal friend and fairy godmother, Mara Tremblay.

“We had a place just to make noise,” remembers the native of Saint-Félicien, “it really wasn’t to create an album. And at some point, we realized that we had tunes, but it was still abstract. I said to myself: If we sell 200 and do 10 shows, it will be cool in Asia. »

Do 10 shows? This fat and generous slice of distortion would not only become a classic of Quebec rock, but would force Langevin to fight against his embarrassment, on the front of the stage, everywhere in the province, and on more than 10 occasions. “Being on a internshiphaving attention, even today, is unnatural for me”, says the one who, in spectacle, always ends up adopting a half-bent posture, “as if I wanted to go into the floor”.

“But I overcome my shyness, because there is music, and music, I always enjoy it, constantly. »

When it explodes everywhere

About music, Olivier Langevin still stopped eating it for seven months during which he did not touch the guitar, the longest intermission of his life since an uncle gave him his first Harmony at 13 along with a Peavy Rage amp, hoping to spark his nephew’s admiration for Hendrix.

“I had a big trip, right away,” remembers the man whose eyes suddenly become those of a kid again. “I just kept playing, all the time. » Then, during the pandemic, big loss of desire for his six-string.

Understandable: music has always been a magnificently gregarious affair for him. How long have he and Fred Fortin, who plays bass in Galaxie, been playing together? Olivier searches his memory, wiggles his fingers. “It’s the first time I’ve counted the years and my god! It’s been 28 years. I’m not exaggerating. »

To the inseparable pair are added in Galaxie the drummer Pierre Fortin, whom Langevin met while he was making a Dales Hawerchuk record, the extraordinary keyboardist François Lafontaine, “the first time I saw him play with Karkwa , I was hallucinating”, and the singer Karine Pion, who embodies the feminine counterweight inseparable from the Galaxie sound since Tiger and diesel (2011).

After two albums crossed by a thematic cohesion, the love of African blues on Zulu (2015) and the “sabouteuse” influence of the Beastie Boys on Super Lynx Deluxe (2018), Galaxy reconnects on See you tomorrow maybe with a form of all-out maximalism, without a common thread, of the Lennonian Mone at the very ZZ Top The spleen of Montrealup to the intoxicating title track.

Pierre Fortin may criticize his comrades for abusing the onomatopoeia Hen! in a hilarious voice memo placed at the end of the aptly named HHHEEENNN! ! !, in the Galaxy universe, the word “too” remains ineffective. “I like it when there’s a lot of business happening,” confirms the leader. It’s fun when it explodes everywhere. »

Before leaving

Sound intemperance therefore remains one of the main pillars of the Galaxie approach, just like friendship, because this title, See you tomorrow maybe, bears the trace of an awareness that Langevin, 45, escapes less and less: that amps can turn off forever, at any time, without warning. Pierre Fortin, who also accompanies the Cowboys Fringants, knows something about it.

“But the title is not right dark, it’s 90% funny. »Olivier says. “Pierre and I had a big evening. And we knew that we typed the day after. When Pierre left, putting on his coat, he said to me: “See you tomorrow.” I saw our states and I said, “Maybe.” » He bursts out laughing. “And ultimately, we were not able to type the day after. That’s it, the title: it’s an Inch’Allah, one if God wants it. »

God willing, Galaxie will soon be back on the road. “When I’m at home, there’s always a moment when I start to feel space, confides the musician, until I understand that what I have to do is leave again. » Enjoy all the trips, because we know too well that one day there will be a last one.

Olivier Langevin finishes his pint and orders another.

Rock

See you tomorrow maybe

Galaxy

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