Just on the cusp of Montréal’s summer season, stalwart experimental music distributor DAME will be launching a pair of new recordings from some of their most cherished collaborators. Composer, saxophonist, vocalist (and former DAME president), Joane Hétu has been a pivotal figure within Québec’s vibrant musique actuelle scene since its beginnings in the early 1980s. Her groundbreaking work in avant-pop projects such as Wondeur Brass, Justine and Les Poules merged the pluralist ethos of NYC’s “downtown,” the wayward extensions of prog happening in the UK, and the possibilities afforded by cutting-edge technology, all the while retaining something distinctly and unmistakably Québécois. Since that time, she has leaned further into improvisation and composition, while continuing to innovate within the realm of song.
Writing on her 1999 release under her own name, Mets Ta Langue, The Wire noted her ability as a vocalist to slide “nonchalantly between throaty abstraction and conventional song” while praising the collection for being “full of unexpected turns and vibrant performances that make light work of the structural complexity.”
Hétu has co-directed Ensemble SuperMusique since its 1998 inception and on the forthcoming concert recording Elle a son mot à dire, she leads yet another incarnation of the group through 13 of her pieces, most of them new compositions, with some renditions of a few select older works as well. Even now after having received numerous accolades and awards such as the Freddie Stone Award in 2006 and Prix Opus for Artistic Director of the Year in 2016, Hétu’s music staunchly refuses categorisation.
She is joined here by Sarah Albu (voice), Émilie Fortin (trumpet), Julie Houle (tuba), Luzio Altobelli (accordion), Noam Bierstone (percussion), Michel F Côté (percussion, electronics), all of whom sing and manipulate objects in addition to their primary duties. The instrumentation alone might suggest a chamber music-adjacent sound world, but that’s merely a single ingredient in her perplexing stylistic recipe.
The brief ambient opener (the aptly titled ” Elle n’a pas de mot”) stacks wordless singing on top of a chorus of “whirly tubes,” ribbed hoses that are spun above or beside the player, pirouetting throughout the harmonic series. “Mot elle a” thrusts vocalist Sarah Albu into the fore as she nimbly spars with various percussion figures, wielding a sort of delirious quasi-operatic delivery.
On “Elle n’est pas un animal [1],” the ensemble creates a sort of makeshift field recording using harmonica, whistles, and various other small instruments, gleefully murmuring and calling out a text that references various animal species. The massed vocals transform into rhythmic chanting and sighing on 2003’s “Un idéal,” a texture that’s joined with sharp instrumental punctuations and interjections that almost feel like sound effects.
“Avoir le motton” (from 2001) is announced with Hétu’s saxophone intertwining with Émilie Fortin’s trumpet. At frst there’s a jazzish tenor to the duet’s playing but with the eventual entry of the drums, which stiffy accent each of Hétu and Fortin’s notes, this impression rapidly dissipates. And shortly thereafter, they’re somewhere else unforeseen, with both horns addressing the opening gesture of the piece in an abstract debate. Soon the voice joins the saxophone in a unison variation on the melody, while drums bubble forth from the background. A sudden cough initiates a gasping, grotesque vocal solo, before the group converges again in a recapitulation. “Vivante,” another older piece, unfurls a spartan quasi-industrial groove under Hétu’svocals, which encompass everything from a soft sprechstimme to celebratory yelps.
While the album continues this strange zig-zagging trajectory for its latter half, it’s somehow this expansive eclecticism that makes the record so cohesive. And when it ultimately lands on the evocative, saturated ensemble colours of its longest and final cut, “Elle qui est-elle,” the listener feels a strong sense of arrival. That’s a testament to Hétu’s mastery of larger structure and arrangement. Though the constituent material here is wildly diverse, her economical deployment of the ensemble forces over the course of the program allows her to highlight the vast contrasts, while achieving poignancy at just the right moments.
photo: Celine Cote
###
JOANE HÉTU – Elle a son mot à dire
AMBIANCES MAGNÉTIQUES – (AM282) (CD/DL)
Track list:
1. Elle n’a pas de mot (2023) (3.06)
2. Mot elle a (2023) (7.00)
3. Elle n’est pas un animal [1] (2023) (4.19)
4. Un idéal (2003) (3.18)
5. Avoir le motton (2001) (4.30)
6. Vivante (2005, 23) (4.04)
7. Lumière (2023) (4.10)
8. Chant à elle (2023) (0.58)
9. Jojo dit (2023) (1.48)
10. Elle n’est pas un animal [2] (2023) (4.43)
11.Elle a dit oui (2023) (4.19)
12. Elle a son mot à dire (2023) (1.26)
13. Elle qui est-elle ? (2023) (7.48
Line up:
ENSEMBLE SUPERMUSIQUE:
Joane Hétu — alto saxophone, conductor/ saxophone alto, cheffe,
Sarah Albu — voice/ voix,
Émilie Fortin — trumpet/ trompette,
Julie Houle— tuba,
Luzio Altobelli — accordion/ accordéon,
Noam Bierstone — percussion/ percussions,
Michel F Côté — percussion & electronics/ percussions, électronique.
Everyone sings and manipulates objects / Tous et toutes chantent et manipulent les objets.