UFO Religion by Safia Nolin | Get back to basics

The news surrounding Safia Nolin sometimes makes us lose sight of the fact that she is first and foremost a singer-songwriter. “Even I ended up forgetting about it,” she says. It will launch on Friday UFO Religiona new minimalist and moving album, in which she reconnects with her essence.

A year and a half ago, Safia Nolin announced that she had left her record label, that she no longer really wanted to make an album and that she was going to release songs one at a time.

“I said that because I found it hard to put energy into something that people don’t listen to. And I don’t blame them, I’m like that too! We are no longer in 2000, listening has changed. »

But the singer, who now performs independently, ended up wanting to do something “longer than two songs”, she explains to us with her usual transparency, during an interview in a popular restaurant in the is from Montreal.

“I felt like I had rediscovered the feeling of the beginning, when you pile up the songs, and at some point you’re ready to make a first album. »

UFO Religion is composed of eight songs written over three years, inspired by her life in its hardest moments, the state of the world that worries her and the social debates that upset her. Sadness in music is his natural state, and it suits him well.

This is the thread of this stripped-down folk album, recorded in nature and which does not erase the imperfections. Accompanied by only two guitars – her own and that of co-director Marc-André Labelle, in addition to a few touches of flugelhorn – the singer reveals herself in all her vulnerability.

However, Safia Nolin does not feel like she is exposing herself. “That’s what makes me feel the most good to listen to, very, very stripped down music. And doing it makes me feel really good. This is the most direct path to emotion. »

Hatred

Safia Nolin is happy to return to the forefront with new music. If, by doing so, she rekindles hatred towards her… she prefers to “shrug her shoulders”. “I’m used to being talked about for the wrong reasons. I want the album to reach the world, but if it gets out of hand, I don’t have control over what happens with my media existence. »

She doesn’t say she’s immune to hate. “No one is immune to this. » A play on the inhumanity of online hatred, Monitored and punished, was even taken from his experience – the song Pizzas (the name of his dog!), which appears on the album, was also written in this context.

But she sincerely wonders why people would “be upset” because she’s releasing an album. “I am not criticizing anyone, nor giving my political position. I make music. »

Eight years after winning the Félix for Revelation of the Year for his album Limoilou released in 2015, Safia Nolin feels like she has lived “50,000 billion lives”.

“But it has calmed down in recent years. It goes slower, I react less, I’m calmer. » It’s obvious just by talking to him. But she still felt the need to go into exile in France for seven months last year, a stay which allowed her to “put the size of Quebec in the world into perspective”.

She came back anyway. Because her job is to make music, because Quebec is her home, because nature is beautiful and she missed it. She learned to protect herself better, one of her friends blocked everyone who attacked her on her Facebook page, and she no longer reads anything that is written about her… or almost.

Innocence

What would she say today to the young Safia of eight years ago? ” Good luck ! » Slight smile. “For real!” Good luck, my dear. I was naive in criss. » We are talking about the photo where she receives her first Félix, with her round glasses, her obvious joy, her open arms, her famous t-shirt… She nods her head. “It’s sad. Honestly, it’s sad. » But would she tell him to do things differently?

” No ! I find that every time I’ve done something, it’s with a kind of innocence, which I still have. A little. I have faith that people change. In the end, they don’t change, but I would stop myself from living if I didn’t still have this thing in me. I wouldn’t do anything. »

Safia Nolin believes that UFO Religion is her third album – she does not count her two cover albums nor her double EP released in 2021. This work with poetic and clear writing, which ranges from a song about her origins (djurdjurawhich is the name of a mountain range in Kabylia) to a moving tribute to Karim Ouellet (Claps), she wants her to live as long as possible.

“I don’t know where this album is going to go, I just want it to have the life it deserves. And above all that I am at peace with the life he is going to have. »

Safia Nolin is performing at Casa Del Popolo on October 24, 25 and 26.

UFO Religion is available Friday.

Check out Safia Nolin’s tour dates

Folk

UFO Religion

Safia Nolin

Gladiator Smile