It took Charlotte Cardin a summer to breathe life into what would become 99 Nights. After the success of Phoenix, a disc that critics and fans adored, the Montrealer managed to ignore the pressure of a sequel by creating without fear, without pressure, only to exorcise certain sorrows, escape others concerns and take the time to understand each other better.
It was then necessary to give his material a more accomplished form. Once again very well surrounded, she was able to capture in 12 songs, 39 minutes, her desire for a refined, but always captivating pop. A varied pop, but always coherent. A pop that makes you dance, but whose words designate sorrows and reflections that are sometimes heartbreaking, other times redemptive.
Her manager and friend Jason Brando, with whom she has always written, is almost everywhere. The singer-songwriter Lubalin, the musician Mathieu Sénéchal, Aliocha (the spouse of Cardin) and Patrick Watson also helped to put the right words on his ideas and his feelings. Sam Avant, Rob Grimaldi, Jorgen Odegard and DFA are among the international directors she turned to, creating an object that flirts nicely with different styles, from soul to R
Montreal-based rapper Skiifall is the only other artist to be heard on 99 Nights. His drill is a very welcome short addition to Enfer, a bilingual song on which Cardin lets his voice be used as an echo, as if it were coming to us from limbo. It doesn’t take up too much space, the rhythm that the drums beat is on the contrary omnipresent, and it’s perfect like that.
Charlotte Cardin has gained even more confidence in her voice, her main instrument, which allows her to do great things, while not trying to do acrobatics. Often subdued, beautifully nuanced, deliciously suave, her voice can do a lot with what seems like very little effort (but you can imagine how much work and talent it takes). When she is almost whispering, as on Way Back (on which the saxophone is, moreover, a judicious addition), we are enveloped by her sweetness, struck by the variations of emotions she transmits.
This does not mean that we do not witness here and there powerful vocal moments. The intensity does not necessarily come from a note pushed very high, very long, very hard. She proves it to us by always being delicate and powerful at the same time. But when the time comes to do little feats, Charlotte Cardin is also there. The Next To You album finale, one of our favorites, is one of those moments. It doesn’t sing any louder than on the previous 11 songs, but it’s stunningly accurate, while the songwriting and production (by Patrick Watson) elevates the track even further.
The singer took pleasure in writing this album that she made during a summer, during these 99 metaphorical nights where her need to let go, to escape too, made sparks.
To speak of the joy of living, of this feeling of freedom that crosses us when we let go, she compares herself to a puppy who feels the wind on her face as she sticks her head out of a car window (Puppy, part opening). On Looping, the structure of the song exemplifies lyrics that address repetitive thought patterns by making the piece itself iterative.
On Jim Carrey, it is by asking the Canadian-American actor to marry him that Charlotte Cardin addresses her desire to let go of her ego, her desire to be freed from it. The piece is inspired by an interview with the actor where he talked about the need for acceptance and how it makes us cling to our ego. From this reflection and from that which Cardin formulated afterwards was born a pop song as fun as it is meditative.
Le refrain de How High est un bijou pop à lui seul. « I wonder how high you gotta be for you to love me ? /Drunk you gotta be for you to care ? /Tonight you gave me something to remember, although I know you weren’t really there », lance-t-elle sur un rythme de basse et de percussions aussi simple que convaincant.
Because Charlotte Cardin’s work becomes an all the more prodigious experience in concert (that voice, that style, that interpretation!), we can’t wait to discover 99 Nights on stage. Because on recording already, the Montrealer exceeds expectations.
