A second debut for JF Robitaille
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JF Robitaille warms up the crowd for Chad VanGaalen Sunday night.
October 19, 2011 6:00 AM ADT
Anglophone Quebecer JF Robitaille released his second first album this summer. He’ll be performing some folky, mellow tunes at The Capital this Sunday and promoting his first record which came out in July.
Calendar is the first offering from his current label Blue Cardinal, but in 2007 Robitaille recorded an album, which never hit store shelves.
The label went under before his full-length record was released, but they had managed to produce an EP with Robitaille’s six favourite songs so he was able to build some fans and reputation on the smaller product.
“So [Calendar] would be second, but it turns out it’s my first,” Robitaille said. Although that first company didn’t last for Robitaille, he said the fact he was discovered in a New York bar and signed at all was a great experience.
The fact that it was Nona Hendryx of the female pop-group Labelle who noticed him at her show and signed him right away, probably didn’t hurt either.
For his latest album, Robitaille said half of the songs were written in a batch and half were older songs he’d had lying around and wanted to get out. Although songs were created at different times, he said the record still has a similar tone.
“Definitely introverted, it’s moody . . . it kind of sets a mood that’s pretty consistent, maybe throughout the whole thing. Although I tried to shake it up with a couple songs,” Robitaille said.
The title of the album was inspired by the track, “Calendar,” and the simple fact that there are 12 songs on the record.
“It was just thinking about marking time . . . calendars kind of run my life, definitely. I’m looking at mine every hour.”
Robitaille, who says there are “many nods to Leonard Cohen” in his music, has a mellow style some have compared to Cohen himself or Nick Drake.
This simple, bare-bones approach reflects the music that Robitaille loved growing up, and he puts himself in every song as much as possible.
“I want it to come off as honest as possible. You can tell it’s not really hiding anything; that’s my actual voice, that’s my actual guitar playing,” Robitaille said. “He says he strives to have the lyrics sound as personal and relatable as possible, but some of the tunes aren’t necessarily about Robitaille or his experiences. He also draws ideas from films or books, so the words might not be as literal as fans would think.
“I kind of mixed it all together, to try to make something that I would want to listen to or engage me . . . it could be about something you imagine yourself,” Robitaille said.
Robitaille is opening for Jennifer Castle and Chad VanGaalen this weekend, and he’s especially excited to perform because he’s never been to Fredericton. Tickets are $12 for the night and doors open at 8 p.m.
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