Jonathan Personne releases Nouveau Monde!

Bringing together previously unreleased songs from different eras, Nouveau Monde is by no means an album of outtakes. Having just recorded Mimi with Corridor, a demanding process, he wanted an opposite experience with this project, and ultimately ended up with an easy, spontaneous and naïve album. Personne’s ingeniously casual approach in the studio gave his older songs a new twist, creating a laid-back record with no pressure or expectations, other than to rediscover the simple pleasure of making music.

Jonathan Personne opted for a “bedroom” style production, embracing the mismatched quality of his compositions. His set-up was just polished enough to create a cohesive bond between tracks, making this melodic jumble a real tour de force. This “mixtape” structure echoes that of '90s classics such as Check Your Head by the Beastie Boys or early Beck records, which shaped Jonathan Personne's youth.

His new album kicks off with the organized chaos of La vie, la mort, an infectious rock tune that sounds like a chance encounter between the catchy guitar riffs of Thin Lizzy, the impeccable harmonies of Brian Wilson and the sheer urgency of The Wipers. Nouveau Monde's nine songs draw from a wide range of influences from the 60s to the 2000s, combining sunshine pop and yacht rock (Les jours heureux), slacker folk (Zoé sur la montagne) and shoegaze (Nuage noir), with proto-punk and stoner-psychedelic layers (Le cerf), as well as a few sweet moments reminiscent of cartoon theme songs from another era, notably on the title track. While some of Jonathan Personne's melodies seem ingenuous or candid, this can also be heard in his lyrics, in which he eschews his usual cynicism in favour of universal lessons about life, perceptions, and hope.