POIRIER at Wrongbar (1279 Queen West), tonight (Thursday, April 8). $10. rotate.com.
There’s a huge gulf between the brutally minimal techno/soca/dancehall on Poirier’s new double CD, Running High (Ninja Tune), and the lush, watery ambient sounds on his 2001 debut.
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Then again, there’s a good chance only a handful of music nerds from those early days are still following the Montreal producer, formerly known as Ghislain Poirier. Luckily, the transience of electronic music fans doesn’t bother him.
“Honestly, crowds are there for three or four years and then they move on,” says Poirier as we chill out on an Austin patio during SXSW. “Their musical tastes change, they move out of the city, they have kids. I don’t think there are still many fans left from when I started in 2001. It’s a new bunch of people.
“Music passes, and maybe we’re wrong in thinking it should be forever. Sometimes it’s specific to a moment a track can be very popular for six months and then disappear. That was the role of that song in music history, and that’s okay.”
Even if his Caribbean-infused current material has little in common with his IDM-informed beginnings, the transition makes sense when you look at his career as a whole. On previous albums, Poirier came across as a talented producer stretching himself in different directions, whereas on Running High he sounds like an assured musician with a plan and a vision.
What better time to rebrand himself with a newly shortened moniker?
“I’m making that effort for you!” Poirier laughs, explaining that he ditched his first name to make things easier for his anglophone audiences.
“I actually just printed up a bunch of stickers that spell out my last name phonetically. [Also] if I just went with Ghislain, it would seem like I was an R&B singer, and I don’t think I’m going to try that any time soon.”
His timing couldn’t be better. The success of Major Lazer and the Bug and the rise of dubstep prove there’s an audience for outsider takes on Caribbean music. But there’s got to be something strange about a French Canadian paying tribute to island culture.
“If you look closely at the history of any kind of music, many different people from many different backgrounds contributed,” Poirier replies. “People forget about all these gay black men making house music in Chicago and think it’s a white European thing. It’s both. Many styles are more about an era than a place or a people.
“I’m a bridge you can cross from both sides, depending on where you’re coming from. The most significant thing I can do is bring soca and dancehall to people who don’t know about it. People who know the music will be happy, too, but I’m best at playing soca for people who have no idea where Trinidad even is.”
Interview Clip
Poirier discusses why he’s decided to stick to DJing instead of playing live.
benjaminb@nowtoronto.com
