Ambiances magnétiques’ Robert Marcel Lepage has written numerous soundtracks for television, dance and cinema. The music he composed for Rodrigue Jean’s film Full Blast is one of the rockiest things he’s ever done. The movie focuses on the lives of young trash rock musicians and Lepage’s music follows accordingly. Singer Marie-Jo Thério was already playing in the movie: her voice is a wonder of strength and uncertainty and Full Blast is a still too rare occasion to hear her in a rock context (her beautiful album La Maline, released in early 2000, is full of slow songs built on delicate arrangements and whispered vocals). This is not her first collaboration with the Ambiances magnétiques crowd, as she guests on Papa Boa’s Un Lutin (from the CD Tête à queue) and guitarist Bernard Falaise of the same band worked closely on her La Maline. Musicians on Full Blast include Québec trash pop phenomenon Fred Fortin (bass) and his guitarist Olivier Langevin, along with various drummers. Vincent Letellier provides drumloops on one track(“Fullrave”) and Martin Tétreault builds atmospheres out of his turntable experiments. Lepage wrote short tunes (mostly one to three minutes long) in accordance to the fast-paced editing of the movie. The dominant style is dirty bar rock with about half of the numbers instrumentals, the other half with singer Thério. Sound is often muted — like recorded from a distance — and Thério’s performance includes signal overloads and microphone feedbacks (once again, the small bar feeling). The music stands rather well on its own, although excursions in rave music and country rock are disruptive when one considers the album as a whole. Still, Full Blast is a good occasion to hear Marie-Jo Thério and Fred Fortin in an unusual setting. One must point out that, although released by Ambiances magnétiques, an experimental music label, this album remains very easy to listen to.