With a universe and a language anchored in today’s Montreal, Miro Chino offers with Bons Times Bad Times a contemporary first album that mixes hip-hop with a host of other influences. Four-point portrait of an intelligent and ambitious newcomer.
When Miro Chino is asked to describe himself, his first instinct is to say that he was born and raised in Montreal. “It’s really part of my identity,” says the 23-year-old who has moved many times in his life. “Always being on the fly, meeting people from different backgrounds, that’s part of me. » Music entered his life when he was in high school, and he quickly understood that it could allow him to express himself while channeling his energies. After dabbling in heavy rock, folk ballads and singing in English, he turned to hip-hop in French… for now. “This is my current phase,” says the man who describes himself not as a rapper, but as an artist. “Rap is a culture that I admire and consume, but I don’t feel like I belong to it. I borrow elements, like I borrow from jazz. » Miro Chino was a finalist at the Granby International Song Festival in 2022, and this is where his character, which has existed for two years, crystallized. But who is Miro Chino? “He’s not a fictional character. It’s like I’m taking my own life and magnifying it a little. On stage and in the album, I allow myself to go to the extremes of my personality. »
There is programming and beats on Bons Times Bad Times, but also real instruments on all the pieces: guitar, bass and drums, brass, strings… “It’s always been in my plans to make an orchestral rap album, with instrumentation. » Director Philippe Brault, who has worked in pop music as well as in theater and cinema, allowed him to realize what he had in mind. “There are songs that I programmed beats for, but it lacked depth. Philippe composed string quartet parts over the top. I dreamed of that, that someone would put film music on my songs. » Miro Chino is an autodidact in music who understood when making the album that the important thing was to surround yourself with the right people. Most of its musicians have training in jazz from Cégep de Saint-Laurent. He is very proud of having recruited them himself – “they are all people I met organically” – and of having been able to transmit his vision to them. What was it? “I listen to everything in my life, and I wanted to put it all on. The exercise was to say: “OK, how can we concentrate all these influences and make a coherent whole, have my color? » »
We can focus on the anglicisms and expressions that young people use among themselves, but Miro Chino’s texts are also full of games with language and references, they have rhythm and punch. “I wrote before I made music. For me, 50% of it is the words. » It is because he wants to give an authentic account of the world around him that he chose this language: it is the one he uses every day, in the Montreal he knows. And he chose French precisely to be as close as possible to what he is. “Every word I say is sincere. In English, I tended to write more imaginary things. » The chosen language is in tune with the subject, since Good Times Bad Times is a personal diary which takes him back to a period of his life “which goes from pre-pandemic to the pandemic”, during which he was sometimes depressed and where he consumed a lot. “There, I’m not all in there anymore! But each song is linked to a memory. » Good or bad memories? ” Both. That’s why the album is called Bons Times Bad Times! I notice that good times and bad times go hand in hand. I would have missed the learning that comes with bad experiences. »
Now that the album is out, Miro Chino is thinking first about the shows, especially its launch which will take place on October 25th. “It’s pretty much my event of the year. Otherwise, in the medium term, I have already started writing the second album. » He will also work on his voice – his very low register, which is his signature, is also a hindrance. “The reality is… I’ve always had trouble singing! he said smiling. But if I want to explore other styles of music, if I want to go more melodious, I’m going to have to learn to go higher. » He has no intention of sticking to just one musical genre, just as he would like to broaden his artistic horizons. “I love music, but many other things fascinate me, fashion, visual arts, cinema. In the long term, my big project would be to write a musical. »
