Castor et compagnie
Joane Hétu / Castor et compagnie
acidic voice plays hard against all of this, and she takes the most obvious themes and makes them her own in surprising ways. — Hollow Ear, USA
… Ce disque présente un très heureux mélange de textes et de musiques d’une grande qualité. — Musicworks, Canada
Joane Hétu signs here a first CD of her own music and texts, Castor et compagnie, with longtime accomplices Jean Derome, Diane Labrosse and Pierre Tanguay.
Castor et compagnie is a cycle of songs for lovers of senses, sense and sounds, noise and lyricism, pleasure and erotism. The lyrics were inspired by the vocabulary of Hindu erotic books, Arabic love games and a few saucy songs. The music is daring and energetic, made of turbulent atmospheres, evocative lullabies and even love songs.
Joane Hétu is best known as a member of early AM female supergroups Justine, Wondeur Brass and Les Poules. An inventive composer, improviser and saxophonist, Hétu has always been exploring and developping a musical style of her own: a harsh, guttural voice flirting with a modern lyricism tainted with original textures, strident sounds and atonal harmonies. She is at her best with this difficult, yet sensuous expression of poetry that has the intelligence of its music.
- Composer(s): Joane Hétu, Jean Derome, Diane Labrosse, Pierre Tanguay
- Writer(s): Joane Hétu
- Performer(s): Castor et compagnie, Joane Hétu, Jean Derome, Diane Labrosse, Pierre Tanguay
- Graphic design: Fabrizio Gilardino, Anna Morelli
CD (AM 037)
- 1Pourquoi s’affoler, 4:04
- 2Capitaine, 7:58
- 3Ah! Les beaux jours (1995), 5:46
- 4Histoire à dormir, 5:08
- 5Papillons de nuit, 6:11
- 6Chanson de l’oreiller, 7:23
- 7Fleurs éclatantes, 6:26
- 8Les épices, 5:11
- 9La rouquine, 6:05
- Label: Ambiances Magnétiques
- AM 037
- 1995
- UCC 771028103720
- Total duration: 54:51
- Jewel case
- 125 mm × 142 mm × 10 mm
- 100 g
On the web
Download (AM 037_NUM)
This item can be downloaded and/or listened to at joanehetu.bandcamp.com.
Not in catalogue
This item is not available through our website. We have catalogued it for information purposes only.
- 1Pourquoi s’affoler, 4:04
- 2Capitaine, 7:58
- 3Ah! Les beaux jours (1995), 5:46
- 4Histoire à dormir, 5:08
- 5Papillons de nuit, 6:11
- 6Chanson de l’oreiller, 7:23
- 7Fleurs éclatantes, 6:26
- 8Les épices, 5:11
- 9La rouquine, 6:05
- Label: Ambiances Magnétiques
- AM 037_NUM
- 1995
- UCC 771028103782
- Total duration: 54:51
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Review
On this side of the Atlantic, the experiments continue in a more agressive fashion in Montréal. Joane Hétu, wondeur-brasser and composer has released another jarring adventure, Castor et Compagnie. This is her first “solo” recording, although she is joined by AM regulars Diane Labrosse (keys and accordion), Jean Derome (brass, woodwinds, percussion and effects), Pierre Tanguay (percussion) and some bass tracks from Luc Bonin. The beauty of all the music Hétu makes is its refusal to be described by genre or comparison: jazz, new classical, punk-funk, experimental noise; Stockhausen, Glass, Beefheart and Zappa all seem vaguely appropriate until you really listen. Castor et Compagnie adds another element, one of erotic romance. The texts that inspire these pieces come from Hindi love recipes, Arabic sex-play games and old ribald folk songs, and the music created around them is a rich mix of lush and lustful, one moment a Brazilian cliché, the next a raw revel or a scream. Her edgy, acidic voice plays hard against all of this, and she takes the most obvious themes and makes them her own in surprising ways.
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Saturday, January 28, 2017 / New releases
Disc Castor et compagnie by Joane Hétu, released in 1995, is 25% off to celebrate 25 years of new music at DAME (until the end of February). “… acidic voice plays hard against all of this, and she takes the most obvious themes and makes them he… More