“Theme and variations” isn’t exactly rock ‘n’ roll’s modus operandi, unless you count the retrograde lyrical motif of “cars, girls, repeat.” But thanks to this modern-day Montreal quartet, it’s no longer the exclusive domain of Mozart and Elgar. Avec le soleil sortant de sa bouche (“with the sun coming out of his/her mouth”) has a sound as gleefully unwieldy as its moniker, simultaneously juggling multiple influences, like a sonic circus-performer. Triangulate space-rock, Afro-beat and post-punk, and you might get a fix on the group’s coordinates. But, unlike almost all other rock bands, its songs are multimovement pieces that explore the same basic idea from every possible angle. Like Zubberdust!, the band’s 2014 debut, this second album consists of just three or four songs, split into ten tracks. And much like a binge-watched TV show, Pas Pire Pop, I Love You So Much picks up where its predecessor left off—literally: “Trans-Pop Express” picks up a riff heard as a ghostly echo on the final track of Zubberdust! Much like krautrock (or rather, kosmische musik) legends Can, Avec le soleil are masters of building tension through repetition and funk-beat friction. Adding to the cosmic vibe are vocals that are mainly wordless chants that never stray into hippie mysticism. And much like Japan’s Boredoms, this band uses punk-rock energy to hypnotize the listener with infinite incantations. Repeated listens may make you think you’re being indoctrinated into a cult: even as pieces jump jarringly from churning noise to danceable Afro-pop, there’s a compelling logic at work, that makes it seem perfectly natural to leave your old life behind and devote the rest of your days to soleil worship.
Jonathan Bunce (a.k.a. Jonny Dovercourt) has been participating in the independent music community in Toronto – as a musician, writer, editor, presenter, organizer and advocate – since the early 1990s. He has been a member of more than a dozen bands and helped co-found Wavelength, a multi-genre music series. He is currently collaborating in the space-improv-punk guitar duo, Hybrid Moments. Jonny has also served as Artistic Director of The Music Gallery, a long-running Toronto concert space, and as Operations & Development Manager at the Images Festival. He has also co-edited two volumes of Coach House Books’ acclaimed uTOpia anthology.