Montreal’s Klaus is the electronic art-rock supergroup of acclaimed musicians François Lafontaine (Karkwa, Galaxie), Joe Grass (Patrick Watson), and drummer Samuel Joly. After first meeting while accompanying singer Marie-Pierre Arthur, the three friends decided to form a new project over one hazy night out drinking at a bar. What usually fades into a faint, unfulfilled fantasy instead became a catalyst for the trio, with their self-titled debut album now set for release on September 7th via Simone Records (Hubert Lenoir, Camaromance, Ariane Moffatt). You can take a listen to the new single Fever via YouTube below, which is lifted from the album.
Two weeks after their initial meeting, the members of Klaus regrouped at Grass’s studio and began recording under a commonly discussed but often unrealized formula: no rules and no pre-established directions to follow. Instead, they dug up fragments of unfinished ideas, the ones left behind because they couldn’t find the right collaborators to indulge in their time-traveling, globe-spanning experimentation. Drawing on influences ranging from Afrobeat guitars to Can’s krautrock propulsion to the avant-rock of Brian Eno and David Bowie’s ‘Berlin Trilogy’, they approached their music with the mindset of improv comedians or easy-going chefs.
“No matter what one of us brought to the table we said ‘yes, that’s weird, but let’s go there!'” laughs singer, guitarist, and lyricist Grass. “When someone fed the group an idea, we worked with it and tried to make something complimentary. Later on we had to refine things and make them more cohesive, but in the beginning we were just throwing things into the soup and counterbalancing them with different spices until we had a gumbo.”
With Grass on guitar, Joly on drums, and all three members singing in English, they shaped their lush electronic sound with Lafontaine’s museum-like collection of analog synths including the Prophet 5 and 6, Oberheim OB-8, ARP 2600, and Memorymoog. After two years of freewheeling studio sessions, KLAUS emerged with 10 songs drifting from the soft-focus beauty of Neon to the skittering funk of “Blue Telephone” and the bubbling robo-pop of their latest single Fever. The album lifts off into its most otherworldly plane on the eight-minute epic, Le rêve, with a Phil Collins-esque intro careening into breakneck prog and a pulsing electronic finale from the school of Cluster or Harmonia.
“I had a dream one night about that song,” explains Lafontaine. “That’s why it’s called ‘Le rêve.’ Its three-part structure is like a beautiful dream when it starts, then the second part is a nightmare, and finally it transforms into a relief from the first two parts of the song. Joe asked me what the lyrics should be about and I said it could be anything at all because it’s a dream. It doesn’t have to make sense.”
Throughout their astonishing debut album, Klaus unveil an interlocking collection of surrealist musical puzzles painted by three artists with a vibrant sonic pallette. Lyrically, its themes include the resilience and adaptivity of the human race, identifying and shedding the qualities that could lead to our destruction, and inevitably seeking connections to celebrate our time together in the face of darkness. In the end, the trio aimed to marry words to their music, forging more connections on a raw emotional level than either could do on their own, while inviting everyone to come join the party.
Klaus’s self-titled debut album will be out via Simone Records on September 7th. It’s now available for pre-order here.
‘Klaus’ tracklisting
1. Neon
2. Fever
3. Blue Telephone
4. Can’t Turn Back
5. The Aluminoid
6. Bad Religion
7. Le rêve
8. Dirty Water
9. Pit Bull
10. Nature Design
Klaus live performances
August 30th – FME – Rouyn-Noranda, QC
September 2nd – Mile Ex End – Montreal, QC
September 6th – Aire Commune (Album Launch) – Montreal, QC
