Pas Chic Chic Find Pop In Discomfort

On the surface, it seems as though the time is right for French-Canadian bands to expand past the trappings of Quebec's borders.

Malajube, We Are Wolves and Les Breastfeeders have all recently found success with anglophone crowds across the country, but is there a specific formula that leads to extra-provincial success for francophone groups? Pas Chic Chic's Roger Tellier-Craig isn't so sure.

"For all I know, it might just be a fluke for Malajube and, for bands after that, nothing's going to happen," he says. "I really don't know."

None of Pas Chic Chic's five members are born and bred Montrealers, but most of them have been active in the city's music scene for a number of years. While singer/keyboardist Marie-Douce St. Jacques is a relative newcomer, Tellier-Craig co-founded Fly Pan Am (which included Pas Chic Chic bassist Eric Gingras) and Set Fire To Flames, and has also been a part of Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Drummer Eric Fillion was a member of punk bands Cobra Noir and Black Hand. Guitarist Radwan Moumneh has played with hardcore band Cursed and manages Hotel2Tango Studios.

With backgrounds of that nature, one would reasonably expect Pas Chic Chic to espouse the musical equivalent of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra meets The Sex Pistols, but quite the opposite is happening on the group's full-length debut, Au Contraire. Tellier-Craig and company are playing effervescent pop with very detectable '60s leanings.

"There's always been an interest in maintaining a certain form of discomfort in what you do," he says, explaining Pas Chic Chic's adopted directive. "Just to feel like you're on the edge, I guess. You're not comfortable in sitting in a known process… there's always been this desire to challenge yourself.

"We definitely wanted to approach music with a pop sensibility, but not necessarily commercial music, or really accessible, or necessarily even pleasant. It just meant approaching music with the idea of orchestrated songs with a lot of electronic textures."

Au Contraire has been finished for nearly a year, but Pas Chic Chic have been biding their time while waiting for the right label to come knocking. The disc finally hit store shelves this week via Semprini Records.

"We haven't had a drive to write new stuff because we've been waiting for this to come out," Tellier-Craig explains. "It's just been kind of a year honing down our live show more than anything — just being comfortable in the context of playing live, because the record was done before we played any shows."

Here's where you can catch the now-road-ready Pas Chic Chic:

April 2 Montreal, QC @ Lion D'or
April 5 Ottawa, ON @ Zaphod Beeblebrox
April 10 Toronto, ON @ Drake Hotel
May 24 Sherbrooke, QC @ Telephone Rouge w/Pony Up