Alone in control of his career, Bobby Bazini returns with a silkier album than usual. On Pearl, he draws inspiration as much from 1970s folk as from the spirit of bossa nova to create delicate songs always imbued with soul.
Once the pandemic was over, Bobby Bazini took off. Accustomed to living on the road, he was dying to get back on the move and left to give a series of concerts in Europe. “There, I saw the sea and recorded ocean sounds on my phone,” he says.
The gesture was instinctive, we understand. Little did he know yet that his next songs would be inspired by a jewel born in the sea. The idea came to him when he came across a report that told how pearls are formed: an irritant enters an oyster, which protects it by covering it with layers of mother-of-pearl.
“I thought it was a beautiful image, a way to go from negative to positive,” says Bobby Bazini, who admits to having gone through, like many people, dark times during the pandemic.
Pearl’s spirit, for him, is this: to make beautiful with what life puts less beautiful in our way. “It’s not a love song record, this time it’s a more personal journey. His approach also gives birth to his most poetic album.
Bobby Bazini, of which this is the fifth disc, was worn for several years by the multinational Universal. This support allowed him to develop his career well beyond the borders of Quebec and Canada, and to record songs in England and the United States, where he notably collaborated with people like Chris Stapleton, Larry Klein ( Melody Gardot, Joni Mitchell, etc.) and Martin Tenerife (Jason Mraz, Jamie Cullum, etc.).
This chapter of his life is now behind him: Bobby Bazini and Universal have ended their association (by mutual agreement, he assures) and here he is, sole master of his destiny. Which is no stranger to the artistic turn he offers on Pearl. His soul and gospel influences can still be heard, but in an opulent folk environment (flutes, strings, harp) where sometimes a wind of bossa nova (the song Ojalà) blows and of an unprecedented sweetness.
“My old albums sound louder,” agrees the singer and musician. In England, the approach was more in your face. This disc, I wanted it more gently, I found that it stuck well with the themes. […] Before, the voice was more forward, but now I wanted to integrate into the music. I didn’t want to take up more space than the music. I had to learn to exercise restraint. I was calmer, too. »
Connor Seidel played a key role in that transition, he insists. In addition to being his writing partner, the director, also associated with artists like Charlotte Cardin and Half Moon Run, recruited the musicians heard on Pearl: drummer Robbie Kuster (Patrick Watson), Conner Molander (Half Moon Run), Éveline Grégoire-Rousseau (Barr Brothers) and arranger Antoine Gratton, among others.
Bobby Bazini feels at the same time to be more integrated into the local music scene from which he has always felt far from since his association with Universal has rather encouraged him to do business with British or American collaborators.
Those who follow Bobby Bazini will probably be surprised at the sound he puts forward on Pearl. Surprised, but certainly not put off: a bit like Melody Gardot or Madeleine Peyroux, he makes new with old, offering elegant pieces whose air of deja vu is comforting. This revival, he is now eager to carry it on stage.
“It’s going to feel good,” Bobby Bazini thinks. We’ve been doing some songs for about ten years. We are putting on the show and Connor Seidel is going to help us. It’s going to be good to have an outside eye and maybe take the songs to what I’m doing today. »