Today, David Myles is releasing new material with the spirit of his hometown in mind. After spending many hours—and years, we’re sure—honing his language skills, he has now written and recorded an album entirely in French. With Le grand départ, Myles is not only exploring a second language, but also serving us new sounds that stray from his typical style.
Being his first ever French album, Le grand départ is something Myles had long dreamed of releasing. Recorded in Montréal and produced by the François Lafontaine at L-Abe Records, the album was written in collaboration with two Francophones to ensure the language wasn’t lacking. Being himself a native to New Brunswick, Myles demonstrates through his efforts a firm understanding of how important it is to celebrate and acknowledge our other official language.
On a whole, the music on Le grand départ is quite polished—vocals included. Myles’s hours of practice become evident in his nearly flawless accent. However, his deep vocal range and full, rounded pronunciation make the language sound more Parisian than Canadian.
The Parisian feel carries through with classic slow, French bossa-nova style tracks like “Plus rien,” “Mon frère” and the groovier “Les lendemains,” as well as a cover of the Françoise Hardy classic “Le temps de l’amour.”
But the album isn’t all mellow; it picks up with the retro-sounding “Hey shérif” and “De bonne guerre.” Moving from industrial 80s sounds to 60s-era organs, Myles doesn’t shy away from taking influences from a handful of different decades.
And on top of the variance in time-specific styles we also hear a huge variety of instruments throughout the tracks. Each one has its own combination of sounds, making them all unique. But what unites it as a whole are the overarching modern-indie feel, Myles’s signature vocals and, of course, the language.
A definite highlight of the release is “Sombre Baisers.” Opening the album on a strong note, it carries an indie, almost Beatles-esque sound—but with more dreamy synth, and in French. It’s groovy and catchy and pulls at your heartstrings with every verse and riff.
In addition to dropping a debut French album, David Myles is also set to publish his first-ever children’s book, produce his own radio program on CKUA and release an acoustic version of his album Real Love.
Moving away from the Micheal Bublé- and Jack Johnson-esque sounds we are used to hearing from Myles, Le grand départ is something fresh and exciting for time-tested fans and new listeners alike.
If you like what you hear, you can catch Myles at any of his upcoming tour dates, including seven venues in Quebec this October.
Tour Dates:
09.15.18 – Calgary, AB @ Braeside Community Centre
09.21.18 – Bishop, CA @ Millpond Music Festival
09.22.18 – Bishop, CA @ Millpond Music Festival
09.28.18 – Halifax, NS @ Rebecca Cohn Auditorium (W/Symphony NS)
09.29.18 – Halifax, NS @ Rebecca Cohn Auditorium (W/Symphony NS)
10.06.18 – Fredericton, NB @ The Aitken Centre (W/Matt Mays, Matt Andersen, Neon Dreams, Classified and Tristan Horncastle)
10.11.18 – Sorel-Tracy, QC @ Salle Georges-Codling du Marché des arts Desjardins
10.12.18 – Gatineau, QC @ Cabaret La Basoche
10.14.18 – Sainte-Geneviève, QC @ Salle Pauline-Julien
10.18.18 – Sainte-Agathe, QC @ Théâtre Le Patriote
10.09.18 – Longueuil, QC @ Théâtre de la Ville, Salle Jean-Louis-Millette
10.25.18 – Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC @ Cabaret-Theatre Vieux-Saint Jean
10.27.18 – Alma, QC @ La Boîte à Bleuets
11.25.18 – Charlottetown, P.E.I. @ Homburg Theatre/Confederation Centre of the Arts (W/Prokofiev 5)
12.13.18 – Montreal, QC @ Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal/Bourgie Hall
02.01.19 – Moncton, New Brunswick @ Capitol Theatre
02.16.19 – Mont-Laurier, QC @ Espace Théâtre Muni-Spec Mont-Laurier