BeatRoute Magazine AB Edition May 2019

YVES JARVIS
k CONTINUED FROM PG. 13
er-songwriters like Judee Sill and
Nick Drake.
The disjointed post-punk of Tenet,
Audet’s first full-length album
released as Un Blonde, reflects
the young songwriter as he was at
16, too avant-garde to be fully appreciated
by the population of the
Calgary streets he was busking on.
Its follow-up, Water the Next
Day, is a sonic chronicle of his relocation
to Montreal in his late teens. It picks
YVES JARVIS
up that same experimental spirit and drops it
into mellow, contemplative territory. Breaking
away from Un Blonde and adopting the name
Yves Jarvis with his latest release, The Same
but by Different Means, Audet doesn’t seek
to reinvent his sound so much as to richen it.
Here and there, a lyric or melody will break
through the blanket of seemingly infinite
piano, organ, vocal harmonies, and textural
sounds. In such swirling, transitory soundscapes,
it’s the slight moments of rupture
and subtle ascensions that hold the music
together.
“It’s very ungrounded, unhinged, and
impulsive,” says Audet. “I guess at the centre,
it’s like fire or electricity. Something brilliant.
The only thing I think I could liken it to is
Vancouver:
Saturday, May 4
KW Studios
Tix: $10, eventbrite.ca
Calgary:
Wednesday, May 8
King Eddy
Edmonton:
Friday, May 10
Sewing Machine Factory
Tix: $10
chipping away at wood. I’m working with one
core, and that’s what I’m trying to get at.”
When Audet speaks, it’s equal parts
thought and vocalization. Speaking of his
own music, his voice contains a palpable
consideration and hesitation,
as if not entirely sure what to
make of it yet. When talking
about the work of others, Joni
Mitchell in particular, his speech
quickens, his voice softens and
the conversation takes a tone of
warm familiarity. But regardless of
who made it, Jarvis speaks about
music poetically, using colours,
textures and experiences to paint
a picture.
His appetite for listening to music is just
as insatiable as his drive to make it, Audet
draws inspiration from sources old and new.
“I listen to absolutely everything,” says Audet.
“I won’t even say I have taste. Of course
I’m offended by music sometimes, but I try to
take in everything.”
The enigma of his ever-changing yet
unmistakable musical identity is something
Audet has been earning for years. He’s been
growing alongside it and documenting it
all the while, as if writing his music like one
would note their height on the doorframe of
the world.
Whichever direction he takes and whichever
colour he explores, one thing is certain:
each entry to come will be written a little
higher up than the last. ,
p re s e n t s
c a l g a r yq ue e r a r t s s o c ie t y. c om
16 BEATROUTE MAY 2019