The magnificent Quebec trio of Yann Falquet, Pascal Gemme and Nicholas Williams (who replaced Alexandre de Grosbois-Garand a while back) have come up with an album that rocketed into the #1 position in my Genticorum albums ranking.
Not only does Au coeur de l’aube (At dawn) have beautiful cover art, the music itself is warm and alive in a unique way. Genticorum have always presented a slightly gentler face of Quebecois folk than their colleagues like Le Vent du Nord or De Temps Antan, and on Au coeur… you will find a few lyrical moments that are downright magical and quite far removed from the folk dance style, driven by the clogging beats, so typical of that region’s trad music.
I was hooked instantly at the first bars of the first tune, Le Batéliere, with its pulsating yet light beat and simple but charming melody.
It’s followed by the slightly darker Nicholas Williams instrumental Le brandy des montagnes noires where the flute and the fiddle dance, intertwine, separate and come together again. It’s an example of masterful band playing, with Yann’s guitar patiently framing the dance while keeping in the background.
Next up is Ruban Rose, a ballad-like tune with a steady clogging. For me, the song carries a feeling of something very old revised and updated – I have no idea if this is so, it’s just how it makes me feel. Fascinating.
If the opening triad of Au coeur… is brilliant, so is the entire album. As it goes on, you will come across various moods and colors, none of them aggressive but none of them flat either. It’s all just so… human, for want of a better word.
Like I said, I don’t speak French but listening to this, I felt like sitting down with someone who has many fascinating stories to tell, and I could spend hours just listening to them.
That’s music at its best, people. It transcends words, and sometimes it even translates them for you – not semantically but emotionally. It’s called communication, and this album is full of it.
Before I finish, I want to mention two songs in particular.
Dans les haubans, credited to Trad. / Yann Falquet, is a haunting, meditative masterpiece. The DeepL translator I use tells me the song is about tragic love (poor man loves a rich man’s daughter) but there is a special serenity and longing in the atmosphere of the song. It’s not a slow ballad but a medium tempo song with a call-and-reply vocal part and it feels… different. My wife said there’s something vaguely Finnish in the autumnal vibe it carries, melancholy but not without light. I love this tune to bits – wish I could understand the lyrics…
The closing tune, Fortcalquier, is a beautiful, so beautiful instrumental composed by Mario Loiselle (1953-2017). There’s nothing too much or too little in this little waltz, and Genticorum play it with such tenderness, it glows. It’s a perfect, soothing finale for a remarkable work.
https://genticorum.bandcamp.com/album/au-coeur-de-laube
FolkNotes 