Jonathan Personne unveils new single Les jours heureux, two days before releasing new album Nouveau Monde

Jonathan Personne, also known as the singer, guitarist and lyricist of the indie rock band Corridor, combines sunshine pop and yacht-rock on Les jours heureux, a luminous track that evokes the end of a difficult chapter. This new single is the last preview of what the singer and multi-instrumentalist has in store for us on the album Nouveau Monde, which will be released this Friday, March 14th, via Bonsound. 

The album launch show is happening tomorrow night (March 13th) at La Sala Rossa in Montreal. More shows are scheduled in Quebec City, Alma and Rimouski in April. See the list below for details.

With its “uncomfortably optimistic” title, Les jours heureux recalls a dark period that eventually faded away.The happiness we feel is often the happiness we decide to create, says the singer and multi-instrumentalist, who describes being happier today than he was a few years ago, despite the gloomy context we live in. I guess failure and acceptance are sometimes necessary to finally move on.

The comforting spirit of the song is also expressed in the “church basement-style” organ arrangements and the guitar solo by Julian Perreault (Personne's long-time collaborator), a nod to Alan Parsons Project's Eye In The Sky. The result is a dreamy track that testifies to the range of emotions one experiences when listening to Jonathan Personne's fourth studio effort.

Bringing together previously unreleased songs from different eras, Nouveau Monde is by no means an album of outtakes. Having just recorded Mimi with Corridor, a demanding process, he wanted an opposite experience with this project, and ultimately ended up with an easy, spontaneous and naïve album. Personne’s ingeniously casual approach in the studio gave his older songs a new twist, creating a laid-back record with no pressure or expectations, other than to rediscover the simple pleasure of making music.

Jonathan Personne opted for a “bedroom” style production, embracing the mismatched quality of his compositions. His set-up was just polished enough to create a cohesive bond between tracks, making this melodic jumble a real tour de force. This “mixtape” structure echoes that of '90s classics such as Check Your Head by the Beastie Boys or early Beck records, which shaped Jonathan Personne's youth.

His new album kicks off with the organized chaos of La vie, la mort, an infectious rock tune that sounds like a chance encounter between the catchy guitar riffs of Thin Lizzy, the impeccable harmonies of Brian Wilson and the sheer urgency of The Wipers. Nouveau Monde's nine songs draw from a wide range of influences from the 60s to the 2000s, combining sunshine pop and yacht rock (Les jours heureux), slacker folk (Zoé sur la montagne) and shoegaze (Nuage noir), with proto-punk and stoner-psychedelic layers (Le cerf), as well as a few sweet moments reminiscent of cartoon theme songs from another era, notably on the title track.

While some of Jonathan Personne's melodies seem ingenuous or candid, this can also be heard in his lyrics, in which he eschews his usual cynicism in favour of universal lessons about life, perceptions, and hope. Characterized by organ- and piano-driven arrangements, and various guitar textures (electric and noisy, or acoustic and melancholic), Nouveau Monde will be released on March 14th via Bonsound.

About Jonathan Personne

Jonathan Personne is the solo project of Jonathan Robert, singer and guitarist of the Montreal band Corridor (Bonsound/Sub Pop). His penchant for building lo-fi soundscapes and complicating simple elements to suit his style has opened up uncharted territory, putting him at the crossroads of dream pop, psychedelic rock and krautrock. The singer and multi-instrumentalist made a name for himself as a solo artist with the albums Histoire naturelle (2019) and Disparitions (2020), both of which received praise from La Presse, NPR, Exclaim! and many others. In 2022, Jonathan Personne ventured into a new realm with his self-titled third album, revealing a more polished, smoother sound, orchestrated alongside talented producer Emmanuel Éthier. Still driven by a desire to make simple things more complex, without asking himself too many questions, the singer and multi-instrumentalist is now gearing up to unveil his fourth album. 

Follow Jonathan Personne: Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp / YouTube

Tour dates