Erik Mongrain
Fates

The acoustic guitar: what an incredible instrument.

It can give voice to dreams, nightmares, or evocative, dreamy, surreal melodies...

The descriptor and poet of this world made of idyllic airs is a Canadian talent known as Erik Mongrain. This young French-speaking artist is the artistic son of the late and brilliant Michael Hedges, but also of the great Don Ross, and a whole host of acoustic guitarists who create music using only six, poor yet rich, strings.

Young Erik has been promoting himself for some time, which soon makes him famous and somewhat of a legend: he gains considerable publicity with the help of YouTube, and soon television networks seek him out. He composes and also plays some songs for a Canadian artist, Linda Lemay, and then, this June, he releases a small musical diadem, named “Fates.” He is first noticed for his very flashy and almost theatrical technique, which could distract from the boy's true musical capabilities. A kind of tapping, which he self-describes as “lap tap,” with the guitar placed horizontally on his legs to create, with the clever use of delay, some unique and unrepeatable soundscapes.

If the first track “PercusienFa” may already be famous, the same cannot be said for “Fates,” the title track. The track opening the album is very famous because it has been admired on YouTube for some time. A little taste of what the album offers: acoustic guitar pushed to artistic and at times theatrical and circus-like excesses, but without forgetting a strong dose of emotion that shines through the many harmonics and chords that the guitar offers. “Fates,” on the other hand, is a more classic track, haunted by slight melancholy and a fascinatingly monotonous and enthralling harmonic progression. A piece that leaves in the mind desolation but admiration and love for such gentle music. “La derniere pluie” continues this journey just embarked upon. A melodic but overwhelming track, with tones at times frenetic, at times reflective. And immediately comes “Fusions,” a very famous track already present on some emerging artists' compilations. A track that I would define as divine. It is characterized by a less virtuous and more rhythmic aspect, where the chords move sinuously in a hidden but sublime melody, trying to explode in a growing emotional climax, before calm and then, in a new musical explosion.

“Géométrie d'une erreur” represents one of the peaks of the album. For those who thought that such skill was already over, this piece gifts us with an ethereal atmosphere. How much melancholy and sadness this track gives, colored in gray and blue, there is no light but tears in a piece that brings the mind to the silence of the senses. “Mais Quand?” continues this atmosphere of hidden light, filtering through a dark atmosphere dense with melody choked by a sob of crying. In this track emerges the great mastery of the instrument, both of the fingers that possess a great fingerpicking and of the elaborate rhythmic textures thanks to a skillful use of percussion directly on the guitar body. We continue to cry quietly, as the music travels powerfully in my ears, before the famous “Air Tap” brings a breath of “air” and joy. The harmonics of the guitar create the figures of blue skies enriched with white clouds. The track flows lightly and with the wings of a cheerful and carefree melody, without stopping and placing itself in the center of the mind. It continues to hammer with its rhythmic and melodic nature, so ethereal in its unfolding, so technical but so sentimental in an unparalleled emotional crescendo.

“Confusion#8” brings my mind to more human and less dreamy territories, being such a simple and impactful piece, while remaining very carefree and cheerful, refocusing the musical aspect on more rhythmic and less virtuous adjustments at least to the eye, for the pace suggests a rhythm, but the technical difficulty of uniting rhythm and “notes” combined with rhythmic tapping sequences is truly unique. “Interpretations” makes the eyes glossy again. We are facing another instrumental gem, full of emotional pathos and again characterized by a melancholic monotony, a sort of musical anaphora that supports the heartbreaking melody, changing to give us a second part of the track dense with romance and love, then falling into a sublime oblivion, from which the suffering is freed by “I am not,” a worthy epilogue to a monumental album, considering this is just a debut. The last track offers shivers of infinite beauty, while a brief section of strings enriches the already so impalpable atmosphere, such is the incredible suggestion of facing a musical Eden.

For those who truly love intense emotions in music, for those who simply love the acoustic guitar and its incredible technical and expressive variations, Erik Mongrain will seem a genius coming from who knows what paradise, where music becomes alive, becomes a dream, and makes us dream.