Born in Ottawa in 1988 and raised between the province of Quebec, Washington D.C. and Paris, Myriam Gendron settled in Montreal at the age of sixteen, where she currently makes her living as a book dealer.
In 2014, she released Not So Deep As A Well, a nine-track album made from poems by Dorothy Parker that she set to music. The critically-acclaimed record, released by Feeding Tube Records and Mama Bird Recording Co., was picked for many best-of-the-year lists. Richard Meltzer wrote that Not So Deep As A Well, “is the hottest—and FINEST!—Impossible Love collection in, I dunno, 30 years.”
Seven years later, in 2021, Myriam Gendron released Ma délire — Songs of love, lost & found, a very modern exploration of North American folk tales and traditional melodies. The bilingual double album of 75 minutes, released on October 1st 2021 by Feeding Tube Records and Les Albums Claus, is very well received by local and international musical critique. Myriam Gendron is part of the series CC No. 2 – Craving Coincidence, curated by by Thalia Zedek.
FACTS
1. I’m not too crazy about the idea of listing 3 facts.
2. Even less crazy about stating a second one.
3. Getting to the third was really exhausting.
QUESTIONS
1. What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
It is hard to give a short and simple answer to this question. I guess many elements of life feed music in the most surprising ways but certainly
both the melodies I heard and love and the books I read somehow inspire my songs. I guess the life you live inspires the songs you write.
2. How and when did you get into making music?
I have been playing music since my early teenage years but I’d say that the actual creation of the songs on my first album came nearly by accident. I fell upon a collection of poems by Dorothy Parker called “Not So Deep As A Well” and I heard music in my head as I was reading them. Encouraged by people around me I turned these into songs that eventually became my first album, “Not So Deep As A Well” (2014). And then I realized I could write music that meant something to other people.
3. What are 5 of your favourite albums of all time?
– Robbie Basho : Visions of the Country
– PJ Harvey : The Peel Sessions
– Van Morrison : Astral Weeks
– Nick Castell : The Water Margin
– Leonard Cohen : Any album
4. What do you associate with Berlin?
Drinking beer in the subway.
5. What’s your favourite place in your town?
My house.
6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
Try to find another world.
7. What was the last record/music you bought?
Golden Loam by Laurel Premo & Archives by Cedric Dind-Lavoie
8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Artists that I get along with but who play music that is very different from mine.
9. What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
Opening for Michael Hurley / Watching Michael’s performance on that same gig.
10. How important is technology to your creative process?
Not essential but fun to explore. Way more important in the recording or performing process.
11. Do you have siblings and how do they feel about your career/art?
My sisters are great.
