Being a French musician in Montreal, while it affords many advantages, also means making the difficult decision as to the language in which one should record. If you do so only in French, you are limiting your market and restricting your export potential; do so in English and you lose the fluidity of your words, making your lyricism and delivery suffer accordingly. The Choses Sauvages showcase at M For Montreal was a pretty apt representation of this problem: the Montreal four-piece alternated between both languages, with their French compositions faring much better, while songs they did perform in English suffered from clunky lyrics and mumbled delivery.
They attempt to marry the two in certain songs, such as the Franglais "Violence," to better results, which may offer them the solution they need to tighten up their discography. But there's definitely a lot of potential, as the band have only been performing together for a little over a year and have already managed to release the digital-only Late Night EP earlier this summer, which includes some pretty catchy tunes. The four members traded places throughout the set, with the bassist jumping on keys and the guitarist switching to the saxophone at the end of "L'Épave Trouée," and they all did respectably on each respective instrument. Vocals were equally shared, mostly by the lead bass player and keys player, but to mitigated results; their voices aren't horrible, but aren't great either, and some of their harmonies left a lot to be desired.
Most of their material is characterized by their love of funky bass lines and glittery synths, and combined with their stage presence and performing tics (like all four lifting their hands up quickly at song's end) it made for an enjoyable set that was a good indicator of the band members' respective musical strengths.
They attempt to marry the two in certain songs, such as the Franglais "Violence," to better results, which may offer them the solution they need to tighten up their discography. But there's definitely a lot of potential, as the band have only been performing together for a little over a year and have already managed to release the digital-only Late Night EP earlier this summer, which includes some pretty catchy tunes. The four members traded places throughout the set, with the bassist jumping on keys and the guitarist switching to the saxophone at the end of "L'Épave Trouée," and they all did respectably on each respective instrument. Vocals were equally shared, mostly by the lead bass player and keys player, but to mitigated results; their voices aren't horrible, but aren't great either, and some of their harmonies left a lot to be desired.
Most of their material is characterized by their love of funky bass lines and glittery synths, and combined with their stage presence and performing tics (like all four lifting their hands up quickly at song's end) it made for an enjoyable set that was a good indicator of the band members' respective musical strengths.