Les Trois Accords - J'aime ta grand-mère (2012) (7/10)

Even fifteen years after their foundation, LES TROIS ACCORDS are still one of the most famous Rock bands in Quebec thanks to their very humorous lyrics. Topics such as madness in society, romantic relationships to old people and suffering hobby athletes that are jealous of weighty young children that don’t do sports can be found on their new disc that is humorously entitled “J’aime ta grand-mère”. The problem is that a couple of jokes get a little bit inoffensive, old and used and don’t work as well as one the last records. The only songs that really made me laugh are the ridiculous and catchy “Exercice” and “Je me touche dans le parc”. As great tracks, I might also cite the few up tempo tracks such as the addicting single “Bamboula” as well as the musically a little bit more courageous “C’était magique (Nuit de la poésie II)” which is a follow-up of a song from the diversified predecessor “Dans mon corps”. On the other side, at least half of the songs on the record vary somewhere in the no man’s land between sad mediocrity and a solid average quality.

Musically, the band adds a strong touch of the sixties and seventies rock music to their sound without ignoring their usual influences. The final result sounds like a mixture of JOHNNY CASH, THE BEATLES, LUDWIG VON 88, WEEZER and FRANZ FERDINAND. From tracks with little danceable brass sections over laid back Folk Pop sounds to energizing Post-Punk moments, the band probably varies more than ever before but clearly gets more and more away from its Alternative Rock and Fun Punk roots. Even the obvious Country influences that have been very present on the first three records have almost completely vanished apart of the duet with the province’s Country Queen RENÉE MARTEL. The only thing that relates this new release to the first steps of the band is the humorous lyrics after all but this should be enough for the fans to appreciate this record.

On the other side, the albums of the band seem to get shorter and shorter. It’s incredible that it took them three years to record and release an album with only ten tracks and a running time of only thirty-three minutes. This here is definitely not value for money and I would therefore only recommend this album to faithful fans that have somewhat grown up with these guys and known them for quite a while as in my case. It’s definitely an entertaining half hour of music and another solid piece of Quebec’s contemporary musical culture but far from being convincing.  

(Online November 19, 2012)