Daniel Lavoie: official website

The album "Tension Attention"

Chansons d'aujourd'hui -Laurent Regault
February 1987

The media had a lot to say about “Tension Attention”, Daniel Lavoie’s latest album, even before it came out. It is living up to its promise. The patience and the $200,000 invested in it have borne fruit. The result could hardly be better. Daniel Lavoie came to the conclusion that “Nirvana bleu” had reached its limits, and stepped beyond that. Who could blame him? In this interview he tells us about producing “Tension Attention”, about France where he is awaited, and about his native Manitoba.

How the album was produced

L.L: Daniel Lavoie must have been terribly tense at the launch of “Tension Attention”...

D.L.: I was, indeed. I’m known as a gentle romantic singer. This new album, while keeping some of those undertones, contrasts with the previous ones.

L.L.: You’ve taken quite a risk investing so much in this album.

D.L.: That’s for sure. I took risks changing my image. And it really cost a lot. We went out on a limb... It cost a lot in sheer energy and time. It took me one year to make that album. Daniel Deshaime and I worked on it together for six months, then there were three of us. A lot of thinking went behind it.

L.L.: “Aigre-doux How are you?” came out in 1981. How did you get the idea, or the urge, to change your style?

D.L.: I finished a six-month tour in August 1982, in Montreal, then in September I decided to give up everything and start on something more substantial. I was disappointed with “Aigre-doux”...I had taken that kind of music to its limits, I couldn’t have improved on it. So I started work in September ‘82. I spent three months writing songs; when those three months were up, I realised I hadn’t got anything worthwhile, so I started asking myself questions...

I made a new start in January and it got better. I wrote about thirty songs but once more, I realised I wasn’t really getting anywhere. I lacked direction. That’s when I met Daniel Deshaime.
You’ve probably heard of him. He has often worked as a back-up musician but he is not the kind to play media games. After listening to my songs he said there was something there, but that something had to be done to shape it.
That’s exactly what I wanted to hear. We kept about ten songs out of the thirty I had, and we worked on them for months in a basement in Ville d’Anjou. Three months later, we had a demo tape, a first draft. We were dead set on giving the album an English sound. Britain is where the most creative things are happening on the music scene at the moment. So we decided to contact an English producer. Friends from New York put us in touch with John Eden who produced “Der Komissar” among others.

L.L.: So you went off to London looking for an arranger, a technician or a mentor?

D.L.: None of the above, we needed someone for the finishing touches, to add some polish. A producer is the sound master in his recording studio. He masters both the art and the know-how of sound-mixing.

There is no one in Quebec doing that on the same scale, maybe because we haven’t got the opportunities or the competition forcing us to go that little bit further.

L.L.: So in real terms, what part did John Eden play in the production?

D.L.: Well, for instance he would say “Your arrangement is too full, too fussy, it won’t ring true". His role was to make sure the sound could fly up unrestrained, so that everything was clear, precise, beautiful. If you compare it with “Nirvana bleu” you’ll see that the sound is clearer and so more beautiful.

L. L.: When the album came out, the media insisted on the production costs and neglected the musical side. Did you find that disappointing?

D.L.: The journalists hadn’t heard the album so they kept to the bare facts. I don’t despair. I hope people will react to the album itself.

Electronic instrumentation

L.L.: The difference between “Tension Attention” and your previous albums is that you used a sophisticated technical team.

D.L.: The Quebec PSM recording studio is very well equipped to give depth to the instruments and to amplify every sound. The 7 is a synthesiser which gives marvellous purity to the sound. It’s quite a cheap instrument.

L.L.: Which will be used more and more?

D.L.: Of course, for $2000 you can now get what would have cost $15,000 to $20,000 not so long ago.

L.L.: Technical progress is a good thing but what about the songs in all that? With so many synthesisers, don’t you run the risk of losing some of the warmth you had in ‘La danse du smatt’ for instance?

D.L.: I really don’t think so, people are so afraid of electronics, it’s supposed to be cold but that isn’t true. Behind the synthesiser you mustn’t forget there is a person, a musician, who chooses the sounds, the rhythms. The synthesiser gives warmer sounds, I believe in it. Moreover you’ll realise that “Tension Attention” isn’t cold at all. If you listen to ‘Photo mystère’ you’ll see that the warmth and intimacy are still there.

L.L.: Investing in the technical side is the first step towards a new audience, but is there a recipe to reach international standards?

D.L.: No, what you have to do when you produce an album is to go as far as you can. It means having a period of conception and spending more time on the production itself. In Quebec we tend to produce records like a novelist writing his books directly on the printing press. You have to put the finishing touches before taking it to the publisher.

Tension Attention

Daniel Lavoie is facing quite a challenge with this new album. He presents us with a brand new musical product. Maybe that change was due after five records which were quite conservative musically and with his growing popularity. But changing has its risks and it remains to be seen whether his public will follow him. Up to now, that seems to be the case. One thing is certain: you don’t listen to him as you did before. You can now dance to his music and radio stations are playing his new songs repeatedly (“Qui va là” and “Roule ta boule”)

The recording of the album demanded many hours of studio work. The result is faultless. No need to mention the influence of the new wave trend on the songs. Musically, it is quite close to what a lot of English bands are doing. Apart from the saxophone, the music is almost entirely produced on electronic keyboards. The percussion side is replaced by a linn drum.

‘Tension Attention”, “Ils s’aiment”, and “Qui va là?”, the best songs of the album, all have sophisticated sound arrangements. Words and rhythms blend successfully. Some electric guitar passages remind you of Fixx, an English band

Some songs like “Ravi de te revoir”, “Photo mystère” will please those who liked “Nirvana bleu”. On the whole, texts are simple but substantial. The composer likes to play with words, rhymes and repetitions.

The album reflects and regroups new trends in popular music, Daniel Lavoie seems at ease with it. Everything points to the fact that he is now looking to a younger audience.

French Interests

L.L.: The French market seems ready for Daniel Lavoie. The album was even financed in part by a French company. Do you think this type of cooperation is set to go on?

D.L.: Managers have understood that the market in Quebec could not support productions with an international potential. To do that you need to tap all the potential sources of funding. So we rely more and more on French support. Diane Tell’s last album was produced entirely in France.

L.L.: Were your previous albums distributed in France?

D.L.: Three of them were.

L.L.: Is the French reaction good?

D.L.: I hope so, I don’t go over there often enough to know for sure. In Paris, you get fifty quality shows every night, every week. To make your mark in such an overflowing scene you have to stay on for a while, otherwise it’s just a flash in the pan, a puff of wind...

Manitoba and its limits

L.L.: Culturally speaking, is there quite a difference between your native Manitoba and Quebec?

D.L.: The difference is enormous. The French speaking community over there in the west is very small, like a tiny oasis in the desert. Over there, you live on subsidies, on what comes from the outside. Those who take to the stage in Manitoba do it as a hobby. Nobody can make a living out of it. Culture in Manitoba is something happening after your real work.

L.L.: You could have sung and had a career in English.

D.L.: Singing in French never was a conscious decision. I came to Quebec, I liked it. It’s fun doing it in French. I have produced an album in English and I want to do another one. English-speaking audiences were a bit surprised by “Cravings”, it’s written in a French way, with francophone attitudes. We don’t think along the same lines. You don’t express yourself in the same way, you write differently. They thought it was very original.

L.L.: Will you do a show quite soon?

D.L. Yes, in April in Montreal and probably in Quebec this summer. We’re working on the show at the moment.