Malajube are a four piece french/canadian indie-rock group hailing from Montreal who have been slowly building buzz in the U.S. for their instrumental interludes and stylistic mash-ups. They already have a large following in the UK after 2006's multi award-winning album Trompe-l'Oeil and despite commercial pressure they continue to make music only in their native French.
The band shifts between psychedelic rock, indie-pop and 80s synth creating an eclectic mix of beautiful tracks that make Labyrinthes an album that easily transcends the language barrier. This is an album full of addicting guitar tone and swirling keyboards that will easily pull the listener in. The music, according to the band's keyboardist Thomas Augustin, "talks to people".
A good indicator of where this album is going to take you is the opening track "Ursuline," a six-minute epic full of all the quiet piano and experimental guitar riffs the rest of the album will soon throw at you. Vocalist Julien Mineau uses his melodic voice and addicting guitar tone to great effect creating an incredibly enjoyable sound, even if you don't know exactly what he's singing about.
As you will soon discover keyboards and pianos are an important part to Malajubes' sound, humming in the background of tracks like "Porte Disparu" and "Luna," giving their sound a hint of ELO at times. While most of the album is very mellow, songs such as "Casablance" and "333" ramp things up a bit giving the album a good balanced feel.
According the frontman Julien Mineau the album is knotted with a "ribbon of religious imagery" which explores the continuing cultural presence of Catholicism in Quebec. The province of Quebec is about 83% Catholic and Malajube do not seem to be big fans of organized religion. "You rent and sell your soul / because you want to live forever", translated from the hard hitting "333", "I know that one day / I'll be eaten by bugs". Not that you need to know the meaning to enjoy this great album, but it adds another dimension to the music and for me helps understand these four musicians a little better. To be sure this is a band I will be following for some time to come.
Bonus: The video that launched Malajube into indie-rock stardom in 2006. "Montreal -40°C".
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