MONTAG
Going Places
Sonic Unyon
· More modern art than modern music – Antoine Bedard will definitely take you to places.
As far as the genre of Montreal-based French Canadians making overtly pleasant electronic pop goes, Antoine Bedard’s one-man band Montag is pretty much it. One of those albums that give record store filers nightmares, the latest Montag album Going Places is a little bit electronic, a little bit pop, a little bit new age and a lot of different sounds packed together to make something entirely unexpected.
From the opening track, "I Have Sound," which sounds a bit too much like the background music to a factory montage in an educational video, to the closing title track that uses sounds sent to Bedard from people in 15 different countries, every track is a surprising new experience.
More modern art than album, Going Places is extremely engaging on the first listen, the kind of album that you lie back and actively listen to. It isn’t that the music is overly complex, though Bedard does draw from a smorgasbord of sound, it is just weird enough to keep you on your toes while being catchy enough to keep them tapping.
There are a few failures here but the successes far outnumber them, "Safe in Sound," which features vocals by Amy Millan of Stars is a great ethereal pop song, the straightforward dance track "No One Else" is just a bit too good to be a guilty pleasure, and the blips, beats, French lyrics, guitars and horns of Alice work together to create a perfect summer song.
Maybe not quite as good as other off-the-beaten-track records, but still well worth the trip.
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