Champion Returns with New Album

BY Alex HudsonPublished Apr 29, 2013

After battling lymphoma, Montreal-based Champion announced the happy news that he was healthy again in 2011. Now, the electronic musician also known as Maxime Morin is ready to return with a new album. He will release °1 (pronounced "degree one") on May 28 via Bonsound.

The album features contributions from his usual band, G-Strings, and vocalist Pilou, in addition to trombone player Jean-Nicolas Trottier, a string quartet, and others. A press release describes the results as an "electro-lounge-orchestral record," in which Champion "dives into symphonic orchestras' sonic universe, without ever abandoning electro elements and electric guitars."

Watch a simple video for the string-heavy album cut "No Love Enough" below. The fixed-camera clip shows cars driving through city streets.

"Ideally, an artist wants to create a coherent album from start to finish," Champion said in a statement. "But because I wanted the album to be a Polaroid, a realistic representation of life, I had to deal with the good and the bad, the champion and the loser, because life isn't a just a long quiet river."

Champion will perform °1 live for the first time for the Montreal International Jazz Festival on July 6 at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier Place Des Arts.

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