Mathieu Forand: exploring folk music, self discovery, and time
Saint-étienne-de-bolton resident Mathieu Forand spent the better part of his musical career as a musician in a band, away from the limelight. Forand’s new project, under the stage name ‘MEF Muse,’ has taken a whole other direction, with his first acoustic folk album ‘The Clock.’
“The album regroups 12 songs that are all acoustic. I’m a guitar player first, but then also a singer songwriter. MEF Muse explores this second aspect more,” said Forand in an interview with The Record. “I had 20 musicians and singers help me record this album. There are tonnes of different instruments, like the Mandolin, the Spanish flute, trumpets, and strings, and we’ve also experimented with a choir. It’s a big project.”
Completing ‘The Clock’ was no easy ordeal. It took Forand, who also writes for other artists, nearly two years to write the music and lyrics to his album, and a full year to produce the songs. “I try not to overthink my writing. I have a lot of freedom in my process and I write whatever comes out and feels the best. Overall, I wrote around 100 songs,” he explained, adding he narrowed his selection down to his 12 favourite songs. “If I look back, though, you can see a lot of subthemes like romance, friendship, spiritual awakening, and human nature.”
With a title like ‘The Clock,’ time is undoubtedly the album’s central theme. “I like a lot of my songs to have a double meaning, but I don’t think artists should spend a lot of time explaining what their songs mean. The meaning should be apparent in itself,” added Forand. “When I write, I like to channel energies. It’s not like writing a title and then trying to work with that subject. When I finish writing a song, I look at the lyrics and choose the title that jumps out to me.”
“My song ‘The Wave’ is definitely my favourite. I think the message is what makes it so special,” he remarked. “It’s about the world coming as one, people’s awakening, the power of love, freedom, union, understanding, and tolerance.” One of Forand’s favourite lines of ‘The Wave’ goes like so: “Add your water to the wave, make it greater always. What used to be ain’t the way, anymore, the day has come for you and me to become one, forever one.”
Forand started playing the guitar when he was 16 and had a special preference for the electric guitar’s potential, particularly with the work of Jimi Hendrix. “In 2007 and 2008, I was part of a band called Matt and The Special Blend, which explored a lot with the blues and electric blues,” he recalled. “Then I joined an Elvis Presley tribute band called Elvis Fever as the lead guitarist. I did that for 10 years as we toured casinos and theatres. It was a lot of fun but in the last few years I really wanted to focus on my new project, MEF Muse.”
“The acoustic side was always there, but I usually didn’t get the chance to showcase my original music. I figured this was just the right time to do it. It’s after all a simple journey,” he conceded. “I focus on one project at a time because I don’t want to spread my thin and be all over the place. When you focus your energy, you get better results. This project really allowed me to be myself, because I didn’t have anybody to report to, to market to, or to target. I was myself in every way and things really turned out the way I wanted them to. I’m proud of myself and I know there’s still a lot of work left to do.”
MEF Muse’s new album ‘The Clock’ will launch at Théâtre Lac Brome in September. He will be accompanied by Dave Gossage for the flute and the guitar, Bertil Schulrabe for drums and percussion, Bill Gossage for the double bass, and Kate Bevan-baker for violin and back vocals. “It’s my first time performing with these musicians so there is definitely some stress, but they are extremely talented,” assured Forand. “They have great Celtic and jazz associations which will work great with the album’s sound. Bertil has also toured with Nanette Workman and has even performed alongside Céline Dion.”
For Forand, performing in Lakebrome was a given. “It’s close to my house in Saint-étienne-de-bolton, where I’ve lived for four years. I also used to live in Dunham, so this area was my obvious first pick,” he said. He also noted the great involvement of Townshippers’ for ‘The Clock.’ “90 per cent of the album was recorded, produced, and mixed in the Eastern Townships. There are only two musicians who couldn’t be present for the recording so our trumpeter, who was in Morocco at the time, did her part of the recording there. Our flutist also recorded from Montreal. But apart from that, there’s been great local involvement.”
Those who wish to obtain more information about the MEF Muse project can visit Forand’s website, mefmuse.com/. From there, interested parties can find MEF Muse’s Youtube, Spotify, Deezer, and Applemusic channels.
The launch will be held on Friday, Sept. 6, 2019 at 8 p.m. at Théâtre Lac Brome. Tickets are $35 and can be reserved by calling 450-242-2270 or can be purchased online at www.theatrelacbrome.ca/.