Monami by Foreign Diplomats
This album is about a lot of things. It’s mostly about falling in love and being scared to fall too much. To fall in love with someone, with a place (home), with a city (far from home). But it’s also about poodles and friends (real and imaginary), about snow and apartment seeking, about mental health and fear.
It has been a long time since we released our first record, Princess Flash, and we had time to tour a lot. Some of the songs on Monami were played in shows many times and got to where they are now because we were able to get to know them. Others were written just before we went in the studio so we had to try stuff and develop them right there. Jace Lasek, who produced the album, helped us a lot for that, getting the songs to where they should be, even if it meant trying stuff that probably wouldn’t work. I’m pretty good at having ideas like that. But you have to try in order to get somewhere.
Monami is a brighter record than Princess Flash. It’s closer to our live shows because that’s what we wanted to get. It was fun to be deep and sad but there was a time when I had to try something else, to change the scenery. Why not? Just to sing about something else than heartbreak. So, I wrote about the road, driving, about eating burnt dinner and about owing money.
We had a lot of references and influences when we started building and recording the songs that we wanted on the album. Swans, for the loudness, the heaviness and how fun it is to just be loud sometimes. The War on Drugs and Animal Collective, because they’re awesome. Bill Callahan, because his words are simple yet reach me so deeply. Jenny Hval, because her music is always new for me. Low, listen to Double Negative, daaaaaaamn. Joni Mitchell, because of the sound and songs of Hejira. The Microphones/Mount Eerie, because controlled chaos is awesome. Peter Gabriel and The Cure (and more), because 80s pop music was great, a gold mine of inspiration. Those are just some of the stuff we wanted to reach (we could never reach those but you know what I mean) with Monami and the way I hear them and perceive them is deeply personal. Maybe you’ll listen to these artists and not feel or agree with anything I just wrote and that’s perfect. You shouldn’t!
Tracklist
| 1. | Road Wage | 3:58 |
| 2. | City Luv | 3:03 |
| 3. | Charger | 3:20 |
| 4. | Amafula | 4:09 |
| 5. | You Decide (The Return of) | 3:42 |
| 6. | Demon (Slamador) | 4:07 |
| 7. | Adopted Hometown | 4:39 |
| 8. | Frilu | 4:29 |
| 9. | Tender Night | 3:24 |
| 10. | How Cool Is That ? | 3:14 |
| 11. | Fearful Flower | 6:53 |
Credits
We are : Thomas Bruneau Faubert : Sequential Circuits Prophet 600, Korg Microkorg, Moog Sub 37, Omnichord, Korg Poly 800, Roland JX-3P, Casio CZ-101, MPC 500, Trombone, screams, vocals / Tony L. Roy : Bass, Acoustic Bass, Moog Sub 37, Saxophone on Demon, Vocals, Apprentice Engineer / Charles Primeau : Guitar, Pedal Steel Guitar, Acoustic Guitar+Bass on City Luv, Korg Minilogue, Vocals / Élie Raymond : Vocals, Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Pedal Steel Guitar on Demon, Prophet 600, Casio CZ-101, Piano, Acoustic Bass on Adopted Hometown, far away Drums in Frilu / Lazer Vallières : Drums, percussions.
With : Jace Lasek : Therevox on Road Wage / Marc-Antoine Barbier : Saxophone on Adopted Hometown / Elliot Maginot : Vocals on City Luv, Amafula, Demon, Fearful Flower / Ariel Comtois : Saxophone on Road Wage, Charger & Vocals on Demon, Fearful Flower / Philippe Gauthier Boudreau : Drums on Fearful Flower / Samuel Heppell-Dion : Saxophone on Amafula, Frilu, Fearful Flower / David Aubé : Cello on City Luv / Antoine Gallois : Guitar on You Decide / Émie Leclerc : Vocals on Road Wage, Charger / Ann Provost Richard : Vocals on You Decide / Guillaume Bisson : Vocals on You Decide, Frilu / Zachary Bleau : Vocals on Adopted Hometown / The “Thursday Night in the Studio” Choir can be heard on You Decide and Fearful Flower: Delphine Lapierre, Delphine Lou Fontaine Picard, Ariel Comtois, Marc-Antoine Barbier, Antoine Gallois, Gautier Villette, Philémon Günter Crête, Tony L. Roy, Thomas Bruneau Faubert, Charles Primeau, Élie Raymond.
Words and music by Élie Raymond / Arranged by Foreign Diplomats / Produced, engineered and mixed by Jace Lasek / Assistant engineer : Antoine Gallois / Recorded in Montreal at Breakglass in June, October and November 2018 and in February 2019 / Except Tender Night : recorded and produced by Ryan Battistuzzi in Montreal, April 2018 / Some of the synths, a couple vocal tracks, the Tender Night piano, percussion in Adopted Hometown and the far away drums in Frilu were recorded at home, February 2017-January 2018 / Mastered by Philip Gosselin at Le Lab Mastering / Artwork by Brice Postma / Layout by Geneviève Baril.
Thanks so so much to Jace for everyyyyything and to everyone who came in to scream and shout, to play, to sit around, to listen. Thanksss to Ryan & Philip. Thanks to Gautier, Franz, Kyria and everyone at Indica. A whole lot of love to our families, our friends and to everyone listening to this record.
Merci mon ami.
