Zoe Sanders takes the stage and breaks the ice
Zoe Sanders
Zoe Sanders launched her first full-length album,Woman or Fantasy, on Wednesday evening.It’s “to the good franquette”, she said, that she received her fansin the cozy atmosphere of O Patro Vys, in Le Plateau. For the first time, the thirties took the stage to present her music, summery and mature.
Inspired by the poetry of Carla Bruni, the themes explored by Zoe Sanders revolve around the mediatization of the self by technology, the identity of women and “the lies we tell ourselves- even”. The arrangements were painstakingly constructed in collaboration with Jay Lavigne in the studio.
The tone and arrangements of Woman or Fantasyrecall those of the late Thérapie Taxi, a French pop group playing with nostalgia, sensuality and violence. However, it is the great divas that inspire the musician. Dalida, Barbara, Amy Winehouse, Madonna, but also Nelly Furtado and No Doubt influence the artist in the spirit and sounds of his “big dancing pop”.
This second opus, launched a week ago, is his first work in the language of Molière. In 2020, she released Viral Education, an eight-track English microalbum.
She was working as an early childhood educator at the time, wearing “two braids and a Ninja Turtles t-shirt” by day, and sequined dresses by night.
I felt like Miley Stewart changing into Hannah Montana or Clark Kent changing into Superman.
Zoe Sanders
Having given up her job in a childcare center to focus on music, it’s Hannah Montana version Zoe Sanders who took to the stage at O Patro Vys, in an intimate atmosphere.
A great potential
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Uncertain on stage, the singer-songwriter made up for her lack of experience in front of a crowd with a touching warmth and a contagious joie de vivre. The eclectic audience danced timidly as she sang her mature lyrics, set to densely produced music.
It’s Guillaume Guilbault who accompanied her on stage, behind a “spaceship of synthesizers”. Outside the keyboard enclosure, Zoe Sanders was taming her space, learning to master the stage. The presentation of the project, which certainly has potential, remains to be worked on. A more rehearsed staging will come with practice.
Without devoting too much time to talking about the pandemic period, which was too “creepy”, the singer says she spent hours killing her boredom by singing and dancing “in outing outfits on Beyoncé”. It’s this energy, “this state of mind” that she wanted to convey in Woman or Fantasy.
“Now, at every opportunity to go out, I’y go for everything, everything, everything. I want to make music that brings people together and makes them dance. I just want it to be fun,” said the Montrealer.
Growing up on Le Plateau, Zoe Sanders says she loves Montreal, her “favorite city”. She loves the raging energy of her inhabitants as the snow melts and people come out of hibernation to rush to the parks. She dares to hope that this is the energy that her album will inspire in listeners.
