For years, Geneviève Bilodeau muted the song. Not from lack of momentum, but from call. Involved in the environment for more than twenty years, she put her energy wherever something called her. When ecological and social issues demanded another form of speaking out from her, she turned to writing and documentaries, notably with Québec profound. But after observing the ravages of the era and, at the same time, the beauty of the human impulses that resist, it was to music that she returned.
At 50, Geneviève Bilodeau returned to university to study classical singing and explore her voice in a completely different way. Today, she returns to song with Renndre grace, an album born from this need to go to the heart of the intimate.
Eight songs, between shadow and light The songs of Give thanks go through what we carry and what we keep silent: the invisible heritage of our lineages (Laetitia), the imperfect, tender and essential family that we receive and build (The family), the trap of excusing the inexcusable (He raised his voice), the woman locked in the ideal of the other (The muse), the desire to blend into the other without losing oneself there (I would like), the vulnerability of a budding love when you are no longer twenty (L’Aube), or the power given to those who speak loudly even when they speak hollowly (Tabou les taboos).
The title song, Give thanks, the anchor point: a way of connecting to the small and the big, inside and out, and of remembering where we come from.
“Music, and voice in particular, allows me to vibrate this something in me that I cannot name, a little core, but which seems to contain me and connect me to everything that is alive. » — Geneviève Bilodeau
Credits• Arrangements: Denis Ferland, François Richard and Geneviève Bilodeau• Mixing: Ghyslain-Luc Lavigne• Mastering: Marc Thériault (Le Lab Mastering)• Cover: Mario Mercier, based on watercolors by Isabelle Brouillette• External eye and ear: Flavie Léger-Roy and Gaële• Musicians: Denis Ferland, Blanche Baillargeon, Marc-André Larocque, François Richard, Guillaume Bourque, Simon Bourget, David Carbonneau, Mélanie Bélair, Chantal Bergeron, Ligia Paquin, Sheila Hannigan, Marie-Eve Pelletier, and Gabriel Lesage-Bilodeau.• ISRC: CAU622500008• UPC: 199384338042
A discreet, but coherent journey Actress (Virginie, Mémoires vives, Les moments parfaits), musician (the group Ann Victor, the solo album Youpelaille!, the trio Le Brassières Shop), author of the documentary Québec profound, involved in the environment for more than twenty years – notably with the Fondation Rivières and as godmother of the Festival of Films for the Environment – Geneviève Bilodeau has always followed a free rather than calculated trajectory. Observe, immerse, take part. Giving thanks carries the trace of all this.