VICTIME Guitarist Simon Provencher Drops His Debut EP "Mesures"

Mastering the art of frantic guitar playing, noise-making, and post-punk vibing as part of the Montreal band VICTIME, Simon Provencher has kept exploring the limits of his instrument on his own, discreetly delivering instrumental experimentations along the way. Bits and pieces slowly started to form a somewhat free jazz collage, flirting with electro-acoustic, and dominated by the reverberations and loops of the fleeting guitar. Simon has just released his debut EP “Mesures”, via Montreal’s independent label Michel Records.

Mesures is an EP that tells a chiasmatic tale, and the listening experience draws two very distinct sides that become part of a whole. What has started like a lonesome project, quickly became a territory for a creative conversation punctuated by the syncopated rhythms and percussions from Olivier Fairfield (Fet.Nat, Last Ex) and woodwind improviser Elyze Venne-Deshaies’ clarinets; A free canvas entrusted by Simon to both musicians letting the musical encounters shine by the unpredictability it would add to his music.

The three tracks opening the EP ( “Choix multiples”, “Mesures”, “Pesée”) find their roots in the very crude guitar played by Provencher, without any electronic pedals or external effects. He tied twine to the strings, wedged metal objects between the strings and the guitar’s body, and plucked mainly with his fingers, but also with a drumstick and drill. All elements that contribute to the electro-acoustic dimension of his sound. Fairfield’s percussion parts are perfectly bold, soft, yet present, just random and noisy enough to give a very welcome edge to the compositions. The clarinet parts complete the ethereal electro-acoustic jazz ensemble with the warm embrace of harmony.

“I like to say that some music is discovered more than it is written, and it especially rings true with this release.”

The three following tracks (“Toutes ces réponses”, “Et quart”, “Repus”) mute all the instruments, keeping only the clarinets clear and adding a line of feedback meticulously manipulated by Provencher. This second part of the EP wasn’t planned and came to the musician’s attention while he listened simultaneously by mistake to the 4 takes of clarinet at once. He was fascinated by the off-kilter harmonies and intertwined polyphony of the recordings. The whole thing seems to breathe and move slowly, created by the addition of seemingly unrelated, random musical moments. The record ends up sounding somewhat inspired by 70s psychedelic and spiritual jazz, an accidental precept, but still a welcoming comparison. In the end, Mesures is a collection of collaborations, happy accidents, and chance encounters combining themselves in a way that is greater than the sum of its parts.

“Mesures” is an EP in two halves with each side being a distorted mirror of the other. Listen to it now and connect with Simon on his Bandcamp.

Connect with Simon Provencher: Bandcamp