In 1986 Les Poules debuted with the LP Les contes de l’amère loi. This LP was rereleased in 2001 on CD and maybe it is because of this that the members of Les Poules thought by themselves: “Why not make a second work?” Anyway Les Poules had some reason after an interval of some 15 years, for sticking together again. Of course differences between two albums are obvious and big. There are more differences then similarities in my perception. The first album has song-structured pieces. The music is extravert, loud, often melodic. Quirky and jumpy saxplaying. Electronics are played by keyboards. They sing self written texts. Prairie orange shows in some aspects an opposite face: the music now is very introvert, abstract and reflective. It has a non-verbal use of voice.

Comparing both albums it is also possible to demonstrate or illustrate a development that has taken place in the more experimental regions of jazz and rock in the last 20 years. Conventional musical forms and techniques have been left behind, due to integration of what radical improvised music and noise music has brought to us. The focus is more on texture, colour, musical potential of sound. For this purpose all kind of extended techniques are discovered and used.

Another point is that the pool of Ambiances Magnétiques musicians has many women amidst them. It is an important characteristic for this scene that women form a considerable part of this family. Some groups or projects have — intented or by coincidence — an all-women line up (Wondeur Brass). This is also the case for Les Poules. In 1986 and now in 2003 Les Poules is formed by: Joane Hétu (alto sax, voice), Diane Labrosse (electronics, voice) and Danielle Palardy Roger (percussions, voice). Together they succeeded in this phase of their careers and development in making an interesting album again. In 9 pieces they evoke what they experienced being in a desert, a Prairie orange.

Rares sont ceux qui croyaient voir un jour un nouveou disque des Poules, 16 ans après leurs premiers coquètements. Depuis, nos chers volatiles ont connu plusieurs aventures, ensemble et séparément, au sein des différents projets d’Ambiances Magnétiques. Il faut donc comprendre que le nouveau poussin piaille de façon bien différente. On nous présente neuf improvisations en demi-teintes, prolongement du travail de Diane Labrosse avec Martin Tétreault dans Parasites et de la Musique d’hiver de Joane Hétu. Cette musique explore des textures douces-amères sans sombrer dans le réductionnisme européen. Et les vocalisations de Hétu restent l’un des trésors les plus déstabilisants de la musique actuelle d’ici.

One of the most fundamental trio of Québec’s new music, Les Poules are musicians and producers Joane Hétu, Danielle Palardy Roger and Diane Labrosse. More than 15 years after Les contes de l’amère loi they have a new full-lenght for us, the intriguing Prairie orange full of brand new tracks which paints a landscape of electronic and acoustic sounds, cracklings and rustles.

16 years. It took Les Poules (“the chicks”) 16 years to record a follow-up to the 1986 LP Les contes de l’amère loi. Of course we can’t consider Prairie orange a true follow-up. Too much water has passed under the bridge and Joane Hétu, Diane Labrosse and Danielle Palardy Roger have played together in too many projects to let the quantum jump between the two discs sound anything but natural — or even the same band. This opus, marvelously titled Prairie Orange, presents the three musicians engaged in intense quiet free improvising: no lyrics, no song structures. Roger’s angular beats on the first opus have been replaced by delicate percussion work reminiscent of Roger Turner or Paul Lovens at their quietest. Labrosse works her sampler in much the same way as in her duo Parasites with Martin Tétreault. Treated water sounds, electrical glitches and the occasional recognizable sample (like foghorns) play hide and seek with the scraped and brushed percussion and Hétu’s ghostly, hesitant alto sax. The latter vocalizes on half of the album, her quiet screams and wails as profoundly disturbing as ever — why? Because they sound utterly alien, all the while tapping into something atavistically human. Each piece has been carefully edited and shaped out of longer improvisations to produce a spellbinding set that knows when to stop (a few seconds short of 50 minutes). These three have been sharing stages for 20 years. They have reached a level of understanding, listening and complicity matched only by the best. Highly recommended.

Double Ambiances Magnétiques CD launch Thursday November 21, 2002! First, starting at 9 pm at Montréal’s Espace chorégraphique Jean-Pierre Perrault, guitar player and composer Tim Brady presents his first Ambiances Magnétiques album, the dazing Twenty Quarter Inch Jacks. Then at 9 pm the Casa del Popolo (Montréal) Les Poules (Joane Hétu, Danielle Palardy Roger, Diane Labrosse) launches — more than 15 years after Les contes de l’amère loi! — their new full-lenght, the intriguing Prairie orange. as