Dear Criminals evolves well beyond side project
Dark, electro folk band plays music meant for sharing the old-fashioned way
Friends of local trio Dear Criminals play the band’s music at dinner parties.
It sounds like a pejorative, as if the group’s morose, minimal electro-folk is best suited as background filler. Co-vocalist Frannie Holder considers it a compliment.
“It’s like going back to the days of listening to music together and sharing,” she explains. “It’s not like pressing ‘like’ on Facebook and forgetting about it right after, or downloading a song on iTunes and only listening to it when you run.”
Their three EPs were independently released within the past year, so without traditional means of promotion at their disposal, they’re thrilled to have secured the dinner table.
“We love that it’s being spread by word of mouth,” she continues.
It helps that Dear Criminals began as a side project with minimal expectations for its three members. Holder and multi-instrumentalist Vincent Legault are better known as two-fourths of energetic hip-hop outfit Random Recipe, while vocalist Charles Lavoie was in the now-defunct indie-anthem band Lack of Sleep.
Next to Dear Criminals, Random Recipe sounds ebullient.
“We’re all bi-polar, so it makes sense to be artistically bi-polar, too. In a way, Random Recipe is where I get to go wild and be a kid, and Dear Criminals is where I’m an adult,” Holder says. “On stage, anyway. There’s something very mature about our sound and the crises being expressed.”
The inspirational dark clouds never seemed to fit with their other bands. The group’s first EP, Weapons, contains solo holdovers writ- ten by Holder and Lavoie (as b.e.t.a.l.o.v.e.r.s) over the years. But Crave, released in April, contains six songs written as a trio that embraced their struggles.
“Crave is about wanting something in a visceral way,” Holder says. “It can take on the form of something adult or sexual, but it could also be childlike, too.”
Holder and Lavoie write lyrics together. They both communicate through metaphors, so even when they’re tackling personal subjects — like breakups and illness — the words mesh seamlessly.
“We’re friends. We talk a lot about life outside of music, so when Frannie writes something, I’ll know the history behind what she’s talking about,” Lavoie says.
While the words often leap to the forefront, the pair say it’s the arrangements — often reduced to the essentials — that come first. All three members play multiple instruments both live and on record, and Holder compares the process of composing while shifting between a dozen or so instruments to playing with a full toy box.
“It’s about textures,” Lavoie says. “We could probably play a show with only two keyboards, but our songs are minimal, so it’s really about finding perfect sounds.”
Adds Holder: “We’re in a fragile state when we play. There’s no beat; we’re playing to a drone. It means we have to concentrate on sharing the same feeling.”
Another benefit of being unsigned — besides being a dinner party conversation starter — is the ability to release music at your own pace.
Dear Criminals collaborated with popular Quebec actress Monia Chokri on a multidisciplinary clash at the OFFTA festival this May. On the visual side, there were teenage models and baby kittens, but on the group’s end, they twisted pop hits from the likes of Miley Cyrus and Britney Spears with a sinister touch. The trio was so pleased with the results, the six covers became their third EP, Woman.
“Dear Criminals started as a music project for theatre, film and dance, but it’s not easy to get into that world if you don’t know anyone,” Holder says. “It made sense for us to start in the path we know, but working with Monia was a step in a new direction. We want to do a dance show, maybe one where we dance.”
Without getting into specifics, they say Dear Criminals is growing from a side dish to another main course.
“We want to work in different media, with other artists,” Lavoie says.
“Collaboration is what makes the Montreal scene so exciting,” Holder adds. “Nobody’s off in a corner doing their own thing. Everyone is into what’s happening next door, and all these amazing links are being created. New directions help you see yourself and your projects differently.”
Dear Criminals perform Monday through Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Savoy du Métropolis as part of the Montreal International Jazz Festival. Tickets cost $25.10. For more details, visit montrealjazzfest.com.