Her newest album may be called Shiver, but singer-songwriter Caracol’s performance at the National Arts Centre on Feb. 28 was anything but cold.
Switching back and forth effortlessly between French and English, the Quebec artist’s friendly demeanour and gentle folk-pop melodies created a definite atmosphere of warmth.
Carole Facal’s (who goes by Caracol) most recent release Shiver is a compilation of English songs that had not yet been released and French songs from her last album, Blanc Mercredi.
Facal said she thought the English songs were expanding her musical reach. “I notice that my music is travelling,” she said. “I’ve been touring in Quebec for almost 10 years now and I feel like I know every little town here,” she said. “Doing something that can go out beyond [Quebec]—it’s exciting, it’s a new challenge”
French or English, it was the soaring harmonies on songs like “Blanc Mercredi” that caught the audience’s attention.
“I write all my demos almost uniquely with voice,” Facal said. “I don’t find that I have a really good solo voice, so I like to blend it in with layers of vocals and make it sound unique that way.”
On a live stage, Facal said she relies on the voices of her band members to recreate the vocal layers.
“All my musicians sing,” she said. “For me, it’s really important to have a band with good singers.”
Facal said she began writing songs 15 years ago, while travelling through Europe. On the same trip, a fellow traveller gave her a unique nickname.
“He used to always call me Caracol, because I had all my belongings in my backpack,” she said. Caracol, the Spanish word for snail, remains the name Facal goes by as a musician today.
The use of different languages plays a significant role in Facal’s songwriting. “A different language is like a different musical instrument—it inspires me in a different way,” she said. Facal said that the language and the writing of the song itself are always linked. “If a phrase pops up in a given language then that’s the language for the song,” she said.
Facal said she never translates her songs. “When I read a book, I don’t like translations,” she explained. “I find that when you translate things they lose a little bit of their truth and their inspiration. So I don’t do it. I don’t try to do it.”
Band member Audrey-Michèle Simard, who plays floor snare, melodica, glockenspiel, bass synth, and guitar, said she’s worked with and been close friends with Facal for six years, but the songwriting process has always been an individual effort.
“I’m more a babysitter than songwriter,” Simard laughed.
Both Simard, and guitar player Manuel Gasse said they would continue to work with Facal.
“We get to play great songs because she’s a great songwriter,” Gasse said. “It’s a privilege. We love to sing, and all her songs have so many voices and harmonies too.”
“It’s a great gig for us.”
