Une Entrevue avec Karkwa

Ask most people in Canada about Quebec music and they’ll tell you it’s all about the Montreal scene. The Dears, The Stills, Patrick Watson, The Besnard Lakes, and Wolf Parade, not to mention Arcade Fire, who are now riding a wave of international success thanks to their recent Best Album Grammy. As such, it’s quite astonishing how much our country is immune from French-language Quebec bands.

In fairness, a language barrier is always a tough challenge to overcome. Perhaps for that very reason it’s even more astonishing that Montreal’s Karkwa are the most recent recipients of the prestigious Polaris Prize, awarded annually to the best Canadian album of the year based solely on artistic merit. Not only did Karkwa win for their 2010 release Les Chemins de verre (in English, The Glass Paths), but they are also the first French-language band to take the prize.

“It certainly wasn’t expected, and we were sure we weren’t going to win,” admits vocalist/guitarist Louis-Jean Cormier. “It means a lot to us, especially considering the amazing bands nominated who we respect a lot.” Cormier modestly went on to discuss how much of an honour it was just to be seated at the award ceremony in between Broken Social Scene and The Besnard Lakes, bands whose albums from 2010 represented two of the other nine shortlisted nominees.

Cormier is not unaware of how significant the award is for French-Canadian music. “We are in a sense representing the Francophone community, and it’s always really nice for French-language music to get this kind of exposure.”

Exposure which up until recently was almost non-existent. The recent explosion in the Montreal music scene seems to be extending to Francophone bands from English Canada’s perspective, if only slowly. Cormier attributes the recognition to the basic desire music fans have for simply wanting to find good music, in any shape or form. “There are music lovers everywhere, no matter the language spoken,” he noted. “I think the buzz with the Montreal music scene demonstrates how much the music communities of both languages are blending.” And, he explained, it means more music is becoming more accessible to more people.

“When you have a musical language, people will dance—the spoken language in the end doesn’t really matter,” he added. Such a nuanced statement says a lot more about the nature of music than perhaps Cormier even realizes. After all, what makes music so compelling to people is a song’s melody, not the lyrics. Sometimes it takes a foreign-language band to help us grasp that realization.

Karkwa's name is a phonetic play-on-words of the French word carquois, which means "quiver," as in a quiver of arrows (although, car could mean "because" depending on the context, and quoi usually means "what." How awesome would it be if the band's name could be translated as Because What?).

They have actually been around since 1998 and they’ve released four full-length albums since 2003. Cementing early on a strong presence within Quebec, it wasn’t until their third release, 2008’s Le Volume du vent (in English, The Volume of the Wind) that they started to penetrate the rest of Canada, and Europe too.

But with Les Chemins de verre, the band went for a new approach. The album has a more organic, almost improvisational sound to it than their previous works. It should then come as no surprise to learn that it was written and recorded in only three weeks. “We used to practice and prepare a lot for our previous albums, but this time we just booked a studio and created it live,” explained Cormier. “We did a song a day,” and picked the ones we liked the most, so “the album really sounds like more of a patchwork, spontaneous release.”

The approach for Les Chemins de verre was all about simplicity. Uncomplicated rhythms and melodies, minimal instrumentalizations and effects—the kind of results you get from writing songs almost in passing and on the spot.

The fleeting qualities of the songs, aside from contributing to the album’s unique sound, also explain why the band took in Paris as an unofficial sixth member: if you’re going to write an ephemeral album with little preproduction, it's naturally appropriate to surround yourself in the city's historical transience. “We were on tour. We were sleeping and living in the studio. We were isolated from our normal lives. We were in a creative mood far from home. It worked well!” Cormier exclaimed. Because what wouldn't for them?

Blinded by the Light

I interviewed Lights. Yeah. I know. Don’t worry. I got dis.

I wanted to be amiable. I wanted to be a guy to whom she could talk. I thought calling her Lights would have been too impersonal.

“Hi Valerie!”

“Hey, actually, I don’t go by that name anymore.” Light laughter.

Here I am talking to a beautiful girl, and I don’t even get her name right. Girls don’t like that.

Yes, that’s right, she legally changed her name about two years ago. And I thought Lights was just a stage name. I was totally blushing.

“I took the extra step to make that name my own,” she explains to me, insisting that I have nothing about which to be embarrassed (that’s what all the girls tell me). “I think it’s important to walk into everything that you do in your career with a full sense of commitment. My music comes from my soul, and it’s who I am.”

I wonder if her government IDs still have a surname on them. Do her parents call her Lights? So many questions. I didn’t prod.

The name change certainly reflects her passion, I’ll give her that much. The synth-pop indie songstress released a new song last month, “My Boots,” meant as a teaser preview of her still unfinished second full-length album that has a tentative release date of Spring 2011. With the exception of one new song that was featured on an acoustic EP released this past summer, “My Boots” is the first new material from Lights since her debut LP came out over a year ago.

“I wrote it this past winter when for the first time in a long time I saw winter looking beautiful. I was up in northern Ontario and staying in a forestry area and it was very serene. The scene inspired me to write a song that felt effortless. So many of the songs that I write are emotionally draining and end up being cathartic. Winter can be an amazing thing if you’re dressed properly, so the song is really nothing more than about putting on a pair of boots and establishing a really romantic relationship with winter.”

I told her the childlike nostalgia of the song made me feel as if it would make a good Robert Munsch story. He’s got a couple good winter ones after all, notably “Thomas’ Snowsuit” and “50 Below Zero.” She laughed: “I like that.” Good, I’m recovering nicely from the name mishap.

Despite that original setback, however, I think she appreciated my effort to be personable nonetheless. It is, after all, what she strives for herself. Although it’s becoming increasingly common and necessary for most bands and musicians to stay on top of the YouTube universe, Lights is proud to claim she always puts in extra effort. Lately she’s been posting several short videos as tour updates from her tour bus.

“I absolutely love doing it. It’s a way to stay in touch with my fans and for them to get a peek into what my touring life is like.”

When I suggested she serialize them, she laughed, lamenting that there’s just not enough time in the day.

“But I did do the Captain Lights YouTube videos after the release of my first album!” she was quick to remind me. Of course, how could I forget? "Audio Quest: A Captain Lights Adventure" was a series of short animated sci-fi videos, with Lights as an intergalactic action hero, out to defeat evil villains who are out to destroy her music. This girl’s kind of cool.

She’s going to have to revamp her MySpace approach, however. The website recently went through some renovations. Now when you click on a song on a musician's page, it tells you what other songs sound similar to it. I told Lights that according to MySpace, “My Boots” sounds similar to a song by The Devil Wears Prada, a post-hardcore metal band. Aside from the fact that about a year ago she was at one point in a relationship with that band’s drummer, and that she had toured with them I think at least once, I can’t figure out any connection.

“Neither can I,” she said while oscillating between being frustrated and laughing hysterically. “I’ll have to investigate. I certainly don’t want some of my younger fans to get confused.” I told her I was glad to be of service.

I ended things off by asking her about Twitter. “It’s funny you brought that up, because I’m just looking over my Twitter account at this very moment.”

Yeah, this girl always knows what’s on my mind.