Less than a month after the release of the dazzling single Rock Band, LUMIÈRE is back with Liszt-o-mania, a song at the crossroads of folk and rock music inspired by a late-night adventure in Paris. He also takes this opportunity to announce the release of GLAM, his sophomore album to be released on April 28th via Bonsound and available for pre-order on vinyl, CD and digital formats now. Featuring an irresistibly melodic keyboard line, this new song aptly sets the tone for his new album.
In the winter of 2022, Étienne Côté (aka LUMIÈRE) was in Paris to work on new material. After attending a concert at the prestigious Philharmonie de Paris, he went to the bar across the street. Once there, his glance met that of a young man, setting the stage for the dilemma that LUMIÈRE describes in this song: should one follow their intuition and go towards the other or stay in one’s corner, hoping that everything will happen without having to initiate anything?
A nod to Ken Russell’s iconic film of the same name, in which Roger Daltrey (of The Who) played the most over-the-top of classical composers (Franz Liszt), Liszt-o-mania evokes the duality between two diametrically opposed worlds: rock and classical music. On one side, irreverence; on the other, conformity. But just as Liszt embodied it, these two worlds may have more in common than one might think…
It’s with spectacle, exaggeration and excess that LUMIÈRE presents himself on GLAM. After singing his desire for emancipation on his first album A.M.I.E.S.A.M.O.U.R., Étienne leaves the countryside to perform in the city with the ambition to conquer the world. GLAM tells the story of an artist who is both lucid and idealistic, aware of the pitfalls of show-business. Behind this glamorous facade, a more introspective side of LUMIÈRE is revealed, one which opens up about his fears and doubts with candor. Once the spotlight is gone, the singer returns home with his shyness, anxiety and an unfulfilled desire to fill a void.
Further pushing the musical blend of its predecessor, GLAM presents a new, more assertive, exuberant and glamorous LUMIÈRE. The album recaptures the codes of the lush music of the 1970s, while returning to the raw energy of the 1960s, an era marked by the popularity of folk, psychedelic rock and chanson française. By looking back to this era, LUMIÈRE offers a multidimensional synthesis of the musical genres that have shaped contemporary pop.
This new album follows an eventful 2022 for LUMIÈRE, who performed in France on several occasions as the opening act for Pierre Lapointe as well as for French pop star Clara Luciani. In Quebec, he brought his project to the stages of several festivals, including Les Francos de Montréal, La Noce, Coup de Coeur Francophone and M for Montreal. He also celebrated the first anniversary of A.M.I.E.S.A.M.O.U.R with a show directed by Solène Paré at La Tulipe.
About LUMIÈRE
LUMIÈRE is the free embodiment of musical enlightenment shaped by rock music. Spectacular yet sensitive, his sound transcends trends and brilliantly masters the essence of nostalgia. But beyond the music, LUMIÈRE is the character and solo project of Étienne Côté (Canailles, Bon Enfant). As he dons the colourful and sparkling clothes of his alter ego, the singer and multi-instrumentalist express with grandiosity his love for pop and rock music of the 1960s and 1970s, two key decades that shaped and defined the music of our time.
