Montreal-Toronto dream-folksy band Timber Timbre will be swinging by Ottawa on Nov. 16, for a tour that’s close to home. The Charlatan chatted with keyboardist Mathieu Charbonneau about his relation to the city that fun forgot, and reflections on their latest album Sincerely, Future Pollution.
The Charlatan (TC): How are you feeling about coming to Ottawa in particular? I know that you work with E-Tron records in Hull for your solo stuff.
Mathieu Charbonneau (MC): I was actually born and raised in Ottawa. I mean I live in Montreal now, been living here for over 15 years, but my family’s still there. My parents are there, my brother, who runs E-Tron, lives in Hull. So for me, it always feels like going home a little bit.
TC: The new album came out back in April, so you’ve been performing it for a little while now. What has the atmosphere at shows been like with the addition of your new work?
MC: I think when we were … working on this new record we had the idea that we wanted to maybe have something that would move a little bit more. We were interested in the idea of, you know, “can we make people move a little bit more than a typical Timber Timbre show?” So, we did write some songs … like “Grifting,” and then [guitarist Simon Trottier] and I wrote some instrumental stuff like “Bleu Nuit” … so the show has evolved. There is a part of the show that is a little bit more upbeat now. So that was fun to see, to play the crowds that would be moving a little bit to our music. Not full on dancing, that’s for sure, but maybe moving a little bit.
TC: That’s the thing about this album, is that it’s a little bit more danceable but there are also these dark, dystopian themes that everyone seems to be picking up on. Is there anything going on beneath that?
MC: Beneath the dystopia? Yeah, I hear a lot of love songs, love themes. There is a take on society and the state of things right now, the use of social media … it’s all very vague, but I think there’s some undertones. But I also think there’s some stuff that comes back from the other records too. It’s not all new, but there’s definitely a dystopian inclination. And the sounds that we used were also working in those themes.
TC: I think the track “Sincerely, Future Pollution” stood out as one of the newer and more sinister sounding tracks. What was the process behind that one?
MC: Musically speaking, [singer/guitarist Taylor Kirk] came in with a main riff and it was a song that we just played a lot. It came together later. We did get together for three months almost every day for this record before we went in the studio. So, this one was a song that we just played together almost every day and found new bits here and there. We pieced it together, and then the lyrics came later, and they come later in the song too. It was really building blocks for this song, whereas with other songs, Taylor would come in and they wouldn’t be close to finished, but there was a song there. There were almost all the lyrics, and we could hear verse, chords, etc. So, “Sincerely” is a new wave of writing for us. I hadn’t experienced that kind of writing with our group.
TC: It had been a bit more of a collaborative effort from the three of you, as opposed to the way you’ve done it before. How do you think the shifted dynamic came through in the album?
MC: I guess the result is more of a shared vision. I think Taylor has a pretty good idea when he starts, he’s good at directing or producing in a way, and pushing us towards new stuff. So definitely there’s the sound that’s the same, so you know it’s the same band. But there are two songs that Simon and I wrote — the instrumental songs — that make it so that it has more instrumental bits than the other records. So, I think that would be something you hear, a little bit more freedom in that area.
TC: With the bigger variety on this album, is there a track that you’re particularly proud of?
MC: The song that I’ve worked the most on in my entire life — that was from the beginning not hard, but very challenging — is “Grifting.” I listen back to it, and it makes me happy, which is a good sign. It was really challenging and we worked a lot on every single sound and every aspect of that song. In my experience, sometimes if you work too much on a song, it either ends up not on the record or you don’t even record it. So, this one was kind of a lesson for me that if you make the right moves, and work really hard, it can actually end up on the record.
TC: So, a side question that I want to know —when I was watching the new season of Twin Peaks and seeing all the people playing the Roadhouse endings, I thought you guys would be really good for that —
MC: Yeah!
TC: What do you think about that?
MC: Of course. I mean, we’re all big fans of [David] Lynch’s stuff, of that show, and the music. We listen to the music a lot, just like the soundtrack. It would’ve been — I think — a no-brainer. But I guess it’s all a matter of getting your music in the right hands.
TC: Is there anything else you’d like to add — about the upcoming tour, the album?
MC: We’re happy for this tour because we’re going to be close to home. We’ll be close to Montreal, Quebec City — we know a lot of people there, Ottawa — I know, and we all know, a lot of people in Ottawa, it’s like family … so it’s exciting. We’re not going so far. The other tours we’ve been travelling pretty far, so this feels like a little trip. It’s like visiting family.
