Selective listening | Karkwa, Alaclair together and P’tit Belliveau

Every week, our music journalists add songs to the playlist of The Press on Spotify. Here are three recent titles that are in our selection.

Karkwa, Perfect on screen

Thirteen years later The glass pathsKarkwa announced his comeback on Wednesday night with the song Perfect on screen then his video directed by Charles-Antoine Olivier and Xavier Bossé. This one features Quebec actress Pascale Bussières. Louis-Jean Cormier, Stéphane Bergeron (drums), François Lafontaine (keyboards), Julien Sagot (percussion) and Martin Lamontagne (bass) have concocted a powerful piece with a catchy crescendo melody which, combined with the clip, fills the heart of emotions. The poetry of Louis-Jean Cormier paints images of great clarity: “A long passage between two waves / Who seek to bite / She passes and slides with exploit / Just in time”. Quebec will have the scoop of Karkwa’s return on stage since the group will be there on September 8, the day of the album’s release. Sherbrooke (November 24), Saguenay (November 25), Montreal (November 30, 1^er and December 2) and Toronto (December 7) are the next stops.

Extract of Perfect on screenfrom Karkwa

Pascal LeBlanc, The Press

Alaclair Together, Rescue

Rescue marks the return of Alaclair Ensemble. Although Claude Bégin, KNLO, Eman, Ogden and Vlooper have remained busy musically over the past few years, they haven’t released music collectively since. America, vol. 2, in 2019. This meeting has a very specific objective, according to the press release that accompanies the song: “Responsible fathers who have decided to take charge of the rescue of this Quebec culture”. We will see the 1^er September, the day of the launch of the new album, if the group manages to accomplish its mission, but this first extract is encouraging. First, the beat of Vlooper is very well constructed: the western intro, the gradual superposition of elements, the brilliant mixing; hat ! Alaclair Ensemble has also announced shows in Quebec City on September 7, then in Montreal on September 29 and 30.

Extract of Rescuefrom Alaclair Ensemble

Pascal LeBlanc, The Press

Little Belliveau, Ej I went away

Nothing to do, we succumb once again to the charm of P’tit Belliveau. In addition to having launched this week its frankly nifty version of The 20 by Édith Butler, the very productive Acadian singer offers a new piece entitled Ej I went away. We find there his innate sense of catchy melody and his taste for simple pleasures, while he dreams of fleeing the constraints of life and disappearing, no matter where, with “not a reception bar” on his “phone even if his conscience reminds him that he must “think about the future”. Summery, happy, and as usual less light than it seems, here is a new earworm signed P’tit Belliveau, and that’s good.

Excerpt fromEj I went awayby P’tit Belliveau

Josee Lapointe, The Press