YOCTO? It’s the name of an exciting new group from Montreal. Also the prefix of the smallest recognized unit of measurement — if “kilo” equals 1000 units, “yocto” equals 10-24. Finally, according to communications from the quintet, it is the name of “the one who taunts the megalomaniac antagonist” of a “space opera” to be released next May, a business that its creator, Jean-Michel Coutu, says was inspired by the caustic and synthetic post-punk of DEVO, the kosmische German rock of the 1970s and the opulent exotica of Les Baxter. Intriguing recipe, to be discovered on February 9, on the poster of the friendly Tavern Tour festival.
And “the one who taunts the megalomaniacal antagonist” in this story that is still not very clear, since YOCTO has only unveiled two songs, it’s Yuki Berthiaume-Tremblay. Here singer, but elsewhere keyboardist within the transdisciplinary project BEATS, in Jesuslesfilles as well as in IDALG, a group co-founded by the aforementioned composer and guitarist Coutu.
Which makes Yuki smile when he confesses to listening to quantum physics documentaries to help him fall asleep at night. Coutu: “YOCTO is a kind of creative engine [ou, pour rester sur le thème scientifique, un laboratoire musical] right down to the themes, inspired by science fiction. Well, it doesn’t show directly in the text, but in the general atmosphere of the album. » Already recorded, and which will be launched in May by DuPrince (in Quebec) and Requiem pour un twister (in France).
In this story with deliberately soft springs to leave the listener free to give it their own meaning, “we feel that the antagonist has a hold on YOCTO’s life, that he has a certain power, and YOCTO, for cunning and cunning, succeeds in escaping him, but the antagonist also runs to his loss by taking pleasure in his own vices”.
“But I don’t interpret YOCTO as if it were a character in a story,” says Yuki Berthiaume-Tremblay. “The way I feel when I sing these lyrics, I don’t feel frustration or anger” in connection with the role of the protagonist of the story, “but affirmation”, even a feeling of freedom found at the end of the album, we deduce.
” Energy “
Should we read in this brief summary of the history of Zepta Supernova (this is the title of the album to come) a comment on the state of relations between men and women and the urgent debate around domestic violence? “There is absolutely nothing specific in the subject, and that’s what I find interesting in the process,” says Jean-Michel Coutu. That is to say that the story was written to be able to be interpreted as one wishes. As long as the energy released by the group is captured by the public, it works. »
“It’s really a dynamic, this project, which can then be applied to many other ideas,” adds Yuki Berthiaume-Tremblay. This dynamic, this “energy” — the word will come up often during our conversation — is revealed in the first two brief songs that YOCTO released two weeks ago. Station 01011 is a two-part song, very new wave during the first half, more psychedelic in the second. For its part, Typist is much more dense and mechanically rhythmic, camping the sound of the group in the heritage of the German formation Can.
“Yuki and I have focused our work a lot on the search for sound textures and the right sound”, explains Jean-Michel, the main composer, Yuki also playing the role of “musical director” within the project by injecting her ideas and her intentions. “It’s studied right down to the choice of synthesizers. Even the most innocuous sounds have been carefully chosen so that there is something modest, unassuming about the songs,” says Coutu, citing the influence of Television and Portishead’s Geoff Barrow project BEAK.
Added to the pair are Emmanuel Éthier on bass and guitar (the accomplice of Jonathan Nobody and Jimmy Hunt also co-produced the album), Carl Matthieu Neher on keyboards and Félix-Antoine Coutu on drums. The concert at the Tavern Tour will be the first of a long series that YOCTO will unveil in the coming weeks, following the release of Zepyour supernova.