I'm the Lezart King! 🦎

Sunday, Funday it was on November the 16th! I went down to l'Escogriffe to see Cordial a French multi genre band that have swept everybody's feet at every venue they played. Tonight, the opening band was Oddcharm, this followed Cordial and finally, Lezart played. I came, smoke, breezed and freezes my ass off. No intake of insane amounts of alcohol would be seen from my part tonight, but as the cold bit through my limbs, I was forced to admit I desperately wanted to warm my bones. So in we got, Fanny the picture taker was there, Cordial had arrived, Oddcharm were there patiently waiting and Lezart were roaming, unseen and seeking warmth, praying on us, waiting for the right time to strike. At the door, I great the sax player of Lezart and we exchange a joke about having a line of coke in exchange of paying the ticket for the show, which I think is very inviting for the spectators yet I do reckon that now a days, everyone is broke and drugs aren't cool anymore. I go sit down besides Cordial and I eat my baguette and cheese while waiting for a cleansing or something magical to happen.

(Fast forward a beer down, a pack of cigarettes smoked entirely and eyes that are about to pop out of my skull due to the cold)

Inside, a mass of believers, of searchers of faith are awaiting. Ramble , shambles and rumble is in the air, we want noise! Oddcharm come to the rescue! They play a song, another and another. Bowiesque vibes I get, chameleons voicing their concerns and fantasies through music that takes it's inspirations from the seven seas. They've got textures coming from the piano and guitar that come and envelope us listeners as the singer ranges from soft to dynamic voicings. The origins of the project are, compositions that were written in the old days and now ressurected with the help of a talented band to allow the singers vision to come to life. The use of cues and weird odd synthesizer noises bring me back to Bowie's Berlin Era with Low and Station to Station, yet the overall is eased with a voice that leans towards influences such as Depeche Mode, Porter Robertson (songs like Sad Machine and Shelter are great references) and at times we could stretch to Harmonium on softer bits of songs during the performance. Part of the  songs played tonight are part of an old EP released by the singer titled WHOTHEF*CKAMIANYMORE which was entirely composed in a day with various collaborations. Seeing these songs live revealed how talented and imaginative the band was. Overall Oddcharms are very charming. At times odd with song arrangements that brought us through various universes, but in the end, once the set was done, I felt like I'd been through a long strange trip, the kind Deadheads experienced back with the Grateful Dead. 

Next up we had Cordial. Phantasmagoric is the word. Coloc mixed with modern Thierry Larose, song structures reminding me of Beau Dommage mixed with a touch of old traditional Quebec folk hinting at Plume Latraverse. Their dynamism on stage is incredible. La chanson a Marilou was a strong point of the night; Marilou, being the keyboardist, sang with a Stevie Nicks or Lou-Adrianne styled voice while playing on her keyboard, enthralling us through a woeful song that hinted to George Harrison's songs like Something. After the song, a ensemble featuring the crowd cheered for Marilou congratulating her for her performance! Other strong points was the Edgar cover originally written by Jean Leloup. Emrick on bass was driving the song as Émile the singer and guitarist would cue in with specific notes highlighting grooves while Marilou would carry on the melody and Orléanne on violon soothed the whole thing with angel dust grace. Sam their drummer kept the band in check all along, hyping up the crowd between songs, adding and releasing tension throughout their set. The tension was magical, gripping and captivating. Emile gripped out attention just like Fred Pellerin does when he recounts stories, the band's use of chorus and hints of delays and chorus got me higher than ever and as I looked at the crowd by the end of the set, a galaxy of stars radiated in the crowd's eyes. They truly know how to drive a crowd, compose, arrange and deliver great songs and most of all, they know how to have a good time!

Lastly, as I believed the night couldn't get any better, Lezart came on stage to blow the place up with Thomas Simard on keys and voice/guitar at times, Odilon on drums, Kéo on sax and traversial flute, Jean-Alexis Lessard bending notes on guitar and finally Nicolas Péladeau on bass . With their soul clothed through jazz pop formula, Sade-like atmospheric music with close intimite reminders to Jeff Beck's first album Truth where guitar, sax, piano and sweet ear candies  come and warm our soul; their music really transcendented the imaginary. It's not to say the guitarist  was anything like Jeff Beck, but the general esthetic of their performance was very attractive and rich with intricate arrangements for the listeners, cmoing close to Jeff Beck's creative and innovativeness. I was with Sam, Cordial's drummer, and throughout the performance, all we could say is, look at this, it's genius. Another key point, no earplugs were needed and I was right besides them, showcasing how much control they have over their instruments, and how much respect they have between each other to not overplay one another and keeping a general level that soothed the crowds ears. Their songs were rich yet unknown, to me, having been on stage for now only a year max, but it surely made an impact, a big one, as big as those who saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan Show, as big as the first man landing on the moon, and many more. Every song was like a firework, Boom and then everybody cheered! By the end, Back To the Old House by the Smiths is played and the Saxophonist delivers the last blow with a traversial flute à la Jethro Tull to make sure we are all subjugated and sublimed by their vast arsenal of talents. Their influences ranging from Radiohead, Karkwa, Julien Fillion have all but to shy away if ever they would see Lezart on stage, because as I said, these boys have talent. Now I hope they'll have as much ambition to go on far. If Jim Morrisson would've been alive, I fairly believe he would have hoped out of the Lizard King throne and gifted his place to this quintet. Thanks for reading, pictures will be added as I receive them. Thanks for reading and have a great day lovely cunts. Ps. If ever you go see Lezart,  I urge everyone to arrive on LSD for a great but strange trip!