“I’m probably the most Canadian French-Canadian I know,” chuckles Antoine Bédard, usually known by his electro-moniker, Montag, to which I inwardly sigh a heavy groan of relief. Have I become so complacent in my Canadian ways that I forget that to ask a staunch Montreal Man like this a question like “how would you describe yourself in terms of being a Canadian artist?” is a potentially inflammatory query? Apparently yes. Yes I am. I didn’t even think about the ramifications of my harmless and probably generic interview question until the phrase “French-Canadian” escaped his lips and then I had a mini-panic-attack. Fifteen years ago I would have been mercilessly grilled (or at least that’s what my high school Social Studies classes led me to believe) and today I get chuckles? Who (thinks he) dodged a bullet? This guy did. Maybe that’s just the Anglo-guilt corroding my innards.
“…because I lived in Vancouver and I’ve crossed the country at least four times,” he elaborates, “When you’ve been to London, Ontario as much as Lethbridge, Alberta and small places like that and Kamloops and so I do feel like I have a pretty strong Canadian identity although the French identity is kind of all mixed up in there, but it’s kind of complicated. I guess growing up in Quebec, being French-Canadian and being really attached to the language and culture, it’s hard for me to forget about my roots, although I’ve decided to sing in both French and English. I guess for me, it meant to be different; I’m different than most Canadian artists because I decided to not concentrate on just the Quebec market and outside of the country as well. I feel a little special, in a way.”
After spending three years in English Vancouver, the collected and personable Bédard headed back east to Montreal where he recorded a one-off EP for Toronto-based label, Paper Bag called “Hibernation”, a primarily instrumental record centered around both the return to the colder setting of Quebec as well as the feeling of lost time that occurs with being away from home for an extended period of time. Hibernation saw its release February 17. Montag’s smooth laptop electronics on Hibernation sparkle and buzz in a way that reminds me fairly strongly of the sunny IDM of Caribou’s (back when he was recording as Manitoba) Start Breaking My Heart as well as the expansive atmospherics of M83’s Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts, and is appearing to make a big leap in the Canadian electronic scene.
In the summer however, on that note, Montag will be hitting the studio again to record what will become his third official full-length album. It will be the follow-up to 2007’s Going Places, which featured collaborations with a number of artists including members of M83, Stars and Beach House, and like its predecessor, it will be released on American label, Car Park Records. “I’m planning to do something a bit more spontaneous than I did with the last record, which was more about collaborating with friends and I think maybe I got a little lost in all the collaborations. So it’s going to be much more concise; I have a pretty clear vision of how I want it to sound and it’s going to be a little bit more minimal, or if not minimal, just not as busy. It’s going to be more electronic… there’s going to be a lot more synthesizers in this one.”
Now back in Montreal, Montag is clearly flourishing in fine form, he speaks with nothing but the purest reverence when discussing his city. I do believe that a fervent devotion to place is a key to producing art with lasting power; you have to own your city and only then can you really get shit done because your ideas will be grounded in a strong context. “I’m in my element right now, I’m just really where I’m supposed to be,” he says excitedly about his move back after a three year gap, where he’s subsequently been bombarded with new projects from the aforementioned "Hibernation" and his upcoming full-length to composing sound design for contemporary dance and theatre groups including choreographer Sarah Chase’s piece for Montréal Danse, On the Ice of Labrador, which is currently touring the country.
Oddly however, “I don’t really know anyone in the electronic scene [in Montreal], I only know of a couple small projects. I hang out mostly with rock bands…” he tells me with a shrug when I ask him about the state of the electronic scene in Montreal. “All of the best people in music are here, the best creative minds and the best personalities,” he reiterates, “I guess that’s why I feel so drawn to it, it’s not so much that I have my own group of people I can play music with, I’m always a loner, I’m always very much alone and the with kind of music I make, there’s not many people around that are making the same kind of music as me. So I tend to forget about the style and just go with whoever I can connect with on a number of different levels and not just music.”
I feel it certainly is a big credit to Montag that not only that he is able to speak so highly of his city and the people within it, but that he is really able to maintain his Lone Wolf status whileat once not being a total douche about it. It is both refreshing and rare to meet a musician that is so independent and yet so humble. Truly, Antoine is one of the most fun, agreeable and interesting people I’ve been able to interview and he is a very cool dude indeed so you should definitely check out his tunes.
