by Myles Tiessen (@myles_tiessen)
Let’s get one thing straight. La Sécurité is not a supergroup. The rag-tag quintet comes from a small yet infinitely fruitful Montréal rock scene where collaboration is not only common but necessary for musical survival. When enough creative people are in a small enough environment, the kinetic energy is bound to erupt into something wickedly powerful that blends artistic impulses and free-form experimentation into something truly exceptional. This time, it’s the wonderfully electrifying art-punk troupe La Sécurité.
Composed of members from various projects across the city–including Choses Sauvages, Laurence-Anne, Silver Dapple, DATES, and Pressure Pin – La Sécurité uses the distinct yet deeply intertwined talents of its members in a fresh, highly energetic way.
Their elastic debut LP Stay Safe! fucking rules and packs a whole lot of dynamic musical range into just ten killer tracks. Band members put themselves in new roles, play new instruments and make themselves vulnerable to all the anxieties and tribulations of fresh ventures. But, because of their diverse talents and experiences, they do it with effortless tranquility and gilded dexterity.
Photo Credit: Aabid Youssef
“[A supergroup] is nothing. It’s bullshit.” dismisses Félix Bélisle, who fronts the Montréal alt-rock group Choses Sauvages and plays bass in La Sécurité. “I don’t think there is such a thing as a supergroup in Montréal.”
That sort of brash assertion fits into the band’s spontaneous impulses and desire to be free of classification, which inevitably translates to the music. Stay Safe! takes obvious inspiration from new-wave and art-punk, dabbles with krautrock and post-punk, and occasionally flirts with egg-punk. Every track is a new direction, but it never sounds chaotic or disorganized; equally gritty and dazzlingly clear. With its groovy, riff-riddled danceability, Stay Safe! settles somewhere between the B-52s and Sweeping Promises, who also share a similar DIY art-punk ethos of balancing fun with ferocity.
La Sécurité started innocently enough. Éliane Viens-Synnott and Bélisle were in their apartment during the COVID-19 lockdown and were looking to try out new instruments and sounds just to see what would happen. “We kind of wanted to mix our influences together in our own way of playing and jamming,” says Viens-Synnott, a proud Albertan who transplanted to Montréal at a young age.
Viens-Synnott says, “All my bands before have been punk projects, and I’ve mostly drummed while on stage, but I’ve never been a front person in a band.” She says she usually listens to a lot of women-fronted art-punk and post-punk groups and always thought it would be fun to lead a band in that style, so starting La Sécurité was always bound to happen, it was just a matter of time.
Viens-Synnott and Bélisle started roping in different friends who they thought could add a little extra flair to the tracks. Melissa Di Menna joined in on guitar and vocals, adding soaring melodies and showstopping refrains. Laurence-Anne also plays guitar, contributing dynamic textures and style, and the young pup, Kenny Smith – who Bélisle says has no limits to his technical ability – joined in on drums.
The band’s collaborative and impulsive inclination is felt all over the album, but a particular standout is the melodic synth-pop power ballad “K9,” written and sung by Di Menna. “[Melissa] and I both have this love for slow dances,” says Viens-Synnott. “Felix said it would be nice to have something slow or one little break in the album, and I’d had the ‘K9’ synth melody stuck in my head ever since Melissa showed it to me, so we put it on the record. We had lots of fun in the studio with that one.”
La Sécurité is a bilingual band, singing in both French and English. “That muscle for writing in English, for me, is a lot more developed than writing in French, even though French is my first language,” says Viens- Synnott. She describes how growing up as a child in Edmonton, with Francophone parents molded her brain in strange ways where now she journals in English but counts in French or speaks fluent French but has no accent when speaking English. “It’s how my brain is. I think that’s just how it is when you learn two languages as a kid.”
“When we met up with [our label] Mothland, they were like, ‘You don’t need to choose a [language]. It’s actually cool that you have a bit of both’... It’s also very Canadian to have both,” Viens-Synnott says with a laugh.
The blending of languages on Stay Safe! also comes across as radically disruptive within the context of the female-led band. Tackling issues of self-actualization, feminism, and friendship without compromising their language or culture feels authentic and powerfully non-conformist within an industry that often forces the acquiescence of ideas, sounds, and aesthetics. The use of language may have been wholly intentional but carries with it natural significance.
The track “Hot Topic” is a personal song to Viens-Synnott – who has a background in dance – that was directly inspired and written while choreographing a dance for a video project. “The dance piece was filmed in a bar during a pandemic, and it’s about five women dressing how they wanted, taking up the space, and imposing their presence without a care,” she says.
“Hot Topic” begins with a striking rhythm section and the off-kilter drums battling it out with the quickly looping bass line. “Why do you think I came here tonight?/ I don’t want your opinion/ I will take the space that I need to move around as I please/ What did you expect/ I am not your pet,” sings Viens-Synnott on the shadowy post-punk track. “Hot Topic” has a unique genesis that channels the Riot Grrrl spirit and creativity. Bélisle says there is an overarching feminist theme to the album, but other than a few songs, it’s never overindulged. “It’s the bones that make the broth,” he says.
“Serpent” is about overwhelming friendships, “Waiting for Kenny” is quite literally just a song the band wrote when Smith didn’t show up for the band practice, but more generally, Viens-Synnott says the album is about “being nice to each other and listening to what another person needs.” “And stay safe,” chimes Bélisle with a grin.