[…] Weaving is right up there with painting and sports as hackneyed clichés for describing music, but Joane Hétu’s Filature took a tight focus on each thread and every tie in her tapestry. The piece, performed with Montréal’s Ensemble Supermusique, was based on her time spent as a fabric colourist, and effectively displayed her personal sense for composing and arranging and for turning nostalgic memories into music. Pierre Hébert’s real time video manipulations, tight shots of cloth and twine, supported Hétu’s musical vison well. […]

The Suoni Per Il Popolo festival will take place on June 1-30, 2007 in Montréal. One evening will be dedicated to Ambiances Magnétiques’s artists on June 17, 2007: Marie-Soleil Bélanger + Normand Guilbeault + Ensemble SuperMusique + Martin Tétreault + Nous perçons les oreilles (Joane Hétu, Jean Derome) will be at Casa del popolo for the occasion.

[…] The final day began with a wonderful set by Joane Hétu’s Ensemble SuperMusique called Filature. Joane Hétu runs the great label from Montréal, Ambiances Magnétiques. Her longtime partner is Jean Derome and both of them play alto sax, do vocals and compose at length. Both Joane and Jean consistently release excellent, diverse discs on Ambiances Magnétiques and I always look forward to any project that either works on. Just about every year, someone from this label (like Diane Labrosse, Normand Guilbeault, Danielle Palardy Roger or Pierre Tanguay) does something special up at Victo. Filature is Joane Hétus most ambitious project yet and it will take a while to absorb its many layers of ideas. It featured ten musicians, five women and five men with Pierre Hébert doing video projections. Joane refers to it as sound/theatre and that sounds right. Joane was once a weaver before concentrating on becoming a musician and the theme of weaving is the central thread throughout this work. The first part is called The Warp and featured the five men on alto sax or flute, violin, trumpet, contrabass and drums. The music was an exquisite blend of lovely harmonies, short drones, acappella vocal sections and haunting music. The video images were of a single tree branch with some occasional growth. The second part, The Weft featured the five women musicians on violin, cello, flutes, sampler, percussion & alto sax. Most of the women contributed charming vocal sounds along with their contemplative, cinematic music, sometimes sparse but always enchanting. The third and final part was called The Pattern and it featured all ten musicians. It began with just a few repeating notes and evolved through different grooves and sections. I love the way the vocals and instruments shared stunning harmonies with each other. Joane has a gift for breaking up the melody and having different members share their lines so that whole band sounds like one refined tapestry of sound. It reminded of the superb magic-music that Fred Frith’s Keep the Dog used to play and yes, Jean Derome was an integral part of that band many years ago. The images of twine, knots, rope, faces and hands connected with the music just right. It was a marvelous set and I can’t wait for it to be released on disc! […]

On May 31, 2007, the Galerie B-312 (Montréal) invites you to an event of improvised music with Jean Derome, Joane Hétu, Pierre Tanguay and their special guest coming from Europe, Catherine Jauniaux — whose nickname is… “human sampler.” You may expect a free, breezy and zestful improvisation from those musicans. Also, exhibitions Made in China by Jacko Restikian, and Travaux récents by Randall Anderson take place simultaneously until June 16. By the way, why don’t your turn the actuelleradio on?

You may want to take advantage of the good exchange rates, fly your way to New York as free birds, and listen to Nicolas Caloia, Isaiah Ceccarelli, Jean Derome, Lori Freedman, Joane Hétu, and Danielle Palardy Roger from May 25 to 27, 2007 at The Stone, New York (USA). This event is worth a visit… Rediscover their musical spirit listening to some audio clips on the page of Canevas «+».

Joane Hétu will present her Filature project in which she mixes rock, minimalist music, improvisations with visual and scenic components. This lively artist will be on stage with the Ensemble SuperMusique (Mélanie Auclair, Guido Del Fabbro, Jean Derome, Claire Gignac, Normand Guilbeault, Diane Labrosse, Danielle Palardy Roger, Pierre Tanguay, Némo Venba), and visual artist Pierre Hébert. This concert will be presented on May 21, 2007 at cinéma Laurier in Victoriaville as part of the Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville (23 concerts of “musique actuelle” — detailed schedule on their website). Until then, you may want to go by a virtual roundabout way and listen to some online audio clips of her album Nouvelle musique d’hiver.