Karkwa (CA)

Twelve years after the release of their last studio album Les chemins de verre, the iconic Montreal band Karkwa surprises fans with a new single, simultaneously announcing the release of an album on September 8. The quintet—Stéphane Bergeron (drums), Louis-Jean Cormier (guitar and vocals), François Lafontaine (keyboards), Martin Lamontagne (bass), and Julien Sagot (percussion) – marks its return with Parfaite à l’écran.

Formed in 1998, Karkwa explored different sounds before finding its musical identity, which was confirmed in 2005 with the release of their second album, Les tremblements s’immobilisent. Karkwa instantly gained critical and public acclaim, building a reputation as a powerful live band. In 2008, the band reached a new level of recognition with Le volume du vent, an album featuring more orchestral arrangements and irresistibly soaring melodies.

In 2011, Karkwa released Les chemins de verre, their landmark work, which won the prestigious Polaris Music Prize for Canada’s best album of the year, becoming the first – and so far only – entirely French-language album to receive this honor. In 2012, the band released a live album and then took a break, with each member pursuing personal projects.

Fourteen years of shaping the Quebec music scene left a lasting impact: numerous awards, including around ten Félix Awards (the Quebec equivalent of France’s Victoires de la Musique), several hundred concerts – including Canadian and North American tours—and numerous European visits. The year 2023 finally marks Karkwa’s reunion, for a forthcoming album at the end of summer and a limited series of tour dates.