Motherhood has heavy influence on Ariane Moffatt’s new album
Ariane Moffatt ditches guitars in her latest album, 22h22
Ariane Moffatt has developed an appreciation for silence.
The experimental pop songwriter and La Voix season one coach became a mother of twin boys nearly two years ago, and caring for them has been priority No. 1 since.
But at around 10: 22 p. m. every night, when the kids are asleep and her Mile End home is calm, the 35- year- old will be hit with inspiration. Moffatt’s creative juices, set aside during the day because of her new- found responsibilities, begin to flow again.
In honour of this nightly burst, Moffatt named her latest album 22h22.
“Everything would come back to me at 10: 22,” she recalled.
“My life was so practical at that point, but at that time, I felt like it was the only opportunity I had to fly, to see what’s on the other side. It was reassuring to feel that again, because I was in provider mode and survival mode and taking care of babies and not thinking about anything else.”
After a pair of English- language forays — 2012’ s bilingual MA and a 2010 collection of English covers for the Trauma television series — 22h22’ s lyrics are exclusively in French. While MA was done as an homage to her multicultural Mile End neighbourhood, 22h22 tackles intimate subject matter, so she felt more comfortable disseminating it in her mother tongue. Moffatt says much of the album is about the woman she was and the woman she is today.
“The album starts with a song about the life I was living before I had kids,” she explained.
“I wasn’t at home waiting for a bit of silence. I was probably at a show or with friends. If I was at home, I wasn’t aware of how precious a moment of silence can be.”
During our interview at her friend’s art space in Mile Ex, Moffatt compared her state of mind at that hour to lucid dreaming. She wanted to capture that hazy feeling musically, which required one major rule change from her previous works: no guitars allowed. There was even a flashy gesture to mark the decision, when Moffatt taped a big X across the one guitar hanging from the wall of her studio. She posted a picture of it on Instagram to make it official.
“From the beginning, we made a statement that we were only going to make plastic music,” she said. “Only buttons, keys and pads.”
Moffatt and her collaborators, co- producer Jean- Phi Goncalves of Plaster fame and former Karkwa member François Lafontaine, who’s fast becoming Montreal’s go- to analog synth guy, broke her golden rule once. Miami, arguably the most pop- oriented song she’s ever done, starts off with a guitar, but only because the track veered in a retro direction that demanded it. She also couldn’t resist adding slap bass.
“I started with some ideas of sticking to an ’ 80s era sound, but at one point it felt limiting,” Moffatt admitted. “I didn’t grow up during that time, so I didn’t have too many personal references.”
Moffatt views each album as an opportunity to embrace something new. Her 2002 debut Aquanaute still stands as Quebec’s best, and perhaps only, trip hop record, and she’s explored her pop side before, but the ambitious 22h22 is different enough that it will require an entirely new live configuration.
“No guitar or real drums on stage. We’re four musicians: two on pads, one on bass and keys, and me on synths,” she said. “It’s going to be totally electronic, but no laptops and nothing will be sequenced. We’ll be playing for real.”
Even though Moffatt has kind words for Parisian pop sensation Christine & the Queens, who recently wowed a packed Metropolis, her dance- heavy, mostly sequenced live show isn’t what Moffatt is going for. Instead, British artist James Blake’s gospel- with- a- prophet synthesizer approach better matches with Moffatt’s vision of what an emotional electronic show can be.
“Some think electronic music means cold, distant, no personality,” she observed. “But it’s not the case. Every detail you hear on this record was overthought. You have to take what you do and make it as warm as possible.”
22 H 22 IS RELEASED ON TUESDAY, MARCH 10.