The guys from Alaclair Ensemble come with a new project that revisits and coldly analyzes the last few years of their journey, from the pandemic to the #MeToo movement, while also making space for a fallen rapper for the duration of a song.
On September 1st, almost four years after their last project, Alaclair Ensemble’s new work, Lait paternal, will take the market by storm. The MCs have a lot on their hearts and are ready to face audience reactions to this open, nuanced album, whose opinions are enough to anger some. However, the Quebec collective did not lose its playful and humorous touch during his absence.
“[Sur l’album]“We laugh at the social positioning spectacle we currently live in,” admits Robert Nelson, aka Ogden, without embarrassment. “There are ideas [dans la société] that are super good but become so popular that they become a trend; “This is a good time to laugh about it and question yourself,” notes the youngest member of the Alaclair Ensemble.
“It’ll make a ripple if we don’t tone it down/You might be right, maybe I’m right/But what do the gawds say?” raps KNLO in particular on the song Mon ami conspi.
“This album cultivates an energy that makes you constantly question yourself,” says Eman, a member of the collective, calmly in an interview with Le Journal. “As a society, we are forced to take positions on debates without thinking about them; “It’s important not to argue and to try to understand the other person,” explains the man, who also presented a solo project in May.
Maybe Watson: What if it had to be done again?
It’s impossible to listen to Alaclair Ensemble’s “Lait paternal” without noticing the brief return of Maybe Watson, one of the group’s founding members who was shown the door in 2020 in the wake of the denunciations that gave rise to the #MeToo movement became. According to KNLO’s own statement during an interview with Le Journal, if it had to be done again, the situation would be handled differently.
“There was a lot of collective pressure and very little time to think about it all,” admits the MC. “Since then, the considerations and discussions have evolved significantly [2020]not just in show business but also in our own circles,” he adds.
“I would have preferred to have handled it differently, but let’s be honest, it made me work on my resilience,” Maybe Watson complains on Postcard.
On this sound, which practically sets the tone for the album, “Wats” uncompromisingly expresses his rehabilitation and forced absence from the stage after the group was made aware of an “unacceptable story.” Details of the incident were never revealed and no charges were filed against the rapper.
According to the band members, it is “almost unthinkable” to give new impulses while pretending that Maybe Watson and this situation never existed. Even if the professional connection between the fallen rapper and the collective is broken, the other ties that bind them are still very much alive.
“Wats remains a friend, he remains a family member,” says Robert Nelson. “The dialogues about this situation continued, and it was made very coherent in terms of our journeys through those dialogues to make a place for it on the album,” he says.
Presented under the 7ieme Ciel Records label, “Lait paternal” will be available on September 1st. The Alaclair Ensemble will perform at the Imperial Bell on September 7th and at Club Soda on September 29th.
After listening to this album it is clear that “Les Minnes”, as they like to call themselves, are back at full strength. On this generous 16-track effort, Alaclair delivers verses that are both honest and comical, while riding producer Vlooper’s lush rhythms as lightly as only they can.