Alexandre St-Onge alias Francoise Blanchot

Though probably best known for his work with Montreal avant-psych units Shalabi Effect and Et Sans, Alexandre St-Onge has played an integral role in the city’s constantly fluctuating and highly collaborative experimental underground. Over the years he’s helped unite the city’s Constellation Records post-rockers with the older school Ambiances Magnetiques experimental improvisers, founded the Squint Fucker Press label, released a string of solo albums and has become involved with a wide array of collaborative projects, such as Klaxon Gueule and Undo. His first album under the upfront assumed alias of Francoise Blanchot finds St-Onge moving further into psychedelic realms of post-recording manipulation, where earthy yet alien sounds flow in and out of each other in a hallucinogenic mix that is as pretty and emotional as it is strange and disorienting. L’amitie comes hand-packaged in beautiful peach cardstock with pink string wrapping, and stands as an integral work by one of our country’s most exciting and innovative experimental solo artists. This is easily one of the best avant-garde albums of the year, a fresh breath of breezy life in an often stifling and claustrophobic sect.