Saint-Jack (the ever prolific JE Sheehy) of Moncton will be dropping his new EP Acadie Truck August 25. The three-song EP that fight back against common human conflicts.
“These three songs are a middle finger to anxiety, depression and those little heart injuries one carries during a lifetime,” Sheehy says.
The track titled ‘Fuck off, l’anxiété’ doesn’t beat around the bush on the topic. The lyrics “faut que j’arrête de shaker, pis fuck off l’anxiété” [I need to stop shaking, and fuck off, Anxiety] creates a perfect image and ‘middle finger sentiment’ for anxiety. The lyrics “j’aurais du rester couché avec le chat au bout d’mes pieds” [I should have stayed in bed with the cat at my feet] continue to describe anxiety in a way that basically everyone can relate to. There are not many things more comfortable than staying in bed and snuggling a cat.
Tracks ‘Madame’ and ‘Quincaillerie Blues (Jean-Étienne Tire)’ both carry a similar, slow-paced beat and both discuss common comforts found in times of depression. On one hand, ‘Madame’ lyrics “le vrai bonheure se trouve dans une boite de croquettes” [true happiness is found in a box of croquettes] repeat throughout the song and invoke a feeling we’ve all felt before: finding comfort in stuffing our faces with delicious food. On the other hand, Quincaillerie Blues lyrics “l’alcool c’est mon étagère pour faire le trie dans mon affaire” [alcohol is a shelf that helps me sort my problems] take a darker turn on the idea of finding comfort in consumption. Instead of food, this line goes out to all those who find comfort in a bottle.
Saint-Jack’s entire album is fairly slow-paced bar rock. We can hear the powerful sentiment behind the message in the tone of the vocals. Because this album was entirely recorded and played by one guy, the emotion he is trying to convey in his music comes across loud and clear, though he did find a lot of influence in other singer/songwriters.
“I recorded and played everything in my Moncton basement with the tools I had at hand,” he says. “[It] sums up most of the different things I’ve been listening to. In French, I was pretty inspired by the melancholy of Dany Placard and Louis Philippe Gingras, whereas in English, I guess [I was] a bit more garage-influenced.”
Maintaining the Francophone culture in our local music is always important. Although he is is currently based in Moncton, New Brunswick, JE Sheehy was born in Quebec, expands on the local flavour by bringing in his influences from Quebec singer-songwriters.
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