Montreal singer and bassist Marie-Pierre Arthur honed her chops performing with artists as diverse as singer-songwriter Nanette Workman, trip-pop queen Ariane Moffatt, and alt-rockers Karkwa before she released her 2009 self-titled solo debut. More than a decade later, her fourth album similarly revels in that impossible-to-categorize range. Co-produced by François Lafontaine and Sam Joly (members of the band Klaus), Des feux pour voir finds Arthur at her most comfortable and adventurous to date. Languorous opener “La guerre” feels like a hazy '70s rock ballad enhanced with freeing moments of distortion, as Arthur softly expresses her fears for a straying lover. She’s coy and playful as she sings about ghosts over ’80s-pop bounce on “Dans tes rêves.” And on the closing hymn “Puits de lumière,” she finds gorgeous harmony with Jean-Louis Cormier, who wrote the song’s bittersweet lyrics about a skylight that illuminates even on dark days. Nothing may be quite where you expect it in Arthur’s sophisticated grab bag of cool, but everything finds its place.
- 2015
- Louis-Jean Cormier
- Les sœurs Boulay
- Mara Tremblay