Quentin Sauvé: Two Extremes of Human Existence

Photo Credit : Flo Forks

Update: The new single “Love is Home” will be out on January 18th with a video.

Put down whatever it is you’re doing to watch this achingly beautiful video from French artist Quentin Sauvé. It’s a story about love, companionship and the passage of time, set to the music of “Dead End,” a melancholy yet stunning song from his debut indie folk album, Whatever It Takes, due out February 1.

This is a quiet and fragile side of Mr. Sauvé, full of vulnerability, self-examination, and at times, despair. These are the sort of thoughts one has when one is alone. It’s all too human.

I’m a recluse, don’t wanna go out
I’m on the edge and it freaks me out
Surrounded by water, I’ll surrender
I wallow in loneliness, I swallow my distress

How can I ever go the distance?
With no peace, no sleep, no silence?

It’s a dead end, I can’t go out
It’s a dead end and if freaks me out

The upcoming album features gorgeous shimmering guitars, ethereal synthesizers and soft yet powerful vocals that reach out over a wide tonal range. This is a very personal collection of songs — extremely intimate and quite haunting. It is as though the artist has allowed us into his head to bear witness to his memories, regrets, longings and innermost thoughts. It feels like a sacred place. This is the perfect musical collection to envelop oneself in on a rainy Saturday or a lazy Sunday morning with a cup of herbal tea.

But Quentin Sauvé has another side that’s a bit different from this one.

As bassist and vocalist in experimental post-hardcore punk/metal trio Birds in Row, Sauvé has sought to channel inner demons in an angrier and noisier way. In bands since before he was a teenager (As We Draw, The Brutal Deceiver, Birds in Row), Sauvé is not yet 30 and has already toured the world and pursued activist passions.

All songs on Whatever It Takes were written, composed and performed by Quentin Sauvé. Quentin’s brother Amaury Sauvé recorded and mixed the album at The Apiary Studio in Laval, France last winter. It was mastered by Thibault Chaumont at Deviant Lab in Poitiers, France. Artwork is by Romain Barbot.

The new solo album will be available on vinyl, cd, DL and K7 (I guess this is another kind of format?), co-produced by the following labels: Ideal Crash (France), I Corrupt (Germany), Skeletal Lightning (US) and Ugly & Proud (Bulgaria).

If you’d like to see and hear Quentin up close and personal, he’ll be touring the U.K. and Europe in 2019. Hopefully U.S. dates are not far behind.

Meanwhile, Birds in Row’s latest album is available on Bandcamp, digitally or in limited edition vinyl, or from various other places. It’s called We Already Lost The World. Though I try my best to remain optimistic, I fear they may be right.

Quentin Sauvé: facebook | instagram | bandcamp | soundcloud | youtube