Posted at 10:52 am.
Karkwa’s absence in the last 12 years has added to his myth. The group unplugged their amplifiers after their album Les chemins de verres (2010) won the Polaris Prize and at the end of a tour that took them far from Quebec. Karkwa left the company at the height of his fame.
The love value enjoyed by Louis-Jean Cormier (guitar and vocals), François Lafontaine (several keyboards, backing vocals), Martin Lamontagne (bass), Stéphane Bergeron (drums) and Julien Sagot (percussion, guitar) has not diminished, but rather increased in recent years. The proof: On Thursday the quintet performed at the packed MTelus. This was only the first of four evenings these days and another one was added in November 2024…
The passage of time also means that the group we had in front of our eyes and ears is much better than before. Louis-Jean Cormier and François Lafontaine remain the anchors and wings of Karkwa’s songs, but we felt a more “horizontal” energy on stage. Never have these five musicians seemed more in tune with one another, playing their explosive rock with incredible power and precision.
Patrick Watson surprised
The magic started happening even before Karkwa entered the scene. Just before 9 p.m., the curtain opened to reveal a disheveled head sitting in front of a piano. No, it wasn’t François Lafontaine, but Patrick Watson, who came to perform four songs (including a duet with Marie-Pierre Arthur) to remind us that he had opened for Karkwa in his early days. It was beautiful and airy. Also unusual: He shouldn’t sing at the next concerts at MTelus.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Patrick Watson made a surprise appearance and sang four songs, including a duet with Marie-Pierre Arthur.
Shortly afterwards, Karkwa took the stage and began his show at the beginning of his album Dans la second, combining Ouverture and Perfecte on the screen. It was already clear that we would witness a great evening: the group cohesion was perfect, the flights were controlled and the emergency services were intact. Shortly afterwards, during Pyromaniac, we were also able to enjoy the delicacy of the sound system (by Mathieu Parisien, the sixth Karkwa), especially due to the clarity of the choruses sung by François Lafontaine, an indispensable and amazing vocal ally of Louis-Jean Cormier.
For a good two very compact hours, the quintet took the audience on a journey through their repertoire, drawing from all of their records (except Le pensionnat desestablishés) and releasing both Moi-léger and Le coup d’état (brilliant, as an encore). ), but also Escape the Fate, The Cold Shoulder and many others. Up close, powered by an electronic loop, I was breathless. Gravité was wildly percussive and throughout the concert we felt a freedom and excitement on stage that translated into rich but clearly defined musical flights of fancy.
A poet on keyboards
As a solo artist, Louis-Jean Cormier has become a better frontman. Not so much in his interventions, which are still chaotic, but in his general demeanor. And this, even if he does not strive to attract light to himself. On Thursday, however, when he wasn’t singing, he readily blended into the group, physically showing that he is just one link in this chain of five impeccable musicians.
The one who always stands out the most, it must be said, is François Lafontaine. Omnipresent, even when he wants to be discreet, he is the poet of Karkwa’s songs. The one who underlines the subtext, the one who brings out the emotion by tapping out a few notes, the one who does the most rocking solos, the one who can also push the pieces into the stratosphere, as is the case with The, among others was switch.
Karkwa is 25 years old, Louis-Jean Cormier emphasized on Thursday, before humorously explaining that the group had “done nothing” for half of this quarter century. “We are now the five best friends in the world, here on vacation to play songs and make music together,” he added. And the strength of this comeback lies in this: This group no longer has anything to prove. He is at the peak of his art, completely free of his youthful influences (Radiohead of course) and completely uninhibited.
Yes, Louis-Jean Cormier deleted the first part of Oublie pas, which should have been touching. Yes, he seemed chaotic when he hesitated in the lyrics of some songs. Yes, after two hours we told ourselves that Karkwa was able to tighten certain pieces that were dragging to the point of complacency. But this return, illuminated by expressive light of great beauty, was above all magnificent. So big that we will really regret it if Karkwa stays silent forever.
Karkwa is on MTelus on Friday, Saturday and December 9th. Another one was added on November 23, 2024.