Water on Mars
Encyclopedia
Water on Mars is a psychedelic rock and electronic music group from Quebec City
, Québec
, Canada
. The music trio is led by Philippe Navarro, guitarist, vocalist, arranger, producer, principal lyricist, and music composer.
The founding members of the band, to which have been added many collaborators, are :
, Canada
Navarro spent his childhood in a mining town he would later describe as "a lunar base". His parents settled North after his father obtained an electrician's job. The bare landscapes and the infinite skies were an unmistakable inspiration. Navarro, an autodidact, learns the guitar as a child and builds his first electric guitar from a gutted open-reel deck.
In 1989, his exile "down south", first brings him at the Cégep de Jonquière, then, in 1994, to Université Laval
, where he obtains a post graduate degree in political sciences. He becomes a speechwriter for the government of Quebec. He pens many speeches on the "cultural diversity" issue for the Parti québécois
government. He also works for André Boisclair
, then leader of the official Opposition. The acute polemist he is publishes many op-ed pieces in the Montreal newspapers. Meant as a political hara-kiri
, a particular stand against his former boss the very day of the announcement of his candidacy to the leadership race of the PQ, stirs the political scene.
From 1995 through 1998, Navarro pursues his career as guitarist from Bathurst to Vancouver. Fully living a "musical expedition" (Dylan), he explores the americana palette with his Fender Stratocaster
in short-lived bands : Jakes and the Snakes (blues-rock), Aon (celtic), Anasazi (funk-prog). He was also a busker and jammed with bluesman Carl Tremblay. For the sheer fun of the experience, but also out of respect for Syd Barrett
and Roger Waters
's band, he plays with Silence, Quebec's longest running arena-size Pink Floyd
tribute band. However, already marked for life by Bob Dylan
, it is the discovery of Nick Drake
's repertoire that will inspire the next step.
), bossa nova
(La cancion del inmigrante) or Appalachian folk
(Cool Waters and Western métaphysique). A future member of Water on Mars, Benoit L'Allier plays acoustic guitar and electric bass on the album. At the time, l'Allier and Navarro shoot a short film, Route 389, on the theme of the Nordic experience (the piece Trois-89 opens the film).
, are played by Sylvain Harvey, an ex-member of the obscure Québécois band Les Fantaisistes. Benoît L’Allier, on bass, played for the Swedish-Canadian act Tuesday as Usual (featuring Bruno Rouyère, future leader of world music group Malade Mantra) before joining WOM. With his two partners, Navarro craves a newfound passion for electronic music
.
A first album is released in the spring of 2004 on Quebec City's avant-garde label, Statik. It is released in Japan in August 2005 by Plop
. Of ambitious facture and inspired by french house
(Air, Bertrand Burgalat
et St Germain), Mannah obtains critical acclaim, notably at the French CBC, where all of the 11 pieces were broadcasted. Over half of the tracks ended up on the playlists of Catherine Pogonat, Alexandre Courteau, and of the acclaimed DJ Claude Rajotte
(sort of Quebec's answer to John Peel
).
After exploring the dimension of time on Stereo, Navarro now explores space. Mannah is a complete deterritorialization
(Deleuze) with regards to the first solo effort. It results in a blend of space rock
, techno-funk and post-rock
instrumental eyeing on trip-hop, spiced with drum loops and samplings that squeeze between tracks — eerie tracks that are often buried deep in the sonic lasagna.
The CD booklet — vents cordes eau farine / trouvent sens lorsque mixés / le troubadour est boulanger / la musique est sa manne — well resumes the esthetics at work. Simple elements, blended and cooked by the obsessed « chefs » of the Digital Audio Workstations (on Digital Performer
, a DAW
software similar to Pro Tools
), can result in a gestalt that transcends the original score sheet. The goal is to create a desincarnated music, a music of robots so to speak, but somehow robots affected by spleen, seeking the elevation of their ghost in the shell. The guitars, clearly influenced by Jimi Hendrix
and David Gilmour
, spank the blues with the same psychedelic whip as that of the masters, but also with a new twist, that of the electro. Melancholic keyboards (on The eerie oort cloud amongst others) provide impressionnist voicings that evoke Satie or Debussy, as a Roland Juno 60 synth traces out atmospheric landscapes.
WOM's official site notes: «Recorded in a church on analog equipment, Mannah is the result of hundreds of hours of subsequent digital editing and mixing. The purpose was to blend the warm vintage tones of yesterday’s recording techniques with the precision of modern day computerized editing. » Without ever falling into some prog excesses, the concept of the album revisits space exploration, pushing further acoustic imaging techniques, seeking a sonic New Frontier
.
The DJ Raphaël Simard scratched live and took care of the numerous electronica ornamentations. Many other musicians, since 2004, joined WOM for live shows : keyboardist William Croft (Québecissime), saxophonist Lyne Goulet (Interférences Sardines), and flutist Anna Kowalczyk.
ian syndrome" by identification with a cybernetic character of an obscure 20th century book of the "Old Era" titled 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
(1968). The crew's mission is to listen in real time to 20th century history, since a form of instant displacement makes it possible to go faster than the original radio waves. Time and space are hence at the core of a metaphysical quest: I don't really see the difference between writing science-fiction of composing space rock
, says Navarro. I am convinced that WOM fans will have lots of fun reading Delphes, which is packed with cross-references to Mannah, our first record..
At the same time in 2005, Water on Mars podcasted the single Rojo y Blanco (Red and White), a dance effort in which Latin samplings complete words inspired by Carmen, with a phrasing that evokes Serge Gainsbourg
in his L'Homme à tête de chou period.
Although a true analog freak, Navarro promotes free downloading of music on the Internet, recycling Luciano Floridi
's neologism of ’infosphere
(Dan Simmons
) inspired by the concept of noosphere
(the web of human minds that spawns the surface of the Earth) as put forth by Teilhard de Chardin. In an interview with Alain Brunet of Montreal's La Presse, evoking the inevitable and necessary dematerialisation of musical supports, he states: the infosphere […] will absorb the noosphere. It will become the depository of knowledge and creation. (cf. external links).
Meanwhile, the band does the opening show for the Ice Hotel
Quebec-Canada of Duchesnay, that names two of its cocktails in honour of two of 'Mannah's tracks : the Earth Juice and the Sensual Confusion.
, primitively initiated on Stereo.
Conceptualized with the help of philosopher Sophie-Jan Arrien, the new album explores the myth of Faust
in Goethe and in popular music, a theme already present on Stereo. Delta revisits the crossroads where Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in order to acquire the new knowledge of the urban blues in its infancy. The famous phrase of a critique on Jimi Hendrix
's music – another modern Faust – springs to mind: « Jimi played delta blues, but his delta is on Mars ! » One of Navarro's ideas for this new opus is to capture the idiom of the delta blues
, revisited by hendrixian electricity, while confronting it esthetically to the new techniques of audio editing –an alchemic operation if there ever was one. Said otherwise: Delta is pushing the exploration of music as permitted by the new tools offered to today's musicians, but not without abandoning the subject that haunts modern culture for over a century, that is, black music issued from primitive blues.
Delta has on its roster soprano Sabrina Ferland, DJ Raphaël Simard, as well as folk singer Judith Perron. Daniel Gaudreault (fender rhodes), Dominique Paré (minimoog), Lyne Goulet (saxophone), Anna Kowalczyk (flute) and Marie-Ève Legendre (back vocals) took part in the recording.
After its release, January 22, 2007, Delta obtains great critical success. The track "Gizeh" hits number one on Bandeapart.fm’s interactive charts, and number 5 on the Baromètre charts (Quebec indy radio network). ‘Gizeh’ is chosen on the compilation CD of DJ Marco G. The track ‘ole man’ was selected on the yearly compilation CD ‘Québec Émergent 2007’ as well as on the TEA South yearly compilation.
The DJ Claude Rajotte
makes a great review of the album on Radio-Canada (radio). According to Réjean Beaucage, of Voir
Magazine : « How refreshing ! Someone capable of evoking the myth of Faust through references to Robert Johnson, while spicing it all with Pink Floyd 21st century style and bits of Holger Czukay, certainly deserves our attention ! » (4/5). For Isabelle Bédard-Brûlé of Impact-Campus, Delta is an album « to discorver for its organic vision of electro, that goes to the end of the possibilities » (4,5/5). For the Journal de Québec, « Delta is all about postrock and ambient sound, with a clear genius for a concise, discrete, and efficient adaptation of some of the best pages of psychedelic garage rock. The results are stupefying with regards to the limited means of production. Our choice of the week » (3,5/5). According to Alain Brunet of La Presse, Delta denotes « a wide musical culture and a vast knowledge of hi-fi […] that denotes assumed ambition. » (3/5). According to poet and critic Tony Tremblay
of Bandeapart.fm, « That’s Delta : a strange psychedelic trek in a sweet and intense musical dream. An excellent second album that confirms Philippe Navarro’s immense talent as songwriter and arranger » (7,4/10).
Water on Mars was invited to the Festival d'été de Québec with Millimetrik as special guest. Delta was nominated at the ‘07 Gala de l'ADISQ for electronic music album of the year (with Jorane
, Numéro#, Ghislain Poirier
and Maxim Robin).
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
, Québec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The music trio is led by Philippe Navarro, guitarist, vocalist, arranger, producer, principal lyricist, and music composer.
The founding members of the band, to which have been added many collaborators, are :
- Sylvain Harvey, drums
- Benoit L’Allier, bass
- Philippe Navarro, guitars, vocals
The learning years
Born in Labrador City, NewfoundlandNewfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
Navarro spent his childhood in a mining town he would later describe as "a lunar base". His parents settled North after his father obtained an electrician's job. The bare landscapes and the infinite skies were an unmistakable inspiration. Navarro, an autodidact, learns the guitar as a child and builds his first electric guitar from a gutted open-reel deck.
In 1989, his exile "down south", first brings him at the Cégep de Jonquière, then, in 1994, to Université Laval
Université Laval
Laval University is the oldest centre of education in Canada and was the first institution in North America to offer higher education in French...
, where he obtains a post graduate degree in political sciences. He becomes a speechwriter for the government of Quebec. He pens many speeches on the "cultural diversity" issue for the Parti québécois
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...
government. He also works for André Boisclair
André Boisclair
André Boisclair is a politician in Quebec, Canada. He was the leader of the Parti Québécois, a social democratic and separatist party in Quebec....
, then leader of the official Opposition. The acute polemist he is publishes many op-ed pieces in the Montreal newspapers. Meant as a political hara-kiri
Seppuku
is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku was originally reserved only for samurai. Part of the samurai bushido honor code, seppuku was either used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies , or as a form of capital punishment...
, a particular stand against his former boss the very day of the announcement of his candidacy to the leadership race of the PQ, stirs the political scene.
From 1995 through 1998, Navarro pursues his career as guitarist from Bathurst to Vancouver. Fully living a "musical expedition" (Dylan), he explores the americana palette with his Fender Stratocaster
Fender Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as "Strat", is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top...
in short-lived bands : Jakes and the Snakes (blues-rock), Aon (celtic), Anasazi (funk-prog). He was also a busker and jammed with bluesman Carl Tremblay. For the sheer fun of the experience, but also out of respect for Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett , born Roger Keith Barrett, was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and painter, best remembered as a founding member of the band Pink Floyd. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter during the band's psychedelic years, providing major musical and stylistic...
and Roger Waters
Roger Waters
George Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
's band, he plays with Silence, Quebec's longest running arena-size Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
tribute band. However, already marked for life by Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, it is the discovery of Nick Drake
Nick Drake
Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake was an English singer-songwriter and musician. Though he is best known for his sombre guitar based songs, Drake was also proficient at piano, clarinet and saxophone...
's repertoire that will inspire the next step.
A solo album
In 2001, Navarro's acquired versatility finds its way in a solo effort titled Stereo. Not without weaknesses, the album yet showcases a fine melodist, an original lyricist and a bare, nuanced acoustic guitar player. Recorded direct in a week's time, without post-production, the album explores the vast territory of roots music: Québécois and Irish traditionnals (Je me souviens, an original composition diving deep into the collective soul), delta blues (Le Gigueux, a piece that blends the myth of the crossroads with the québécois traditional of the Chasse-galerieChasse-galerie
La Chasse-galerie also known as "The Bewitched Canoe" or "The Flying Canoe" is a popular French-Canadian tale of voyageurs who make a deal with the devil, a variant of the Wild Hunt. Its most famous version was written by Honoré Beaugrand...
), bossa nova
Bossa nova
Bossa nova is a style of Brazilian music. Bossa nova acquired a large following in the 1960s, initially consisting of young musicians and college students...
(La cancion del inmigrante) or Appalachian folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
(Cool Waters and Western métaphysique). A future member of Water on Mars, Benoit L'Allier plays acoustic guitar and electric bass on the album. At the time, l'Allier and Navarro shoot a short film, Route 389, on the theme of the Nordic experience (the piece Trois-89 opens the film).
The band's first album : Mannah
Navarro leaps from the roots territory in September 2002 by founding, with two friends, after a jam session at house party, the group Water on Mars. The drums, between jazz and krautrockKrautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
, are played by Sylvain Harvey, an ex-member of the obscure Québécois band Les Fantaisistes. Benoît L’Allier, on bass, played for the Swedish-Canadian act Tuesday as Usual (featuring Bruno Rouyère, future leader of world music group Malade Mantra) before joining WOM. With his two partners, Navarro craves a newfound passion for electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
.
A first album is released in the spring of 2004 on Quebec City's avant-garde label, Statik. It is released in Japan in August 2005 by Plop
Plop
Plop is an onomatopoeic term for the sound of an object falling onto a surface or onto water.It may also refer to:* Kabouter Plop, the eponymous hero of the Belgian children's TV and comic strip series...
. Of ambitious facture and inspired by french house
French house
French house is a catch-all term for house music by many French artists, a popular strand of the late 1990s and 2000s European dance music scene and a form of Euro disco. The genre has also been referred to as "neu-disco" , "French touch", "filter house" and "tekfunk" over the years...
(Air, Bertrand Burgalat
Bertrand Burgalat
Bertrand Burgalat is a French musician, composer and producer.- Background :Bertrand Burgalat was born in the Corsican town of Bastia in 1963...
et St Germain), Mannah obtains critical acclaim, notably at the French CBC, where all of the 11 pieces were broadcasted. Over half of the tracks ended up on the playlists of Catherine Pogonat, Alexandre Courteau, and of the acclaimed DJ Claude Rajotte
Claude Rajotte
Claude Rajotte is a well-known DJ/VJ/,music critic from Montreal, Canada. Rajotte is currently working for MusiquePlus -Life:...
(sort of Quebec's answer to John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
).
After exploring the dimension of time on Stereo, Navarro now explores space. Mannah is a complete deterritorialization
Deterritorialization
Deterritorialization is a concept created by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari in Anti-Oedipus , which, in accordance to Deleuze's desire and philosophy, quickly became used by others, for example in anthropology, and transformed in this reappropriation...
(Deleuze) with regards to the first solo effort. It results in a blend of space rock
Space rock
Space rock is a subgenre of rock music; the term originally referred to a group of early, mostly British, 1970s progressive and psychedelic rock bands such as Hawkwind and Pink Floyd, characterised by slow, lengthy instrumental passages dominated by electric organs, synthesizers, experimental...
, techno-funk and post-rock
Post-rock
Post-rock is a subgenre of rock music characterized by the influence and use of instruments commonly associated with rock, but using rhythms and "guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures" not traditionally found in rock...
instrumental eyeing on trip-hop, spiced with drum loops and samplings that squeeze between tracks — eerie tracks that are often buried deep in the sonic lasagna.
The CD booklet — vents cordes eau farine / trouvent sens lorsque mixés / le troubadour est boulanger / la musique est sa manne — well resumes the esthetics at work. Simple elements, blended and cooked by the obsessed « chefs » of the Digital Audio Workstations (on Digital Performer
Digital Performer
Digital Performer is a full-featured Digital Audio Workstation/Sequencer software package published by Mark of the Unicorn of Cambridge, Massachusetts for the Apple Macintosh platform.-Ancestry:...
, a DAW
Digital audio workstation
A digital audio workstation is an electronic system designed solely or primarily for recording, editing and playing back digital audio. DAWs were originally tape-less, microprocessor-based systems such as the Synclavier and Fairlight CMI...
software similar to Pro Tools
Pro Tools
Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation platform for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, developed and manufactured by Avid Technology. It is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, film, and television...
), can result in a gestalt that transcends the original score sheet. The goal is to create a desincarnated music, a music of robots so to speak, but somehow robots affected by spleen, seeking the elevation of their ghost in the shell. The guitars, clearly influenced by Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
and David Gilmour
David Gilmour
David Jon Gilmour, CBE, D.M. is an English rock musician and multi-instrumentalist who is best known as the guitarist, one of the lead singers and main songwriters in the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a producer for a variety of...
, spank the blues with the same psychedelic whip as that of the masters, but also with a new twist, that of the electro. Melancholic keyboards (on The eerie oort cloud amongst others) provide impressionnist voicings that evoke Satie or Debussy, as a Roland Juno 60 synth traces out atmospheric landscapes.
WOM's official site notes: «Recorded in a church on analog equipment, Mannah is the result of hundreds of hours of subsequent digital editing and mixing. The purpose was to blend the warm vintage tones of yesterday’s recording techniques with the precision of modern day computerized editing. » Without ever falling into some prog excesses, the concept of the album revisits space exploration, pushing further acoustic imaging techniques, seeking a sonic New Frontier
New Frontier
The term New Frontier was used by Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy in his acceptance speech in the 1960 United States presidential election to the Democratic National Convention at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as the Democratic slogan to inspire America to support him...
.
The DJ Raphaël Simard scratched live and took care of the numerous electronica ornamentations. Many other musicians, since 2004, joined WOM for live shows : keyboardist William Croft (Québecissime), saxophonist Lyne Goulet (Interférences Sardines), and flutist Anna Kowalczyk.
A sci-fi author
A science-fiction novel titled Delphes, published in 2005 by the composer, confirms the unity of his inspiration. Onboard a spaceship light years away from Earth, an organic computer suffers from the "halHAL 9000
HAL 9000 is the antagonist in Arthur C. Clarke's science fiction Space Odyssey saga. HAL is an artificial intelligence that interacts with the astronaut crew of the Discovery One spacecraft, usually represented as a red television-camera eye found throughout the ship...
ian syndrome" by identification with a cybernetic character of an obscure 20th century book of the "Old Era" titled 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
(1968). The crew's mission is to listen in real time to 20th century history, since a form of instant displacement makes it possible to go faster than the original radio waves. Time and space are hence at the core of a metaphysical quest: I don't really see the difference between writing science-fiction of composing space rock
Space rock
Space rock is a subgenre of rock music; the term originally referred to a group of early, mostly British, 1970s progressive and psychedelic rock bands such as Hawkwind and Pink Floyd, characterised by slow, lengthy instrumental passages dominated by electric organs, synthesizers, experimental...
, says Navarro. I am convinced that WOM fans will have lots of fun reading Delphes, which is packed with cross-references to Mannah, our first record..
At the same time in 2005, Water on Mars podcasted the single Rojo y Blanco (Red and White), a dance effort in which Latin samplings complete words inspired by Carmen, with a phrasing that evokes Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...
in his L'Homme à tête de chou period.
Although a true analog freak, Navarro promotes free downloading of music on the Internet, recycling Luciano Floridi
Luciano Floridi
Luciano Floridi currently holds the Research Chair in philosophy of information and the UNESCO Chair in Information and Computer Ethics, both at the University of Hertfordshire, Department of Philosophy...
's neologism of ’infosphere
Infosphere
Infosphere is a neologism composed of information and sphere.The first documented use of the word "InfoSphere" was a 1971 Time Magazine book review by R.Z...
(Dan Simmons
Dan Simmons
Dan Simmons is an American author most widely known for his Hugo Award-winning science fiction series, known as the Hyperion Cantos, and for his Locus-winning Ilium/Olympos cycle....
) inspired by the concept of noosphere
Noosphere
Noosphere , according to the thought of Vladimir Vernadsky and Teilhard de Chardin, denotes the "sphere of human thought". The word is derived from the Greek νοῦς + σφαῖρα , in lexical analogy to "atmosphere" and "biosphere". Introduced by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin 1922 in his Cosmogenesis"...
(the web of human minds that spawns the surface of the Earth) as put forth by Teilhard de Chardin. In an interview with Alain Brunet of Montreal's La Presse, evoking the inevitable and necessary dematerialisation of musical supports, he states: the infosphere […] will absorb the noosphere. It will become the depository of knowledge and creation. (cf. external links).
Meanwhile, the band does the opening show for the Ice Hotel
Ice hotel
An ice hotel is a temporary hotel made up of snow, sculpted blocks of ice, and some steel framing. They are promoted by their sponsors and have special features for travelers who are interested in novelties and unusual environments, and thus are in the class of destination hotels...
Quebec-Canada of Duchesnay, that names two of its cocktails in honour of two of 'Mannah's tracks : the Earth Juice and the Sensual Confusion.
A second album : Delta
In the fall of 2006, WOM prepares the release of its second album, simply titled Delta. It is announced as a new mutation and a of the group's growingly complex electronic music, whilst the composer returns to his primary roots inspiration. Pushing further the exploration of DAW production potential initiated on Mannah, Delta's esthetics yet returns to the lush and organic sound of the blues, of folk and of psychedelic rockPsychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
, primitively initiated on Stereo.
Conceptualized with the help of philosopher Sophie-Jan Arrien, the new album explores the myth of Faust
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical...
in Goethe and in popular music, a theme already present on Stereo. Delta revisits the crossroads where Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in order to acquire the new knowledge of the urban blues in its infancy. The famous phrase of a critique on Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
's music – another modern Faust – springs to mind: « Jimi played delta blues, but his delta is on Mars ! » One of Navarro's ideas for this new opus is to capture the idiom of the delta blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, revisited by hendrixian electricity, while confronting it esthetically to the new techniques of audio editing –an alchemic operation if there ever was one. Said otherwise: Delta is pushing the exploration of music as permitted by the new tools offered to today's musicians, but not without abandoning the subject that haunts modern culture for over a century, that is, black music issued from primitive blues.
Delta has on its roster soprano Sabrina Ferland, DJ Raphaël Simard, as well as folk singer Judith Perron. Daniel Gaudreault (fender rhodes), Dominique Paré (minimoog), Lyne Goulet (saxophone), Anna Kowalczyk (flute) and Marie-Ève Legendre (back vocals) took part in the recording.
After its release, January 22, 2007, Delta obtains great critical success. The track "Gizeh" hits number one on Bandeapart.fm’s interactive charts, and number 5 on the Baromètre charts (Quebec indy radio network). ‘Gizeh’ is chosen on the compilation CD of DJ Marco G. The track ‘ole man’ was selected on the yearly compilation CD ‘Québec Émergent 2007’ as well as on the TEA South yearly compilation.
The DJ Claude Rajotte
Claude Rajotte
Claude Rajotte is a well-known DJ/VJ/,music critic from Montreal, Canada. Rajotte is currently working for MusiquePlus -Life:...
makes a great review of the album on Radio-Canada (radio). According to Réjean Beaucage, of Voir
Voir
Voir is a chain of francophone alternative weekly newspapers in the Canadian province of Quebec published by Communications Voir.The magazine was founded by Pierre Paquet in November 1986.-Editions:The newspaper publishes separate local editions in:...
Magazine : « How refreshing ! Someone capable of evoking the myth of Faust through references to Robert Johnson, while spicing it all with Pink Floyd 21st century style and bits of Holger Czukay, certainly deserves our attention ! » (4/5). For Isabelle Bédard-Brûlé of Impact-Campus, Delta is an album « to discorver for its organic vision of electro, that goes to the end of the possibilities » (4,5/5). For the Journal de Québec, « Delta is all about postrock and ambient sound, with a clear genius for a concise, discrete, and efficient adaptation of some of the best pages of psychedelic garage rock. The results are stupefying with regards to the limited means of production. Our choice of the week » (3,5/5). According to Alain Brunet of La Presse, Delta denotes « a wide musical culture and a vast knowledge of hi-fi […] that denotes assumed ambition. » (3/5). According to poet and critic Tony Tremblay
Tony Tremblay
Tony Tremblay is a French Canadian poet, writer, spoken word artist, journalist and radio personality, born in Jonquière, Quebec in 1968, and now living in Montreal.Tony Tremblay is the co-founder of Exit poetry magazine...
of Bandeapart.fm, « That’s Delta : a strange psychedelic trek in a sweet and intense musical dream. An excellent second album that confirms Philippe Navarro’s immense talent as songwriter and arranger » (7,4/10).
Water on Mars was invited to the Festival d'été de Québec with Millimetrik as special guest. Delta was nominated at the ‘07 Gala de l'ADISQ for electronic music album of the year (with Jorane
Jorane
Jorane is a French-Canadian singer/cellist, who is notable for her alternative music style on a typically classical instrument as well as her ability to sing while playing cello at the same time....
, Numéro#, Ghislain Poirier
Ghislain Poirier
Poirier is a DJ/producer from Montreal who is signed to the Ninja Tune record label. He has, however, also worked with other labels such as Chocolate Industries, Rebondir, Shockout, Musique Large, Intr_version and 12k. His work mainly consists of original instrumental mixes and mixes featuring...
and Maxim Robin).
Anecdotes
- The Water on Mars name is not without reference to Roger WatersRoger WatersGeorge Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
: Mannah was recorded exactly thirty years after The Dark Side of the MoonThe Dark Side of the MoonThe Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released in March 1973. It built on ideas explored in the band's earlier recordings and live shows, but lacks the extended instrumental excursions that characterised their work following the departure...
. - A pure coincidence, the very day Mannah was launched on March 24, 2004, the world media announced that, according to NasaNASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
, presence of past water was confirmed on the red planet. - Like his hero Jimi HendrixJimi HendrixJames Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, Navarro is a southpaw that plays a right-handed guitar with the strings reversed. - Sylvain Harvey was President of the Carnaval de Québec in 2002.
- Benoit is the son of Quebec City's long-time mayor, Jean-Paul L'AllierJean-Paul L'AllierJean-Paul L'Allier was a Canadian politician, a two-term Member of the National Assembly of Quebec and the 38th Mayor of Quebec City.-Background:...
.
External links
- WOM on Québec Info Musique (French) (access to many interviews and press clippings on the band)
- "La Mort du CD", an op-ed from Philippe Navarro dans Le Devoir (Montreal)
- Alain Brunet's article on Philippe Navarro (French)