Once again I am back in Montreal for festival and music industry conference M for Montreal. I think this is my 12th visit to the festival (!) which features mostly rising artists who have been deemed by the M curators as export-ready. The 2024 edition kicked off Wednesday night with an Official Selection showcase at Les Foufounes Électriques, a legendary rock club where Nirvana played their first Montreal show. This showcase featured nothing you could call punk, or even grunge, but it did have some very good sets. The night started off with Indigenous artist Soleil Launière, whose set was quietly intense, more than a little theatrical, and incorporated her work as a body artist.
M for Montreal likes venues with two rooms so there’s little downtime between acts, so we shuffled across to the smaller stage for Unessential Oils, the new project from Warren Spicer of Plants and Animals. Backed by a band of Montreal indie stalwarts (including a terrific sax player), they played a low-key but virtuosic set of jazzy indie rock that was described by the MC’s introduction as “tropical” but to me just fell on the “groovy” side of things. Unessential Oils released their self-titled debut album earlier this year and you can listen to that below.
Next up was Vancouver sibling duo Vox Rea, who I’d seen at NYC’s New Colossus festival back in March. Kate and Lauren Kurdyak make folky, windswept pop and I was glad their short set included their terrific single “Julia.” They were backed by members of Fleece, and Lauren noted that they were only given a day to learn the parts. They did great.
Fleece, who had a viral hit with their “How to Write an Alt-J Song” video nearly a decade ago, played their own set as well. They now make breezy pop that is Yacht Rock-adjacent (Nicolette Larson’s hit 1978 cover of Neil Young’s “Lotta Love” came to mind while watching their set.) Closing out Foufounes’ main stage lineup was KROY, aka Camille Poliquin of Milk & Bone, whose brand of lush synthpop was a perfect backing for her powerful vocals.
My favorite set of the night was by Montreal duo Grand Eugène, who make synthy Francophone indiepop that should appeal to fans of Stereolab or Juniore. Singer Melyssa Lemieux is a very charming, energetic frontperson and their songs are terrific — check out this year’s Les vacances d’été EP below — and while I appreciate the tight 20 minute sets at these Official Selection shows, I wanted to hear more from Grand Eugène.
The smaller stage finished with Jane Penny, who is no stranger to M for Montreal. I think the first year I attended the festival she played with her group Silly Kissers who would soon turn into TOPS, a band with an established international fanbase (they’re playing Coachella 2025). Having released her debut solo EP earlier this year, Jane played a short set comprised mostly of that and was backed by a pedal steel player who brought a lot of atmosphere to the songs. She also played flute on one track, and I spotted some of her TOPS bandmates in the crowd.
There were a number of late night shows after the Official Selection showcase but after a day of travel I decided to call it a night and save up for the next three days of M. Check out a few iPhone photos from Wednesday night below and stay tuned for more festival coverage.
