Laurence Nerbonne

Salle la Légion, Rouyn-Noranda QC, September 2

Photo: Matt Williams

BY Matt WilliamsPublished Sep 3, 2016

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FME's schedule can be pretty exhausting — opportunities abound for hangouts pretty much 24/7, so it can be tough to find the energy to keep moving. Thankfully, Laurence Nerbonne's cotton candy-hued pop set on Friday afternoon was a revitalizing experience, breathing some sweet life into a breezy Quebec afternoon in the smoky dark of the Salle la Légion.

Nerbonne spent her hour-long set blasting serene, catchy-as-hell tunes while bouncing around the venue's small stage with her three-piece band, providing hooky synth-pop beats that often felt like tropical dreams.

Some tunes landed better than others, spurring the audience to holler their approval, but none more than the finale "Rêves d'été," which recently took home the French-language 2016 SOCAN Songwriting Prize. The song's pulsing, head-nodding rhythms proved to be a rousing riot, with Nerbonne pushing its arena-ready chorus with all she had from the edge of the stage, prompting the biggest audience reaction of the evening set in the form of some generous applause.

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