Guillaume Arsenault

Guillaume Arsenault, singer-songwriter, was born in the Gaspé in 1976 and has run a song shop there for over 20 years. He belongs to this country and his voice matches the scale of his landscapes, based on the power of the elements.

It’s by birth, Guillaume draws his breath and his rhythm from the universe he lives in. He never tires of chasing the territory and diving into the sea. His breathing, sometimes jerky, sometimes restrained, reveals what constitutes both his strength and his sensitivity, the part of him that trembles.

The father, the lover, the cabinetmaker, the trainer, the artist share the same quiet strength, the same gift for contemplation, the same poetic outlook on things, the same desire to reinvent themselves with each project. Far from confusing it, this flow defines it. Guillaume Arsenault has a bias for freedom.

He feels the need to write useless beauty without ambition, searches for small sonic and poetic jewels to pose in his folk songs. They turn into real colorful mosaics thanks to the rhythmic and melodic use of the sounds he collects: birdsong, fridge motor, pebble noises, moose vocalization … The musician is patient and polite.

This can be heard in La partie de moi qui tremble, his sixth album, produced by Mathieu Pelletier-Gagnon, which was released in 2019. We take an inner journey punctuated by nostalgia and hope and by all these intangible things who nourish the existence. In pursuit of the monsters who hide there, sometimes at a run, sometimes in the slowness, we adopt a panoramic view of the landscape. We rub shoulders with diverse but complementary universes.

Here, the music seeks its balance between prettiness and twist. The folk songs are dressed in keyboards and hypnotic rhythms from the world of electronic music. They undergo fine electronic grindings which reveal rather soft melodies in cracks, small improbable critters. Folk simplicity and cheeky electronic degeneration.

Several times awarded (Petite-Vallée Song Festival, Radio-Canada Revelation Espace musique, CALQ Creation Prize, etc.) and named (ADISQ, Canadian Folk Music Prize, etc.), and drawing on his experience in song, Guillaume Arsenault now shares its know-how with emerging artists.He devotes himself in turn to sound design (Irene on March, The wonderful voyage of Réal from Montreal…), to production (Dans l’shed, Joey Robin-Hachey, Éric-John Keyser…) and to training (Unifying songs / Nikamu Mamuitun).

He becomes a mature artist, a man who has the courage of a sage, both feet in the truth and the spirit of adventure. He looks forward.

AWARDS

2022 – CALQ – Winner – Artist of the year in Gaspésie
2021 – Canadian Folk Music Award – Nomination – Best Francophone songwriter of the year, La partie de moi qui tremble
2013 – CALQ Regional Artistic Creation Award – Gaspésie
2010 – ADISQ – Nomination – Arranger of the year, Géophonik
2009 – Revelation Radio-Canada Espace Musique 2009-2010
2009 – Félix-Leclerc Award – Nomination
2007 – Canadian Folk Music Award – Nomination – Best Francophone songwriter of the year, Le rang des îles
2006 – CALQ Artistic Creation Award in Gaspésie – Winner
2006 – Coup de pouce Award from the Festival Vue sur la Relève – Winner
2005 – Finalist – Ma première Place des Art Contest – Winner of the Galaxie and Archambault Awards
2004 – Gala Culture Gaspésie – Winner – Prix Arrimage Acadie-Québec
2004 – Chanson pour tes yeux, Songwriters Contest – 5th prize
2001 – Festival en chanson de Petite Vallée – Winner – Jury Prize, Public Prize and Télé-Québec Prize

HIGHLIGHTS

Les Francos de Montréal, Festival de la chanson de Tadoussac, Festival en chanson de Petite-Vallée, Constellation francophone (Dieppe, N.-B.), Fiesta Desjardins (La Malbaie, QC), Centre culturel canadien de Paris, Tournée Chan’Appart en France, Les Francophonies en Limousin, Festival acadien de Caraquet, Festival des mots parleurs (Bonaventure, QC), Congrès mondial acadien 2014, Coup de cœur Francophone, FrancoFête en Acadie, Weekends de la chanson Quebecor (Montréal) and more