Rural roots inspire indie-pop musician

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This article was published 17/04/2019 (2393 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The first voice that can be heard on Ponteix’s new album is that of his 12-year-old cousin reciting a poem about Saskatchewan in French, one of a few decades-old recordings made by his grandmother he rediscovered while creating the record.

Ponteix is the project of francophone indie-pop multi-instrumentalist Mario Lepage, who turned to his roots, in both a familial and geographical sense, for the inspiration for his debut full-length, Bastion. Lepage grew up (and is still based) in St. Denis, Sask., a small French community about 40 kilometres east of Saskatoon. It was there he wrote the majority of the album, using his town as a symbol for everything he wants to be as an artist and pulling moments from recordings as a way to link his past with his present.

“I made myself the promise that I would make a record in St. Denis, not knowing what that would sound like or manifest as, and as time progressed I discovered that I had a strong connection to this rural area and particularly the space that it holds and the history that it holds,” says Lepage, 26.

“And as the songs progressed and it came towards the end, I discovered that it was very much an album that was sort of homage to that land. It has a lot of meaning in that sense, and the album is called Bastion, which is a symbol of resilience and this town is very much a symbol of resilience that has made me who I am.”

Lepage also composed a sonic landscape for the 11 tracks on Bastion that mirrors the physical area of his hometown: sprawling, bright and fresh, but with a strong, intricate foundation.

“Musically, it has a lot of space in it and it has a lot of expansiveness to it, so that is very much inspired by where I’m from; if I would have written it in Montreal, I don’t think it would have sounded the same. It was very much a product of the place that I was at the time.”

Lyrically, Lepage — who also co-produced Franco-Manitoban pop songstress Rayannah’s new album, Nos repaires, released in March — turns inward, focusing his writing on what it means to be human. He sings about making mistakes and how to turn them into positive experiences; he sings about mental health; he sings about the importance of authenticity and staying true to yourself, even when your surroundings may push you in another direction.

“There’s a will to live in all of my songs, lyrically,” Lepage says. “It’s very introspective and questions a lot what it means to be a human being, and how you can be a better human being.”

erin.lebar@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @NireRabel