Geoffroy | Regaining lost momentum

A fourth light album with traveling rhythms, a launch show on Monday at the MTelus as part of the Jazz Festival: Geoffroy is picking up where he left off just before the pandemic. And he is holding the reins of his career more than ever.

Montrealer Geoffroy is on a constant musical quest. “That’s what makes it fun!” Otherwise it’s a duty… and I’m not there yet. ” With Good Boyhe feels like he has reached the sound he has been looking for Coastlinehis first album released seven years ago, which brought success.

“It’s upbeat and danceable, but with real instruments rather than programming. The touches of electro are in the little things, the details.” Add to that African and Latin American influences perfectly integrated into his music by this great curious globetrotter, and you have a gently swaying album that breathes vacation.

The complete opposite of his previous album, Live Slow Die Wise, much more introspective, which he created in the middle of a pandemic. It was two years ago… yet it feels like an eternity ago. “COVID has stretched the time, it seems. » Especially since it “cut off the momentum” that he had built with his first two albums, in Quebec and elsewhere. “I felt like I had to start again. »

Created in pandemic solitude, Live Slow Die Wise was therefore in line with his state of mind at the time. “I have difficulty releasing something that is not representative of myself,” he explains.

And what was the mood this time for Good Boy ? “Libertarian and libertine!”, more “feel good” oriented and “less in the attentive listening à la Bon Iver”. Gone is the melancholy, which suited him well anyway?

Geoffroy doesn’t hide it: Good Boy was created in part to get people dancing at his shows, and he’s eager to bring the songs to the stage. “It’s a hot album, made to be played by a lot of musicians. I wanted to give myself enough juice to be able to do an hour of just let’s go, let’s dance, we’re having fun.”

Self-production

For the first time since his debut, Geoffroy feels like he’s doing things in the right order. “I’m releasing a summer album at the beginning of the summer, I’m going to do a few major festivals, then a tour in the fall. And the product is better put together, more coherent. Everything came together well, whereas before, I was more haphazard.”

This is proof, we point out to him, that building a career is also a lot of work. He nods. “Especially since Live Slow Die Wise, I am independent,” underlines the 36-year-old singer. Self-production is a lot of work since you have to manage everything, from social networks to clips. But he doesn’t regret his decision at all.

“Record companies take 50% of the revenue for a licensed album. It’s not a viable business model for an artist. But I don’t regret being with Bonsound either! It was my training.”

The idea is to have a small, solid team and to know how to delegate, explains Geoffroy, who did a bachelor’s degree in management at McGill and a master’s degree in arts management at Berkeley College.

“I never thought it would help me one day in my own project! It’s just that you often have to change hats between administration and creation, sometimes in the same day. But I try to separate things.”

In the big leagues

Geoffroy hasn’t played in Montreal for a while. It will make its official launch there on 1^is July at MTelus: “It’s always an incredible experience, just talking about it gives me chills!” Invited by the Jazz Festival too, he couldn’t be happier.

In any case, it’s his favorite festival in Montreal, which he’s been attending every summer. “We’re spoiled and people don’t realize it. I’ve discovered a lot of artists through this festival, it’s a window on the world.”

His previous projects having been cut short by the pandemic, the singer hopes that this new album can flourish for two or three years. “It would be the best gift. I just finished it, it’s two years of work, 10 songs… It’s a sport, writing 10 songs and not talking about the same thing all the time, having lyrics that hold up. And you have to live to have things to say!”

His desire is therefore to be able to walk him for a long time, and as far as possible. “Quebec and Canada are beautiful, but to reach its full potential, you have to go beyond the borders,” says the singer, who believes he is at a point where his offering is “good enough” to be presented elsewhere.

“In show too. I’m confident. If you’re there and I play, there’s a better than 50% chance I’ll win you over as a fan. » For the rest, his iPhone is full of project notes, but music remains his “primary dream” which he realizes every day. “I never planned too hard, but it’s happening and it’s magical. Now I’m excited, I can’t wait to see the reception… But I’m in a good place. »

Geoffroy will be performing on Monday 1^is July, 8:30 p.m., at MTELUS.

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