Just in time for the arrival of snow in Quebec, Quebec singer Pierre Lapointe launches Winter songs, a 10th bittersweet album which revisits with humor, joy or sadness the codes of the Christmas song or the end of the year. Meeting with an extraordinary creator, who surrounds himself in particular with artists Mika and Mélissa Laveaux to reinvent the genre.
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At the end of the line, well away as the Public Health Agency of Canada wants, Pierre Lapointe shares his disappointment at having had to cancel no less than five trips this year because of the pandemic. The Quebec singer-songwriter, a regular on the Montreal-Paris link, has just released his fourth album in just four years. “It’s true that I’m productive! But all these outings were far from being calculated. I think that if I had set myself the goal of doing one per year, I would never have succeeded”he said, laughing.
“I’ve been wanting to create a Christmas album for 15 years, and I think it was particularly good this year”, continues Lapointe, at a time when the Quebec government has not yet announced whether gatherings will be authorized during the holidays. “Like almost everyone on the planet, I found myself on a forced break this year. I felt the scene wasn’t going to be back anytime soon and, since I already had all the songs to make the album, I decided to launch it. It did me good to have a beautiful project that makes me proud, to make up for the pain caused by the lack of a stage. The confinement also means that people have a special relationship with the music.”
Happy meetings … virtual
The prolific singer has once again surrounded himself with director Emmanuel Éthier to design this collection of songs he wanted “not just happy”. Drawing on various vibrant or more contemplative styles, from the festive Charleston to the sweet piano-voice, Winter songs thus addresses the ups and downs of Christmas and the arrival of the New Year. “I said to Manu: ‘Don’t be afraid to put on bells and bells, I also want choirs from people who are a little drunk!’ We wanted to play on all the clichés associated with Christmas. And there is something very childish, despite the sometimes dark themes that I bring up. “
Indeed, even under the theme of celebration, we also speak of lost love, isolation and family difficulties. “I don’t think there is a Christmas coming out song written in French with such little modesty! Or a New Year’s song that says: I won’t go to the party!” the artist has fun, referring to Mom dad, which closes the album with melancholy, and the symphonic It’s okay, I gave. Lapointe also sings a break on Six hours separate us (in duet with MIKA), as well as the loneliness felt by a North American character in Paris (A Christmas lost in Paris).
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“After the duet with MIKA, I wanted to do a second one, this time with someone from the indie scene. On Instagram, I wrote to Mélissa Laveaux, whose music I listened to a lot this time. year. We didn’t know each other at all before! “, says the singer with enthusiasm. “It’s weird to say that, because the Covid meant that we never saw each other in person, but Melissa has become a real friend, the kind of person I text when I have insomnia at 4 a.m. . She’s funny, brilliant and extraordinarily talented. “
Inspired by the “halloweenesque” universe of the Haitian-Canadian artist, who has lived in Paris for 12 years, Lapointe thus co-wrote with her Christmas Werewolf, a completely atypical holiday song, which sings, in Creole and French, a story of carnal desire. Other interesting collaborations on the album include composer Julien Chiasson (member of The Seasons, brother of Hubert Lenoir), songwriter Félix Dyotte and Owen Pallet, who signs all arrangements performed by the Macedonian Symphonic Orchestra. .
In the studio of Pierre and Gilles
Another major meeting gave birth to the portrait that sits on the album: that of Lapointe with the duo of Parisian visual artists Pierre and Gilles, of which he had been a fan since adolescence. The big moment came two years ago when he presented his concert La science du cœur at the Salle Pleyel. The little anecdote: “Through friends, I finally managed to get their mailing address, so I went to a Paris supermarket to buy the ugliest birthday card I could find for a 14 year old girl, with glitter everywhere, who says ‘you’re the star’ or something like that “, the musician has fun. “And since they are all the same the kings of kitsch, I wrote them by hand, something like: ‘You probably don’t know me, I am a Quebec singer specializing in sad song and I invite you to my concert ‘”.
The pretty stratagem having borne fruit, his idols attended the show and came to meet him immediately afterwards to offer him the portrait session from which the famous image of the album is taken, which presents him in an authentic runner’s outfit. wood, an important figure in Quebec history and folklore [NDLR en France, on emploie plutôt l’expression “trappeur”].
“If I agreed to dress as a coureur des bois, it’s good because it was Pierre and Gilles! Because since the start of my career, I’ve been fighting against the caribou-tabernacle-poutine stereotype”,he said bursting out laughing. “It’s so first degree. But hey, the French have the same feeling towards the image of the striped sweater, the beret and the baguette!” The designer says he is fascinated by the mixed technique used by the tandem, which combines design, photography and painting – and absolutely delighted by the result, which has also been exhibited at the Philharmonie. “I never thought that my portrait would end up on a wall like that, between Marilyn Manson and Madonna!”
