Photos and a review of Angine de Poitine in Gatineau
[Emily Plunkett and Paul Harvey were there for the fun. – AC]
Like so many, I was made aware of Angine De Poitrine around the end of March – back when the views of their KEXP performance video were at a measly 5 million or so views. (As of this writing, that number has tripled.) Much like the world, it kind of felt like watching the moment of first contact with an alien species; and I was largely unsure of what to make of what I was seeing and hearing.
I mean, I have a basic knowledge of things like microtones (mainly through their dominance in Middle East and Indian music traditions), and most of my formal music training was in jazz theory, so my brain was making enough connections with what I was hearing to know that it absolutely made sense. I also like to think that I went through enough of a prog rock phase in my younger, exploratory years to never be too surprised for anything out of the ordinary. But I still found myself, up at 2 a.m. – on a night before a long road trip, no less – staring at my computer monitor and asking the question so many others have on their minds:
WHAT THE EVER LIVING F*CK DID I JUST WATCH??!!
I was also asking myself another equally important question: exactly how much of this utter chaos should I consider this gimmicky video the be-all, end-all to this weird little band? Are they even remotely worth a listen without the visuals? And what is this whole shebang like in the live setting?
Lucky me, I had some conveniently aligned stars to guide me in coming close to understanding what this thing was all about, with the biggest and most important being that the home planet of Angine de Poitrine is none other than Saguenay, Quebec, and to celebrate their sophomore album, Vol. II, the duo set out across their home province for nine tour dates – including one at Gatineau’s tiny Minotaure, a full four months ahead of their scheduled performance across the river at Ottawa’s Bluesfest this summer.
So, what did I observe?
In a band so out there, so beyond the norm of this new age of AI “slop”, I was deeply struck by how thoroughly human the whole experience was.
The YouTube clips only really scratch the surface of what Angine de Poitrine is. To see them live is to take in everything that’s unique about guitarist, “Khn”, and just how utterly proficient they are. It’s one thing to introduce those intricate microtonal notes into context beyond their worldly origins, but to see a guitarist thoroughly shred through a solo with an instrument with mindblowing additional range – and that’s all before you remember they’re further controlling the entire thing using their bare feet on three pedal boards.
And then there’s “Klek”, the drummer who brings the “math” to the rock in a way my brain will never wrap my head around – but what I do know is that the multigenerational crowd recognized the exact groove and frequency needed from it to get the mosh pit going in a way I didn’t know nerds of this level could.
Absolutely nothing that I saw could have come from a generative AI model (not yet, at least), and as much as we all want to liken the quirkiness of the music to someone like Primus, there’s just no denying that we’ve just never seen or heard anything like this.
Angine de Poitrine is something entirely original, and I’m glad I got to see them at just the right moment that firmly reminded me that I can still be surprised by new and exciting music; even when the mainstream push towards a mediocre future becomes stronger and stronger.
