Photo by Zack Vitiello

Shaun Frank: The long, road to overnight success with “Closer”

Story by Aaron Brophy | Tuesday November 8th, 2016

If you were to scout out the most improbable path to writing a No. 1 hit single, the one car you’d see barrelling down that winding road now would be driven by Toronto singer-songwriter/DJ/producer Shaun Frank.

The Chainsmokers’ zeitgeist-surfing EDM love song “Closer,” featuring Halsey, was co-written by Frank, along with the band’s Andrew Taggart (ASCAP). In mid-October of 2016, “Closer” had been No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for nine weeks, on the Canadian Soundscan chart for six weeks, and on the Canadian Top 40 chart for two weeks. The official lyric video had racked up more than 430 million YouTube views.

The song itself is anomalous, a pop-ified electro track that recalls punk band Blink 182 and features a two-ships-passing-in-the-night romance that’s far more “emo” than it is “dance.”

“Both me and ‘Drew from The Chainsmokers, we grew up listening to Blink 182, Taking Back Sunday and a lot of post-hardcore stuff,” Frank tells Words & Music from Los Angeles, in between two-a-day songwriting sessions. “My first band played on the Warped Tour with Blink 182, so it’s a very, very cool throwback. And when we were writing the song, we talked about all the bands that we came up with. Canadian bands Alexisonfire, Billy Talent, that style of lyrics, but just that kind of lyrical writing where it comes from an honest place, and that’s kind of how we landed on the idea.”

That a song like this was co-written by Frank, who once spent years crossing Canada in a Sum 41-inspired rock-ska band (Crowned King), and whose last band (The Envy) was signed by Gene Simmons, simultaneously makes no sense at all… and complete sense.

Frank says he constantly made beats on his laptop while The Envy was touring, but had “no intention of ever making a career out of it.” That changed when the band got off the road and he found himself desperately needing money to live.

“As my last band sort of went down, I was literally singing on these dance records to pay the bills,” says Frank. “I’d get $500 to sing on a record that my name wasn’t even on, to pay the bills. That’s how I got started [in dance music]. I didn’t know this was going to happen.”

What did happen was that one of the records on which he sang – “Unbreakable,” by Spanish DJ Marien Baker – became a hit in her home country. Frank toured there with her and quickly immersed himself in EDM culture. He’s since worked with the likes of BORGEOUS, Oliver Heldens, DVBBS, KSHMR, and Steve Aoki.

Frank possesses two distinct tactical advantages as his acclaim continues to rise in dance music circles.

First, those hard years of being in a touring rock band means the life of a globe-trotting DJ is relatively luxurious in comparison. “The treatment is just amazing, so I always joke that this is my retirement,” says Frank with a laugh. “I put in my work in a band, and now I’m retired, and this is my retirement gift.” It was touring as the opening act for The Chainsmokers where Frank wrote “Closer” with Taggart.

Secondly, his commitment to thoughtful writing and subject matter represents a rare exploit in a genre that’s often more focused on the beat, and the energy songs generate, rather than their lyrics.

“Yeah, honest lyrics,” says Frank, distilling his songwriting ethos to its essence. “Everyone’s always looking for honesty, and I’m always looking for something new that I haven’t heard before, a new angle on that. There’s only so many human emotions that people can relate to, but there’s a million different ways to talk about them.”

Another aspect that’s been working well with those lyrics is the fact that, of late, it’s often not Frank singing them. Whether it’s the talents of Halsey featured on The Chainsmokers’ track, Ashe for the single “Let You Get Away” or Frank and KSHMR’s team-up with frequent collaborator Delaney Jane on a song like “Heaven,” the female voice has featured prominently on many of the EDM songs he’s been involved with thus far.

“I sit down and write from the heart. I think I’m only one of a handful of electronic producers that like the lyrics.”

“I really like the way that the lyrics that I write sound when they’re sung by a female,” says Frank. “It’s funny that it happened that way, because the plan was always for me to sing my own music. And I’m going to, but so far everything has worked better using the female voice. That’s the cool thing about making dance music as a producer and an artist. There really are no rules. You just do whatever’s best for the song. If it sounds great sung by this person, then this person sings it.”

There’s one last secret element to Frank’s songwriting that positions him uniquely amongst his EDM peers – melancholy. The songs he’s been part of are, frankly, a touch sadder than standard dancefloor fare.

“I don’t know. Maybe I’m depressed,” says Frank, pondering the hint of gloom that’s in many of his songs. “No, I’m not depressed. I sit down and write from the heart. I think I’m only one of a handful of electronic producers that like the lyrics. A lot of people get vocals submitted to them, or just care about the beats. I’m involved in the whole process, from writing the lyrics to the mixing and mastering, until it’s all done. And so the songs are very honest and they’re all about things in my life. That’s where I come from, the singer-songwriter approach.”

As that winding road to success rapidly straightens out for Frank with each new co-write, feature and tour date, the one thing that remains strange to him – a person who’s spent more than a decade at his craft – is what getting a number one song is like.

“Everyone said that if I ever had a hit like this it would change my life,” he says. “I just didn’t realize how fast it would change things.”

Photo by Oumayma B Tanfous

Alex Nevsky: The Perfect Storm

Story by Olivier Boisvert-Magnen | Tuesday November 8th, 2016

Alex nevsky

Photo: John Londono

Featured in any and all Québec media outlets for months on end, Alex Nevsky can say one thing unpretentiously: the timing couldn’t be better to release Nos Eldorados, an album that goes well beyond the pop compromise for which he seemed destined.

Nevsky’s life changed completely after the release of Himalaya mon amour during the summer of 2013: an impressive harvest of awards et the 2014 ADISQ Gala, radio hit upon radio hit, several SOCAN No. 1 Song Awards, and an audience of two million viewers who watch him every week on La Voix Junior. “Let’s just say that it’s much more difficult to act like an idiot on the street,” says Nevsky. “I allow myself to anyways, because I can’t forget to live my life throughout all of this. I don’t want to go ‘all-in’ in this game.”

Without being entirely tainted by the songwriter’s meteoric rise, this third album does nonetheless touch upon many mirages in life. Where Leloup had his dome, an illusory crystal sphere that was a refuge for “time’s desperadoes,” Nevsky has his Eldorados, utopic havens that are both feared and desired.

“The Eldorado is my dream country, a fantastic place where two lovers live,” he says. “Those are songs that I write when I’m in love. The basic romantic emotion is very strong and I really get a kick out of it,” adds the 30-year-old singer-songwriter, who admits to having lived through three different relationships during his latest creative phase.

“But the Eldorado is also a utopia, a mirage,” he says. “Take ‘L’enfer c’est les autres’ (‘Hell is Other People’), for example. In it, I sing about my radio-hit inflated ego. I’m turning the mirror on myself and, looking at myself, I realize that I, too, can be mediocre and ugly. It’s very important to me to reveal that side of me, but I didn’t want to do a whole album about that. That would’ve been way too depressing!”

“I thought it was the worst time ever to not try different things. It would’ve been pathetic if I’d stayed in the comfort zone of the previous record.”

Not quite depressed, Nevsky did nonetheless live through very intense periods of self-doubt during the recording of his third album. Songs such as “Le cœur assez gros” (“A Heart so Stout”), “La beauté” (“Beauty”), and especially “Réveille l’enfant qui dort” (“Awake the Sleeping Child”), a duo with rapper Koriass, all took a long time to fully bloom.

“I was in the studio for seven months. . . It’s ridiculous!” says Nevsky. “Anyway, it’s always like that. I’m unable to finish a song in one go! ‘Réveille l’enfant,’ for example, I started writing in February on my phone. When we were in the studio, we twisted it, deconstructed it… Nothing worked. I started hating it and decided to get rid of it completely. And then we had this idea of inviting Koriass to participate. If we had canned the album in two weeks, I know I would’ve missed out of gorgeous musical moments like that one.”

Nevsky worked once again with producer Alex McMahon and mixer Gabriel Gratton, frequent collaborators who also helped with arrangements. With their assistance, the Granby-born artist now flirts with electro, and even forays into tropical indie pop on ‘La beauté,’ and dancehall on the title track. “We decided to go all in, to take the songs as far as we wanted to,” the songwriter confides. “I thought it was the worst time ever to not try different things. It would’ve been pathetic if I’d stayed in the comfort zone of the previous record.”

Nevertheless, with that amount of success, it would’ve been all too easy to stick to the radio-friendly formula of yore. Nevsky does admit, out of sheer honesty, that he did succumb to that temptation by launching an early single from the album, “Polaroïd,” last summer.

“I felt tremendous pressure to perform on the radio and wanted to get rid of it,” he recalls. “I knew ‘Polaroïd’ would be a hit, and that radio stations would follow. When it started climbing up the charts, it relieved a great amount of stress. It allowed me to veer off and try other stuff.”

In other words, just as on Himalaya mon amour, the singer-songwriter doesn’t consider pop as a means to an end, but as an efficient way to captivate an audience. “The trick is to hook them with a huge chorus and bring them in to live the rest of the song after that,” he says. “During my concerts, it’s not necessarily my biggest hits that I like playing the most; I prefer doing the densest and most poetically refined songs. Those are the significant songs to me.”

Photo by Frédérique Ménard-Aubin

Alain Chartrand: 30 Years of Coup de Cœur Francophone

Story by Claude Côté | Friday November 4th, 2016

Alain Chartrand

Photo by/par Benoit Rousseau

The Coup de cœur francophone turns 30 this year. For 2016, about 100 performances are programmed in 13 Montréal venues during the 11-day festival, which wraps up on Nov. 13. Thirty years of creation and discovery, that have made this fall event a staple on Québec’s music scene.

In September of 2016, during the Gala de la SOCAN in Montréal, festival director and co-founder, Alain Chartrand received the Special Achievement Award, given by his peers for his contribution to the promotion of our culture through Coup de cœur francophone. “I am, obviously, honoured – especially when you look at the prestigious list of previous recipients, such as Guy Latraverse or Donald Tarlton,” says Chartrand. “So I was a little intimidated at first, because the award recognizes the work of an artisan, and it comes from an institution that oversees the copyrights of songwriters. I’m proud of this award because SOCAN recognizes the work of live show bookers and presenters, as we are one link in the long chain of the value of music.

“In the mid-‘80s, we quickly realized that there was clearly an interest for the new wave of chanson française represented by artists like Arthur H. [whose first appearance at Coup de coeur was an opening slot for Luc de Larochelière], Dominique A., Arno, and the like. There were many artists waiting to be discovered, and that is the first mission of a festival.”

What concerts have impressed him the most over those thirty years? “That’s a cruel question!” he says. “Alain Bashung in 1995 was a magnificent show, the timing was perfect. Richard Desjardins Symphonique – who, incidentally, played Coup de coeur for the first time in 1988, opening for Isabelle Mayereau, the first time he played in front of 600 people.” In fact, Desjardins played Coup de coeur seven times over thirty years.

“There’s also Danse Lhasa Danse, which we created for the 25th edition in 2011, which definitely became a milestone for Coup de coeur,” says Chartrand. “Pierre-Paul Savoie was in charge of the choreography, with 13 dancers, six singers and five musicians. The first time everyone rehearsed together was on the day of the show!”

Diane Dufresne is also among the Artistic Director’s most fond memories. “I remember that one also,” he says, “because the late Allain Leprest opened for her, and at the end of his performance, he thanked the Fracofolies!”

Danse Lhasa Danse

Danse Lhasa Danse. Photo by/par Jean-François Leblanc

Yet, at some point, Coup de coeur had to leave its comfort zone and explore more abrasive artists such as Massilia Sound System, No One Is Innocent, Vulgaires Machins and WD-40: “Obviously,” says Chartrand, “we had to move away from our go-to intro, ‘Amis de la chanson, bonsoir?!’” (Loosely translated: “Good evening, song lovers.”)

What’s his impression of today’s music ecosystem? “People ask me all the time if I think we’re in a crisis,” says Chartrand. “In the three decades of Coup de cœur francophone, there has never been a creative crisis. The way we consume music has changed, and the tough part today for artists is how to reach the audience. When Coup de coeur started, the recurring issue was getting on the radio, because that was the only way to reach the audience.”

So, Chartrand is an optimist? “There are always are cycles, new faces that emerge,” he says. “Nowadays, we could do two or three separate programs. But will the newcomers have the ability to constantly renew their audience? Take Sylvie Paquette [who’s presenting her homage concert to poet Anne Hébert on Nov. 8]. She’s the first artist to ever play at Coup de coeur. She’s perseverant, even though her record sales were never through the roof. She developed her audience.”

It’s a secret to no one that Chartrand has a privileged relationship with songwriters. “It’s actually more a relationship with the songs,” he says. “I’m interested in songs because they’re interested in me. It’s a mutual interest. There’s also a trust-based relationship with musicians when it comes to paying their royalties. We’ve always made sure we’re up-to-date on the rules regulating copyrights. I’m no specialist, but the way things are nowadays, I believe the problem needs to be solved legally; we need governments to use their power against service providers. We also need to better position Francophone music so it’s better remunerated. But the problem is global.”

It’s easy to forget that Coup de coeur is a partnership project. Forty-five Canadian cities are affiliated to present more than two hundred performances. “Our playground extends over six time zones,” says Chartrand. “Instead of developing vertically, we developed horizontally!”

Among the can’t-miss concerts of the 2016 edition, Chartrand is excited to see Philippe Brach (who’ll premiere the songs off of his new album Enfant-Ville), Klô Pelgag’s new show, Corps, amour et anarchie and the return to the stage of Les Goules.