If Chic Gamine can teach us anything, it’s that you shouldn’t be afraid to do something well. Their music is disarmingly simple, but perfectly executed.
Taking their cues from gospel, soul and latterly garage rock, the Canadian quintet offer harmonies that could cut glass and have been compared to the Staple Singers by Mavis Staples herself. Backed by drummer SachaDaoud, Ariane Jean, AndrinaTurenne, Alexa Dirks and AnnickBremault trade vocals on tracks that could have been cut from Motown’s cloth back in the ‘60s.
“At the root of it is the fact that the voice is one of the most primal instruments,” Turenne said. “It doesn’t require any technology, it doesn’t require anything. It just simply is. To create beautiful harmonies in a stairwell, or in a place with natural acoustics, is a real treat.”
The band played their debut UK show at London’s Rich Mix on December 1, the same day that Shake Of Your Worries, their first single on this side of the Atlantic, was released. Also in the diary are a handful of dates - in Brighton, London, Leeds, Manchester and Dublin - supporting Brooklyn soul troupe Lake Street Dive.
“There felt like there was some familiarity with our music,” Turenne said of their London bow. “I could see some people, one person that was singing along to one of the songs that we recently released here. There were a lot of smiles in the room.”
Shake Off Your Worries has been lifted from their ‘Closer’ album, which arrived earlier this year and bears the glossy fingerprints of producers Andrew Scheps, Russell Elevado and Dana Nielsen, previous collaborators of Justin Timberlake, Jay Z and Alicia Keys.
“We formed the band six years ago and it was one of our first songs together,” Turenne said. “It really called to our love of southern music and powerful voices. Alexa was inspired by the life of her grandmother, who had lived a hard life, immigrating to Canada, via Paraguay, from Russia, and also by southern gospel music. Those two worlds kind of collided in that song.”
At the time Chic Gamine - which loosely means ‘mischievous young thing’ - came together, four of their number were based in Winnipeg, with Daoud in Montreal. Initially, they found that they were vocally compatible, but on their next record, which is currently in the works, they are determined to embrace an increased range of instrumentation.
“We were people who had wanted to work together,” Turenne said. “We enjoyed each other and we worked well together as far as harmonies went. We obviously had a focus on dynamic harmonies, that was something that was at the forefront of what our sound was going to be.
“At the beginning we always dreamed of a big sound, but wanting to be a touring act we didn’t necessarily have the financial means to tour with a 10 piece band. We were writing our music and arranging it through voice and drums. We’re in the process of writing a new record and we’ve pushed that sound to include more instrumentation - to support the harmonies, to take that sound and have it rooted in popular music, rock and soul.”
Sun December 8th 2013 - BRIGHTON Prince Albert
Mon December 9th 2013 - LONDON Borderline
Wed December 11th 2013 - LEEDS HiFi Club
Thu December 12th 2013 - MANCHESTER Sound Control
Fri December 13th 2013 - DUBLIN Workmans Club
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