Chansons d’un jour
Geneviève Letarte / Claude Fradette
Chansons d’un jour is an inspiring and complex album. — Collected Sounds, USA
… relaxed in mood and has some intriguing songs… Chansons d’un jour is an inspiring and complex album. — Collected Sounds, USA
In 1990, singer, poet, novelist, and performer Geneviève Letarte launched her first CD intitled Vous seriez un ange, which received popular and critical acclaim. Following that success, she returns this fall with Chansons d’un jour, an intimate and sensual disc. Carried by compelling melodies and the rhythms of the tango, waltz and blues, these ten new songs written and performed by Letarte speak of love and contemplation, voyage and quest. Accompanied by electric and acoustic guitar, bass, drums and trumpet, she transports us to that place of her own, at the boundary of poetry and music. Simple and compelling, Geneviève Letarte’s Chansons d’un jour takes us into a world at once innovative and nostalgic.
- Composer(s): Geneviève Letarte, Michel F Côté, Diane Labrosse, Claude Fradette
- Writer(s): Geneviève Letarte
- Performer(s): Serge Boisvert, Claude Fradette, Normand Guilbeault, Geneviève Letarte, Pierre Tanguay
- Cover image: Raymonde April
- Graphic design: Luc Beauchemin, Jean-François Denis
- Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec • SODEC
CD (AM 084)
- 1Arr. Claude Fradette
- 2Arr. Claude Fradette
- 3
- 4Arr. Claude Fradette
- 5Arr. Claude Fradette
- 6Arr. Claude Fradette
- 7Arr. Claude Fradette
- 8
- 9Arr. Claude Fradette
- 10
- Label: Ambiances Magnétiques
- AM 084
- 2000
- UCC 771028108428
- Total duration: 46:49
- Jewel case
- 125 mm × 142 mm × 10 mm
- 105 g
On the web
Some recommended items
In the press
A Gift Idea: Expand Someone’s Horizons
The Holidays are closing in. Are you wondering what gifts to buy this year? You’re looking for the original gift, the one that will surprise and please? Why not expand the musical horizons of a loved one, a colleague at work, or a cousin you haven’t seen since last Christmas? Here’s my highly personal selection of gift ideas to introduce someone (or yourself, you’re allowed to indulge from time to time!) to the wonderful world of “musique actuelle.”
That good ol’ song
It may seem a bit easy, but everyone likes a good song. That said, we don’t all have the same definition of what a good song is. And the artists in DAME’s catalog take some liberties with this format — that’s what makes things exciting. But Geneviève Letarte’s Chansons d’un jour will please anyone looking for songs with intelligent, accessible melodies and poetic lyrics. The soft melancholy of Chants des adieux, chants de la solitude will profoundly move dreamers in search of a different voice (Lou Babin’s, irresistible).
You don’t understand French? The lyrics of Jerry Snell’s album Life in the Suicide Riots will make you think hard about the world we live in. And the chugging guitar riffs of André Duchesne ’s Locomotive will catch the attention of any rock fan, even one deaf to French. Speaking of rock, the deconstructed rock of the all-female group Justine can keep you busy for a while, lyrics or no lyrics. Their first album (Suite) is a powerful mixture of progressist rock, while their second Langages fantastiques leans more toward improvised songs. If you want a taste of what songwriting avant-garde artists can come up with, try the compilation album Chante! 1985-2000, a wide and wild selection of unusual songs.
Party time
A time for celebrating, letting off steam, and disobedience, the party when applied to music can give way to a distortion of admitted rules. L’Orkestre des pas perdusinjects a new form of circus life into fanfare music, an infectious R ’n’ B (rhythm ’n’ brass, of course) that will refresh any parade. Its cousin Les Projectionnistes (both bands are led by Claude St-Jean) trades circus for rock and the brass section transforms from funny fanfare to frenetic funk. Taking a different approach, the Fanfare Pourpour leaves the official parade attire behind to favor the spontaneity of a street fanfare. It’s music for “everyone” (Tout le monde, the title of their first album) without dropping to the lowest common denominator.
In a similar spirit, but adding an East-European flavor and an incredible dose of energy is the group Interférence Sardines, which features two members of the neo-trad group Les Batinses. Jean Derome et les Dangereux Zhoms walks a jazzier road, but its frivolous side easily becomes delightfully exuberant. The group’s three albums are all highly recommended, but Carnets de voyage remains an excellent place to start. And I find the same spirit of excessiveness and raw emotion in La boulezaille (Pierre Langevin and Pierre Tanguay) and Plinc! Plonc! (Jean Derome and Pierre Tanguay), two albums where world music, jazz and free improvisation collide.
And to boldly go where few have gone before
Maybe you would like to go further and hook someone on a kind of “musique actuelle” that is more daring and abstract. Here are a few key albums from DAME’s catalogue in improvised and electronic music.
Martin Tétreault is one of the most fascinating experimental artists right now. His technique at the turntable spins 45 questions per minute. His recent album with Diane Labrosse, Parasites, puts disquieting quiet sounds under the microscope. And Studio — Analogique — Numérique, his fresh collaboration with the Japanese mastermind Yoshihide Otomo, proposes cutting-edge sonic research in very original packaging: a box set of three 3” CDs.
A pillar of the avant-garde music scene since the early ‘70s, Fred Frith remains the favorite of many connoisseurs. The two albums by the Fred Frith Guitar Quartet (with René Lussier, Nick Didkovsky and Mark Stewart) are essential listens. DAME also distributes the titles released by Frith’s own Fred Records.
One of the first groups from the DAME stables to have explored electroacoustic improvisation, the Klaxon Gueule trio revels in noisy textures and demanding pleasures. Their last two albums Muets and Grain met critical acclaim. And I also want to mention the Ohmix compilation album, a daring electronic project where select artists (including Martin Tétreault, David Kristian, John Oswald, Terre Thaemlitz, and Ralf Wehowsky) remix the albums of the label Avatar.
Finally, instead of sending out the usual Christmas cards, consider the sound post cards produced by the label Ouïe-Dire. These are regular post cards accompanied by 3” CDs from French experimental artists. And happy Holidays!
Review
The Montréal based writer and singer Geneviève Letarte’s album is relaxed in mood and has some intriguing songs. The slowburning opener Contemplation is a great song with a slightly arabic feel to it. Just as good is the sensual La prairie de ton lit (The prairie of your bed). Le Journal sets an ironic account of someone being bored by the lack of violent news in the paper to a restrained backing. Liberté states: “There is no freedom / there is only space and time” and concludes enigmatically “Live in the world of your soul.” These words are set to jazzy tune that recalls “The Walking”-era Jane Siberry. Chansons d’un jour is an inspiring and complex album.
Review
The Montréal based writer and singer Geneviève Letarte’s album is relaxed in mood and has some intriguing songs. The slowburning opener Contemplation is a great song with a slightly arabic feel to it. Just as good is the sensual La prairie de ton lit (The prairie of your bed). Le Journal sets an ironic account of someone being bored by the lack of violent news in the paper to a restrained backing. Liberté states: “There is no freedom there is only space and time” and concludes enigmatically “Live in the world of your soul.” These words are set to jazzy tune that recalls The Walking-era Jane Siberry. Chansons d’un jour is an inspiring and complex album.
Disques
Il y a bientôt deux ans le collectif québécois éditait d’un seul coup plusieurs enregistrements qui se caractérisaient par un contenu artistique similaire: l’improvisation bruitiste déclinée de multiples manières (Lussier / Tétreault, Île Bizarre)
Cet hiver est marqué par un autre tir groupe autour du chant. Tout d’abord une compilation (la 5e) qui resitue certaines pièces dans cet environnement thématique sous toutes ses formes (Chante! 1985-2000). Certes, elle ne comprend pas d’inédits, mais permet de redécouvrir en compact quelques titres issus des productions vinyliques des années 80’ comme celles de Wondeur Brass ou des débuts du duo Lussier/Derome avant qu’il ne devienne les Granules.
Critique
Canadienne également, Geneviève Letarte évolue dans un autre registre, plus intimiste et sensuel, celui de la chanson. Épaulée par un singulier quintette (accordéon, guitare électrique,trompette, basse et batterie) elle offre ses Chansons d’un jour,légères et subtiles, à la frontière de la poésie.
Review
Genevieve Letarte is a singer that is a poet and novelist as well. Her developed ability to communicate and express emotions comes across on this warm and personal disc. Sparse, almost Western, accompaniment by electric guitar and drums joins Letarte in delivering her original songs that strike the listener as familiar and nostalgic.
Review
10 Chansons we find on this CD. It are softly songs which come to you. This CD is difficult to review because only when you listen to it you are able to have an idea of the beauty about it. Chansons it are, but also poetry accompanied with music and even from time to time spoken word. She is accompanied by 4 musicians with guitars, contrabass, percussion, trumpet. The music sounds a bit tragic and brings you silently into a tranquil mood. The text is in French but that makes it for a person who does not understand the music more interesting, poetic. Yet, in the booklet there are some English translations and when you read the texts you see that it is tragic music. A very interesting CD with music that never gets boring because of the variations between the chansons.
Review
What? You weren’t out looking for an eclectic album by a 45-year-old French-Canadian multidisciplinary artist? Geneviève Letarte appears before us anyway with this beautiful, surprising disc. A poet, spoken word performer and author of three novels, Letarte sings with an offhanded grace, and her songs sound like lyrical conversations with a close friend — one you might not be able to follow, if you’re not a French speaker, but Letarte’s entrancing voice and the easygoing warmth of the songs make that seem like a negligible problem. Chansons d’un jour (“Songs of One Day”) mixes smoky jazz and mid-tempo rock with Old World folk music and light touches supplied by accordian and dobro. The crisply produced album includes some unusual arrangements, such as the double-tracked vocals that provide counterpoint rather than harmony, and songs that are well worth hearing whether you understand them or not. The music here succeeds in transcending the boundaries of language.
Lancements

Après une longue absence de 10 ans, l’écrivaine Geneviève Letarte remet son chapeau de chanteuse et nous offre ces Chansons d’un jour, dont elle a écrit les textes et la plupart des musiques, sur fond musical hybride. Côté paroles, l’album est décidément très fort et la vision lucide de l’artiste est drôlement bien amenée, ce qui devrait plaire grandement aux amateurs de chansons à textes. L’album se distingue aussi par son style résolument novateur et actuel.
Critique
Pour un beau retour, c’est tout un beau retour! Après un premier disque fort, Vous seriez un ange paru en 1990, l’artiste mutidisciplinaire Geneviève Letarte récidive, 10 ans plus tard, avec un petit bijou d’album auquel on revient souvent. Quelque part entre Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Nathalie Derome, Marie-Jo Thério, Buffy Ste-Marie et la saine folie de Justine et des Poules, Letarte nous entraîne dans son univers particulier, tout en nuances. Sa musique est à la fois actuelle et très accessible, remplie d’ambiances envoûtantes. Elle puise autant dans le folk que dans l’expérimental, le blues, la valse, le tango et les atmosphères jazzées (la magnifique Je ne tremble plus avec trompette en sourdine à la Miles Davis, courtoisie de Serge Boisvert, est un point fort). Ses textes en français, épicés de quelques mots anglais, italiens et inventés, sont à la fois simples et incisifs, drolatiques et poétiques et leurs accents souvent nostalgiques touchent la cible à tout coup. Le ton est intime et des plus sensuels et la voix douce et caressante de Letarte vous bercera. Un disque tranquille et subtil qui transporte l’auditeur dans un monde magique, sécurisant. A savourer d’un bout à l’autre, paisiblement. Superbe. (9/10)
Recensione
Donne e canzoni parte seconda. Geneviève Letarte, artista multimediale scrittrice di romanzi, ideatrice di spettacoli che combinano musica e poesia, cantante e musicista (sue le parti di tastiere e fisarmonica) con le sue canzoni di un giorno ci narra di amore e di contemplazione, di viaggio e di ricerca. E’ il suo secondo altum (dopo Vous seriez un ange del 1990, sempre su Ambiances magnétiques) e si presenta all’appuntamento accompagnata dal fido Claude Fradette (chitarre, basso, dobro e responsabile degli arrangiamenti), e da Normand Guilbeault (contrabbasso), Pierre Tanguay (batteria e percussioni) e Serge Boisvert (tromba).
Chansons d’un jour è un disco gradevole, sovente delicato ma non privo della necessaria intensità, che risente del retroterra teatrale dell’autrice e dispensa musica insieme nostalgica e moderna, accessibile ma non banale come potrebbe apparire ad un ascolto poco attento. Eleganti e raffinati negli arrangiamenti, i dieci brani sono perlopiù costruiti sui tradizionali ritmi del tango, del walzer, del blues e offrono come pietra di paragone più prossima i Pale Nudes recenti anche per il modo di cantare della Letarte che in diverse occasioni rammenta Amy Denio. Sono però i pezzi più personali (la filastrocca J’ai marché e la fiaba Flou comme la nuit), i più graditi e nei quali viene fuori tutta la bravura dell’artista canadese. (7) Geneviève Letarte fa ovviamente parte di Chante! 1985-2000, solita raccolta a prezo speciale pubblicata dalla battagliera etichetta del Québec a scadenza più o meno annuale e intenta a riassumere quanto di più interessante accade da quelle parti. Solito dispiego di grandi nomi (Pierre Cartier, Jean Derome, Michel Côté, Diane Labrosse, René Lussier, Martin Tétreault e altri) e solito risultato altalenante. Consigliato a chi prima di comprare ha bisogno di un assaggio. (6/7)
Review
Chansons d’un jour: as the title suggests we have here a collection of unpretentious songs. At first hearing they do not ask for much attention. It is only after a second listening that the songs start to grow. Also by her way of singing Letarte does not immediately catch our attention. She sings a little flat and the music is subtle and intimate. It is all happening under the surface. Be patient with this one because it is really beautiful. It is all done with care and love. With a very clear voice and pronounciation she sings her way through the day on the rhythms of the tango, waltz and blues and with nice melodies. It is her second solo album after 10 years. Her first one Vous seriez un ange was released 1990. Genevieve Letarte (voice, keyboards, accordion) has the company of four musicians: Claude Fradette (guitars, bass, dobro), Normand Guilbault (doublebass), Pierrre Tanguay (drums, percussion) and Serge Boisvert (trumpet). Fradette is responsible for the sobre and effective arrangements. Letarte is a Montréal writer (three novels), singer and performance artist. She can also be heard on the critically accliamed ‘Millennium Cabaret’cd on Wired on Words (2000), which documents the best of the spoken word, performance poetry and poetry/music scene in and around Montréal.
Geneviève Letarte: Chanteuse d’un jour?
Poète, romancière ou auteure-compositeure-interprète? Geneviève Letarte ne semble pas sentir l’obligation de choisir et c’est pas nous qui l’y forceront. Dix ans apres son album Vous seriez un ange, l’auteure du roman Les vertiges Molino (Leméac, I996) a repris les chemins du studio pour graver un nouveau CD, au carrefour de la chanson, du spoken-word et de la poésie. Pour ces Chansons d’un jour, elle a sollicité le concours de quelques musiciens parmi les plus chevronnés de la scène «actuelle»: le guitariste Claude Fradette, qui a collaboré aux arrangements, le contrebassiste Normand Guilbeault, le batteur in excelsis Pierre Tanguay, sans oublier le trompettiste Serge Boisvert, un vieux complice. Hybride de Juliette Gréco, Sylvie Tremblay et Laurie Anderson, Letarte propose sur des trames de tango, de valse, de blues avec un soupçon de jazz, des textes à sans pareils portant sur des thèmes divers également présents dans son œuvre romanesque: contemplation quasi mystique, petits désarrois du quotidien, amours problématiques (mais en existe-t-il d’autres?). Chansons d’un jour, vraiment? Allons donc! Plutôt, un disque envoûtant à écouter nuit et jour à longueur d’année! À découvrir, notamment sur le site du label Ambiances magnétiques (wwvv. actuellecd. com) ou chez un disquaire près de chez vous.
Critique

C’est la suite de Vous seriez un ange, 10 ans plus tard. La démarche de cette artiste ne peut être comparée en rien avec les tendances actuelles de la musique québécoise. Cette chanteuse signe, ici, les textes et la plupart des musiques. Tantôt sur fond de blues, de valse ou de tango, elle défile de sa voix claire parfois monocorde et saccadée ses dix nouvelles chansons dont les thèmes de l’amour de la contemplation et de l’étrangeté s’imposent. Ses textes révèlent le fait qu’elle est également écrivaine. Trois romans ont déjà été publiés dont Les Vertiges Molino en 1996. Ce disque déstabiiise. La voix et les textes prennent toute la place. La musique est murmurée. L’anglais et l’italien se mêlent au français dans une des chansons. Tout est une question de goût. Cet album ne lui ouvrira certainement pas la porte du succès populaire, cependant, il faut souligner le courage de cette artiste qui tente de s’imposer dans sa lignée bien à elle. Certains paroles réussissent tout de même à attirer l’attention comme dans la pièce Toutes ces larmes: «Toutes ces larmes qui n’ont pas été pleurées. Pour les territoires occupés. Les cités perverties. L’espoir craqué. Toutes ces larmes. Qui n’ont pas coulé. Dans la rougeur de l’aube. Dans la fureur du soir. Dans la maladie des arbres.»
Letarte, en chanson
Folk Actuel, rythmes qui trottinent, pastels jazzy, minuscules pointes de rock, le tout enrobé par la voix mince d’une diseuse — difficile à supporter dans le registre aigu, en ce qui me concerne. Les mots? Contemplation du quotidien, états généraux de la relation amoureuse, diffraction de l’actualité, fortes injections de sensualité. Il y a aussi des mots étrangers… Inventés? Au fil des ans, Geneviève Letarte a construit un univers riche et singulier, autour duquel gravitent littérature, musique et théâtralité. Voici la dimension chanson, enrobée d’une musique qui nous rappelle une avant-garde des années 80. Letarte ne souffre visiblement pas de jeunisme, en tout cas. Si elle nous a pondu un travail solide et cohérent au plan littéraire, elle ne me semble pas s’être parfaitement lovée dans la forme chanson—dont le cadre musical est, pourtant, assuré par l’excellent guitariste et compositeur Claude Fradette. A-t-elle vraiment choisi le cadre, musical qui lui convient? D’où ce tout petit malaise qui accompagne parfois mon écoute.
Review
Writer, singer, performance artiste and general wordsmith supreme Geneviève Letarte released her debut and last album 10 years ago—far too long a gap to go without an injection of her measured yet sensuous voice, much too long a wait to hear her simply deliver words in all the gloriousness of their sound, sense and nonsense. A precious actuelliste Letarte is not: here she engages in art for music’s sake, poetry (in French, and so all the more poetic) made palatable by mellow and melodious waltzes and two-steps, lounge blues and even whammy-bar rock. Gen: how about another piece o’pie in, oh, five years? 8/10
Review
It took Geneviève Letarte ten years to release a follow-up to her critically acclaimed debut CD Vous seriez un ange. Also a writer and multimedia conceptual artist, she decided to return to recorded music in 2000, delivering a strong second album entitled Chansons d’un jour (One Day Songs). This one sounds a lot more acoustic and natural, even though there are electric guitars and keyboards. Vous seriez un ange also had drum machines and a very late-’80s synthetic quality to it. Center stage, one finds the same voice, just a little cold and detached enough to give it haunting colors, and poetic lyrics (in French, partly translated in the booklet). The music, co-written and arranged by guitarist Claude Fradette, is simpler than on the previous album: exit the disquieting moods of René Lussier’s “Iceberg” or the odd beats of Michel F Côté. Vous seriez un ange, while being popper than most of Ambiances magnétiques’ production, retained something of the label’s sound. This is not the case on Chansons d’un jour, although it doesn’t translate into a mainstream album, if only for Letarte’s very personal singing style and use of foreign and invented languages. A lot of care has been put into textures, dreamy moods, an almost jazzy touch here and there (thanks mostly to Serge Boisvert’s trumpet). Everything is pledged to Letarte’s voice. More accessible than 98% of the Ambiances magnétiques catalogue, Chansons d’un jour offers a beautiful piece of intelligent pop music.
Disques

Dix ans apres l’étonnant Vous seriez un ange, l’écrivaine-performeuse-chanteuse Geneviève Letarte effectue un retour bienvenue sur disque et brasse à nouveau le cocotier de la chanson. Si elle privilégie encore un style parlé-chanté, en dix ans de performances, la voix de Letarte a cependant pns une assurance évidente, qui lui permet même d’effectuer sans gêne quelques scats. Musicalement, on nage entre blues dénudé et folk actuel, avec quelques pointes plus rythmées. Encore une fois, Letarte s’est entourée d’habitués de l’écurie Ambiances magnétiques, parmi lesquels le guitariste Claude Fradette occupe un rôle de premier plan. Les musiques, aériennes mais soutenues, servent d’écrin idéal à un langage poétique tantôt trés terre-à-terre tantôt mystique et envoûtant. 3.5/5
Critique
Geneviève Letarte est traversée par les mots. Toujours. Des mots qui sont mis au monde dans des romans, des performances, mais aussi des chansons. Justement. Elle lance un second album, Chansons d’un jour. Le premier, Vous seriez un ange, publié il y a 10 ans, avait titillé l’oreille par son travail musical complexe et richement tissé, et signait l’avènement d’une chanteuse hors normes et talentueuse. Madame Letarte pond son œuf quand il est prêt, sans vouloir aller plus vite que la musique. Chansons d’un jour se veut résolument un album de chansons, longuement mijotées avec Claude Fradette, guitariste et arrangeur. Une poésie limpide, doucement empreinte de nostalgie. Une nostalgie heureuse, émanant d’une fille sans regrets et forte de sa vie irradiante. Petites valses, danses légères, mots anodins qui s’épanouissent au jeu des notes déliées par Claude Frodette, à lo guitare, Normond Guilbeoult à la contrebasse, Pierre Tanguay à lo batterie et Serge Boisvert à la trompette.
Blog
-
Thursday, February 2, 2017 / New releases
Disc Chansons d’un jour by Geneviève Letarte, released in 2000, is 25% off to celebrate 25 years of new music at DAME (until the end of February). “… relaxed in mood and has some intriguing songs… Chansons d’un jour is an inspiring and complex alb… More
-
Monday, November 4, 2002 / In concert
An evening of delicate love and contemplation with Geneviève Letarte. A SuperOption concert with the author of Vous seriez un ange and Chansons d’un jour Saturday November 16, 2002 at the Va-et-Vient (Montréal). With musicians Claude Fradette (guitars)… More