Talent, dedication and friendship are what make Montreal’s Human Human a band to look out for in 2013. With their eponymous EP released just a month ago and an appearance at this year’s M for Montreal festival, Human Human wowed the city with a sound reminiscent of ‘80s pop.
Full of promise and talent, Human Human, which is comprised of lead singer and songwriter Félix Roy, drummer Olivier Larouche, bassist Maxime St-Jean and guitarist and keyboardist Louis Lupien, have been playing together since their early teens when they were just high school students in St-Bruno.
“We’ve been rehearsing in Lupien’s parents’ basement for a long time,” said Larouche. “For a couple of years we were just playing for fun.” The band’s earliest performances included Battle of the Bands and high school awards ceremonies.
Now in their early 20s, the quartet ditched their old name GIRL when they recorded their EP last winter. The band agreed that the name change was necessary.
“We ended up with an album that was totally different: the sound, the feeling, the concept,” said Roy.
Influenced by some of the most infamous acts of all time, including The Cure, The Smiths and Coldplay, Human Human feels that their sound is true to the organic indie-pop sounds that shaped their youth.
“Our album talks a lot about our youth,” said Roy. “Like when we were young and going to high school. Just four really close friends, playing around.”
Though the band writes their music together, Roy writes the lyrics. When asked about songwriting, Larouche said: “Our songwriting process is really natural, we jam from hard rock to jazz, we just have fun.” Eventually, the songs come together to fit their vision.
“I would love to be poetic,” said Roy. “But our lyrics are very grounded. Morrissey has always influenced me. When you read his lyrics, it’s poetic but grounded at the same time, you can understand what he means.”
Despite being francophone, the band doesn’t have any worries about singing in English. “It wasn’t a choice to sing in English,” said Larouche. “It just came out that way. We always listened to Brit and American bands.” Roy added, “We tried singing in French but it just didn’t work with our sound.”
Though they’ve played in Montreal since they were teenagers, the band still feels like they don’t fit into the city’s music scene. “We don’t fit into the indie-hipster crew of Montreal,” said Larouche. “It’s hard to fit somewhere, but we have a really nice following of fans in Montreal.”
Human Human revealed that their full-length album, produced by Jace Lasek, who worked with Patrick Watson and Wolf Parade, should be released next fall.
Visit Human Human’s Bandcamp to download their latest EP and like them on Facebook for info on upcoming shows.
