Flore Laurentienne, the incomparable project of Mathieu David Gagnon, announces the release of the album 8 tableaux on March 1st on Secret City Records. After a stand-out performance at the recent Rencontres Trans Musicales in Rennes, the composer, orchestrator and musician turned to the works of Jean Paul Riopelle at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) for inspiration, selecting them for their depth and landscape dimension.

« With 8 tableaux, I tried to give musical form to a painting. Music is an art that takes place over time. Painting is a freeze-frame at a precise moment in the painter’s creative flow.
So how do you combine these two art forms? Do you have to stop time? How do you stop time in music?
By basing the structure of the pieces on cycles that recur again and again, we can make the listener believe that the music was there before, and that it will also be there afterwards. With no beginning and no end, all that’s left is this musical freeze-frame.
In taking this approach, it became clear to me that music and painting both appeal to contemplation.
Another concept I worked on for this record is the notion of randomness in music. Riopelle is often associated with the Automatist movement. For me, his major works from the 50s are more reminiscent of romantic abstraction or even a great organic and organized chaos (a link to be made with nature here). It was on the basis of this reflection that I tried to integrate the notion of controlled chance or, rather, of chaos filtered through emotion. »

This new album is part of a residency project with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) that took place last November, surrounded by works selected for their depth and landscape dimension, serving as a prelude to the major concerts on 23rd and 24th of March 2024 at the MMFA’s Salle Bourgie.

Flore Laurentienne’s albums, Volume 1 and Volume 2, released on Costume Records, won over audiences and critics alike, garnering two Félix awards at the 2020 ADISQ Gala and the trophy for Best Experimental Album at the GAMIQ that same year. The albums have also garnered several nominations at the ADISQ Gala, the JUNO Prize and on the long list of the prestigious Polaris Music Prize. The track ‘Fleuve No.1’ was the opening song for the Chanel fashion show at Paris Fashion Week 2022.

Flore Laurentienne is the result of a happy marriage between electronic music and music with a classical influence. The project is committed to constantly pushing back the boundaries between various musical genres such as ambient music, experimental music and progressive rock.