There are concept records and then there is d'Eon's LP. The Montreal-based keyboard enthusiast has recorded a four-part oratorio based on the idea of finding the archangel Gabriel, who is now living somewhere on the internet, and asking him some burning questions.
"Lyrically it is mostly about a person's feelings of confusion and frustration that in 2012 we really haven't heard from God in hundreds of years," he explains. "Despite having access to any information we could possibly ever want, we still don't have any insight into God's intentions. If Gabriel is responsible for dispensing information from God to the Prophets and ultimately to the world via scripture, then why are we not receiving any messages from God through Gabriel?"
Heavy message, indeed. But d'Eon's musical quest isn't as taxing as his concept may lead you to think. It's pretty easy to see why he found a kindred spirit in fellow Montreal sound sculptor, Grimes, who co-released the split Darkbloom EP with d'Eon last year. And like Grimes's recent Visions, LP is also exploratory in its sound design: an otherworldly, sometimes reversed croon, expansive, migratory song structures, and a wide production scope that blurs the boundaries between R&B, pop, new age and minimalist synth music.
"On Darkbloom and [2010 release] Palinopsia I think I was still subconsciously settling into a decided method of working," he says. "With both of those records, the religious or technophobic lyrical content was there, but it was way more thickly veiled than on this album. I think LP is the logical conclusion to what was being worked on with the other two."
As for reaching the kind of acclaim and success that his best friend Grimes has in 2012, d'Eon says he's not ready for that just yet. "If I had the same intensive touring schedule that she had after Darkbloom dropped, I wouldn't be alive to have recorded the LP."
"Lyrically it is mostly about a person's feelings of confusion and frustration that in 2012 we really haven't heard from God in hundreds of years," he explains. "Despite having access to any information we could possibly ever want, we still don't have any insight into God's intentions. If Gabriel is responsible for dispensing information from God to the Prophets and ultimately to the world via scripture, then why are we not receiving any messages from God through Gabriel?"
Heavy message, indeed. But d'Eon's musical quest isn't as taxing as his concept may lead you to think. It's pretty easy to see why he found a kindred spirit in fellow Montreal sound sculptor, Grimes, who co-released the split Darkbloom EP with d'Eon last year. And like Grimes's recent Visions, LP is also exploratory in its sound design: an otherworldly, sometimes reversed croon, expansive, migratory song structures, and a wide production scope that blurs the boundaries between R&B, pop, new age and minimalist synth music.
"On Darkbloom and [2010 release] Palinopsia I think I was still subconsciously settling into a decided method of working," he says. "With both of those records, the religious or technophobic lyrical content was there, but it was way more thickly veiled than on this album. I think LP is the logical conclusion to what was being worked on with the other two."
As for reaching the kind of acclaim and success that his best friend Grimes has in 2012, d'Eon says he's not ready for that just yet. "If I had the same intensive touring schedule that she had after Darkbloom dropped, I wouldn't be alive to have recorded the LP."
