Music

Jean-Sebastien Audet thinks outside of the guitar with Un Blonde

by Josiah Hughes

If you’ve paid any attention to the music coming out of Calgary in the past five years, you’ve likely heard of teen wunderkind Jean-Sebastien Audet. He’s been playing in bands longer than he’s had hair on his chest, having lent his talents to projects like Faux Fur, the You Are Minez, Darren Wantz, Zouk Fuck, the Gooeys and many other acts. At 19, he’s already a grizzled indie veteran. Like many busy performers with big dreams, he also hit a wall in western Canada.

“I came to Montreal in August last year,” Audet explains. “I hadn’t planned on leaving Calgary so soon, but the reasons I loved it there so much for so long were starting to escape me and I felt unattached to the music scene.”

A mass exodus of Audet’s peers meant he could “overzealously” catch a ride and start a new life in Quebec, where he had previously lived as a child. Surrounded by familiar faces, his first few months still had their share of struggles. “I lived in a closet under stairs for 85 dollars a month,” he recalls. “It was an offer I couldn’t really refuse. Quite an amazing use of space by the end of my two or so months there — interior design is so important to me and it was the only area that was ‘mine’ at the time.”

Though a tiny closet in Montreal is a far cry from his parents’ spacious basement in the Calgarian suburbs, Audet has found it easy to maintain a busy home recording life. “My recording process is so personal to me that I never feel it changing,” he admits. “I’m always going to be looking to express myself and maximize the potential of my instruments and recording gear. All I know in music is what I don’t want, and I’ve continued to do things alone for the most part.”

Audet’s discography is littered with monikers, from one-off projects to long-running acts. Lately, however, he’s pouring all of his time into Un Blonde, a mostly solo project that sees him exploring weirdo funk and jittery post-punk.

Un Blonde has been immensely fruitful, with Audet releasing material at an alarming rate. The music is simultaneously his most focused and out-there work yet as he pushes himself into new sonic territory.

Following last year’s Tenet, Audet is gearing up to release Water the Next Day, the first in an upcoming trilogy of albums. The release was initially recorded on acoustic guitar, but Audet explains that “it felt forced.” Instead, it was scrapped and rewritten with samples, drum machines and synths, with the songs anchored by his soulful, R&B-leaning vocals.

“I did not intend on having a record without guitar as a main instrument, it was entirely circumstancial,” he explains. That said, he’s certainly not done with the instrument. “The guitar is so powerful, fuck writing off an instrument,” he says. “One needs to reevaluate their idea of what the guitar is before deciding if they’ve done all they can do with it…. There are a thousand reasons for any instrument to be unstimulating, and if one feels that way it’s their own fault.”

Water the Next Day will likely stand as one of Audet’s best releases ever. Simply put, it’s a testament to his confidence as a musician. “I could never be tired of music,” he says. “It’s the only realness. I’ve found myself musically, I know what I want said and how to translate that to my liking with whatever medium. This has nothing to do with theory or technical understanding. Feeling! It’s the only thing I could be here for.”

Closing out our conversation, Audet offers a mission statement of sorts. “Know that I want everything out of music that is possible to take,” he says, adding that he’d like to surpass his status as an Alberta expat living in Montreal. “I want to transcend this scene I’m regarded as part of.”