A Montreal spring day as we like them: a radiant sun and a light cool breeze permeate Park Avenue in the Mile-End. It’s 11 am, Arthur Gaumont has just swallowed a very sweet ice cream. Frankly, why not? After a few customary courtesies, the singer-songwriter quickly suggests going up the busy thoroughfare, towards his house — more friendly and comfortable to discuss the latest album of his alter ego Robert Robert, Welcome to the country.
Oatmeal coffee in hand, patio heater on. The smart phone is ready to record the interview. “Recently, I worked with Lumière on a song, and I asked him to send me guitar tracks recorded on his iPhone for the song. It works, that’s what we kept. You can’t really recognize that it’s a phone recording,” he says straight away, staring at the small screen. It’s true, I should have is a great piece that doesn’t seem so much DIY.
Lumière, but also Fernie, Vincent Roberge, des Louanges, or even Benoît Parent… There are many collaborations on Welcome to the country. “I went up to Quebec to work a bit with Hub’. He is nice and he has a lot of talent,” says Arthur Gaumont about Hubert Lenoir, who was already co-directing Silicone Villeray in 2021. And to continue: “For this album, I took the time to really know the direction I wanted to give it. I was then able to open the door to others because I know right away when something works for me. According to him, the competition of artists to his music must always be done in an organic way. “There has to be a connection to the story and to the person. »
The choice of vulnerability
Precisely, the stories mentioned in Welcome to the country seem to have gained in maturity, in authenticity perhaps, over the past two years. “It’s more intimate because Silicone Villeray is the first album that I wrote so much in French, so I’m still learning,” he says.
Arthur Gaumont thus continues to tame his prose as he publishes music. And if his songs are often very personal, they were not necessarily vulnerable until now. “I took a much more direct path and tried as little as possible to protect myself from the gaze of others and to hide behind words. For him, it is essential to be sincere, first towards him, then towards those around him. “I make art for a living. It’s the price to pay: if you want what you do to reach someone, it has to be real “, he confides.
“I’m afraid of everything, but I don’t show anything”, he hums in the catchy and explicit Afraid of everything. It was the therapy undertaken by Arthur Gaumont three years ago that allowed him to come out of his cocoon. “I see someone and that also changes the stories that come to me a bit,” he remarks, while at the time of Silicone Villeray, he simply vocalized what presented itself in front of the eyes. “Here, now, the memories that date from my adolescence, for example, come back thanks to the sessions that I do with my shrink and I took the time to process. »
In fact, the Montrealer believes that things are becoming more conscientious, without sinking into gravity. “I don’t live in taboos about that, it’s like going to osteo in my head. If there’s one thing that I find important and that I want to share, that’s it, ”he insists. Going to consult for the good of his mental health, opens up, according to him, new perspectives.
I took a much more direct path and tried as little as possible to protect myself from the gaze of others and to hide behind words.
stop pushing back
“When I write songs that I love, it’s when something goes wrong,” adds the singer-songwriter. That’s where it’s easiest for me to tap into. Anxious to move forward, however, he wants to overcome negative emotions by formulating his own advice.
“I try to communicate reassuring things to myself. Today, this part of me no longer belongs to me and I realize that I need dealer with all my emotions and grow simultaneously, less repressed. Taking the time to think, live and share is now part of her rituals. “At the end of the day, even if the details themselves are vague, people identify more with the feeling that the tune brings. »
As for his role as producer and composer which has made Robert Robert’s reputation so far, Arthur Gaumont has assumed it for longer. “I have a lot of desires and things that I want to try. That probably explains why the instrumentals also sound more serious,” he believes. But never tell him he does electro-pop.
” It makes me think of Nu mă, nu mă iei, nu mă, nu mă, nu mă iei [Dragostea Din Tei d’O-Zone et W&W, NDLR]. It’s not what I necessarily do, ”he laughs. Rather, he composes “electronic music with pop writing”, in an exercise where filters are prohibited and intuition is strongly recommended in order to give listeners room for interpretation. “I hope people will feel the same freedom that I felt doing Welcome to the country “, he finally breathes.