Being extremely confusing: that’s what Jean-Philippe Fréchette, alias Navet confit, likes. He presents Bonjour, an opus in line with his exploratory, hybrid and singular mode of creation.
It has been two decades since Navet confit – Navet, for the intimates – has been rolling its bump on the margins of the Quebec musical universe known as “general public”. The singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Beauce likes to offer proposals that are certainly more niche.
His first complete solo project and 9th original album in two decades, the adopted Montrealer simply baptized it Bonjour.
“I like to release albums and record, explains the artist who has obviously experienced a creative pandemic. It’s my way of remembering my ideas, that’s why I have so much material. I don’t write the music, it’s my “laptop” which is my notebook.”
The subtext of the release of this album recorded between March 2020 and September 2021 by a solo Navet is simple: it’s as if the musician were launching to the world: “Hello, here’s everything I’ve tried over the last two years. If that appeals to you, listen to it!”
Eleven songs were born from this exploration that began in the early days of the global crisis, when the 42-year-old artist’s living room turned into a recording studio. This is where the song Thursday, the only instrumental piece on the album, was born: the creation of a Turnip who was in search of Zen through the chaos of the pandemic.
The texts of Bonjour, he explains, are the logical continuation of his last album Aquaforme, launched in 2020. They were born from a desire for minimalism, even miniature, inspired by literary encounters in poetry.
“It’s a job that I’ve been doing more and more for a few years, continues the one who also produces albums for other artists. I offer stuff with more extensive arrangements and less discernible instruments, with more “lo-fi” walls of sound, a little folk and sprinkled with electric piano. This album has also been described as meditative ambient grunge…”
If the instruments are difficult to discern, it is because the creator enjoys having fun with out-of-tune instruments. Because for him, a big part of the fun lies in playing with “something that is not straight or perfect.”
Creative under duress
Please, the first extract offered, is revealed in a very short format with a lighter and more rhythmic atmosphere than the rest of the album. However, according to the main interested party, it offers a good overview of the rest of the offering made up of what he calls anti-songs.
“An anti-song offers neutrality, the most neutral step back from the subject, often in the economy of words, explains the man who has also been co-owner of the company Le théâtre du futur for eleven years. The goal is rather to create a work in several dimensions.”
This album, one of whose primary and avowed goals is to destabilize, was almost entirely created alone by Navet confit. He explains that he had fun playing with the repetitions, the humor, the anti-music aspect and the false side that comes with the use of his out-of-tune instruments.
For Navet confit – who admits to having a slightly “mushy” anti-conformist punk thought behind his mode of creation – the interest of making music is in exploration, the eternal questioning and the constant search to find oneself. in a state of awakening. “I let myself be carried away by what I love, without having too many long-term plans,” he adds.
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