The Montreal indie folk-rock band will be releasing their EP Part One on Feb. 3
Deep Rivers, a brand new Montreal indie band, will be performing their first EP, Part One, at La Vitrola on Feb. 2 at 8 p.m. The band will officially be releasing their EP on Bandcamp on Feb. 3. Deep Rivers’ sound can be described as indie folk-rock with a twist, as they combine the intimacy of folk music with the high energy of indie rock.
The band’s lineup consists of André Pelletier on guitar and lead vocals, Stéphane Lemieux on drums, Blaise Borboën-Léonard on violin, viola and synths, and Cédric Martel on bass and backing vocals. Originally, these bandmates played together in a different band called Hôtel Morphée, along with lead singer, Laurence Nerbonne, who sang and wrote songs in French. It was in 2015 that they decided to leave that band behind in search of new beginnings. Pelletier decided to take on the role of lead singer for his new group.“After Hôtel Morphée ended, I kept on writing songs as I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try something new,” Pelletier said. “I practiced with Stephan and we started playing some shows. It was fun and it went well, and that was when we decided to give it a name.”
The name, Deep Rivers, has a personal connotation for Pelletier. “Our band’s name comes from a small town in Ontario called Deep River where I spent most of my time writing songs,” he said. Part One is a personal album for Pelletier. “I was going through a lot of changes in life when writing these songs,” Pelletier said. “The lyrics and emotions of the album are about getting older, about dreams that fall flat and expectations that are broken.That’s pretty much the words expressed through it.” According to Pelletier, Bob Dylan and Buddy Holly were some of the band’s musical influences. Their EP’s cover photo is a picturesque, mysterious image of a tiny island surrounded by water. Nicolas Dufour Laperrière, a graphic artist and friend of the band, designed it.
Feb. 2 will be the first time Deep Rivers performs their new album live in their home city. It will be a free show.“I have to say, the song we are most excited to play is ‘In the City.’ We have a lot of fun performing this song live,” said Pelletier. According to Pelletier and Lemieux, the band is hyped for this show. “There is just something about performing live and letting go of everything—it’s freedom,” said Pelletier. “Playing live is all about making good mistakes,” said Lemieux. While Part One only has four tracks, the band is thinking about releasing more songs in the near future. “We like the idea of putting new music out there,” Pelletier said. “We are all big fans of the LP format and would want to explore that eventually.”
Deep Rivers will be playing at the the Caribü Festival in Longueuil on Feb. 19 and at Le Verre Bouteille bar on Mont-Royal on March 19. For now, they are more than eager to launch their new album. “It’s going to be a lot of energy, a lot of passion on stage and a lot of brotherly love,” said Pelletier.
