Some musical releases of the week

Among all the new albums released recently, here are a few that caught our attention.

Parheliafrom Totally Sublime

Almost everywhere on our beautiful planet, ambient music is gaining listeners by offering original amalgamations of instruments and various sounds. The Quebec trio Totalement Sublime, formed by Marc-Antoine Barbier (Choses Sauvages), Élie Raymond and Thomas Bruneau Faubert (Frais Dispo, formerly Foreign Diplomats), is part of this trend by combining classic vaporous electro rhythms with experiments electro-guitar-percussion and pulsating pop. Nice idea. With original titles – The mountain and the artifact, Cabin sun, Plankton, The snow-capped peaks of Greenland and the tropics… –here is the most dancing spa-relaxation offer you will receive this week.

Philippe Beauchemin, The Press

Pop atmosphere

Parhelia

Totally Sublime

Well well well

A Chaos of FlowersBIG|BRAVE

Already an eighth album for the Montreal group. How time flies… and how dark it gets from album to album! Because despite the title and the colorful cover, the flowers here are faded and black, perfect for this – new – funeral ode signed with the instruments of Robin Wattie, Mathieu Ball and Tasy Hudson. On the new opus which comes to us 10 years after the first, a range of guests, including a specialist in lugubrious synths, Seth Manchester (Lingua Ignota, Full of Hell, the Body), also on production. The guitars are saturated as always, Robin’s voice is crying, the rhythm is slow, the drums are solitary… The trio offers here an album which will please those who want to dig deep into the torments of the soul.

Philippe Beauchemin, The Press

Experimental metal

A Chaos of Flowers

BIG|BRAVE

Thrill Jockey Records

Delta Keb MojoRaphaël Dénommé

There is something very authentic in Raphaël Dénommé’s love for Americana music. The singer-songwriter from Varennes offers a third album inspired by the music of the South of the United States, and which already announces its colors in its title, Delta Keb Mojo. Country, blues, folk-rock, soul, he delved into his influences to deliver a heavy and powerful album, but one that grooves, produced with guitarist Ariel Posen, who has collaborated with Tom Jones and Eric Clapton, among others. All in French, which Rapahël Dénommé makes click and roll with naturalness, as if the Mississippi delta met the St. Lawrence estuary.

Josée Lapointe, The Press

Americana

Delta Keb Mojo

Raphaël Dénommé

Independent

Rollercoaster, by Cadence Weapon

In 2021, he won the Polaris Prize for Best Canadian Album (for Parallel World), an honor that speaks volumes about everything that Toronto-based rapper Cadence Weapon has to offer. Rollercoaster follows this committed album that he released three years ago about the murder of George Floyd and systemic racism. This time, he takes a completely different reflective path and is interested in our relationships with technologies, particularly social networks. Calling on both trap and assertive pop, Cadence Weapon continues to make its listeners think, also revealing itself through its lyrics, but above all maintaining an observer role.

Marissa Groguhé, The Press

Rap

Roller coaster

Cadence Weapon

MNRK Music