If its one thing that can be gathered from the release of Ça Va Cogner, it’s that the direction this group has taken, is for sure, towards uncharted waters. However, they must’ve found the Bermuda Triangle pretty quickly because before this record even came out, Feu Thérèse disbanded. I find it hard to muster up familiar, safe adjectives to describe the music here. I’ve heard some weird ones, but Ça Va Cogner (“It’s Gonna Hit”) is definitely one of the most unpredictably bizarre albums of the year if not, ever.
However, when bands like Can and Cul de Sac were in their early stages, their new hybrid sounds must’ve been just as foreign to even their most-devoted listeners. Rest assured though, this new sound is not without intentional conceptual foundations. Ça Va Cogner is inherently a rock album which eschews the existence of many clear boundaries that “Rock” as a genre might erect in order to separate itself from its most unsavory kin. “New Age”, “Prog” and “Electro-Acoustic Minimalism” being fine examples of sub-genres that take a subversive position of importance within these compositions. Feu Thérèse goes backwards in time so that they can go forwards with directions that were neglected at their historical forks.
In more specific terms, the synthesizer is over-used on purpose to distract one from engaging with preexisting notions of listener-approved pop-music. The music on Ça Va Cogner forces you to look deeper with just a simple push; the initial thought upon hearing this album for the first time, “wait, there’s no way someone could actually spend money and time producing an album as superficially cheesy as this without a damn good reason!” The listeners who stop here will probably download the album, get half way through, and throw it into the trash, opting to click on Beirut or Kevin Drew’s latest.
Feu Thérèse is sort of a francophone mélange of Montreal’s avant-garde. Famed ex-Fly Pan Am guitarist and mastermind Jonathan Parant got together with longtime collaborators Alexandre St-Onge (bass, electronics), who besides having a distinct solo act built up a name for himself playing with Shalabi Effect, Et Sans and Undo in recent years, and Stephen de Oliveira, a sound artist and soundtrack composer. Luc Paradis came in last as the group’s drummer although his art is primarily visual, having contributed his work to various Constellation and Alien8 records.
The Constellation-associated formations of Feu Thérèse and Pas Chic Chic might perhaps represent a budding Montreal obsession with Gainsbourg-era francophone throwback music. With tons of Quebec-based groups exploring the future of local francophone rock, few bands look back towards the origins of these late values that have washed away with the style of the times. Pas Chic Chic lands on the pop side, defined by a rhythmically-rooted Tropicalia sound, while Feu Thérèse tries to squeeze into the unfilled gaps of the synth-heavy French movements of 1970s and 80s.
Ça Va Cogner features awkwardly-mixed spoken word sections over drum and bass backgrounds, with the ever-present synthesizer river flowing just above them. In moments when you think the music can’t get any weirder, the “Brightening Star Chorus”, which seems to be a chorus of young kids, comes in to sing out the album’s title. This album sounds like a completely different band from their 2006 self-titled debut release. But for those looking to explore the new direction of chansonnier-injected Kraut rock, this pioneering album is not to be missed!
