Local musicians Dayv Poulin and Edouard Landry have known each other “forever,” since they were just teenagers learning Nirvana songs together.
Along with another local musician and long-time friend, Stef Paquette — all of them mainstays in the Franco-Ontarian music scene in Northern Ontario — they are part of a group called Les Bilinguish Boys, formed in 2020.
Given the bilingual nature of our community, It’s a very Sudbury concept.
“It’s a music show, but it’s also a comedy show in a lot of ways,” said Poulin, who, along with Landry, caught up with Sudbury.com in a recent Zoom chat (in English).
“We do a lot of improv … When we know it's an English crowd, we will speak in English. We'll still do French songs, but we'll do translations or things like that, or will joke about the differences between the two languages.
“So it is part of what we do. and even when we do French shows, we'll insert little English bits in our show and stuff like that … Anybody can come and see it and have a good laugh.”
The Bilinguish Boys were having a meeting recently when they realized both Poulin and Landry were coming out with albums soon — Poulin with a French-language album called “Tout est relatif” and Landry with an English-language album called “Lands End”.
“It just dawned on us that there's nothing more bilingual or bilinguish than that,” said Landry. “So let’s just join forces, the rising tide lifts all boats, kind of thing.”
A double album release party takes place at the Moose Lodge starting at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 3. (Purchase tickets online here).
“Stef (Paquette) is going to emcee,” said Landry, who said both he and Poulin will perform sets from their respective new albums. “And then we’ll cap off the night with the Bilinguish Boys.”
“We just thought that this is a fun little way to celebrate all of our successes and do it together with our friends and family,” said Poulin.
Edouard Landry’s Lands End
Landry has released seven albums in eight years, some in French and some in English.
“When I write a song, sometimes the lah-lah-lahs come out in English, sometimes they come out in French,” he said.
He often speaks about his travels in his music, and his album covers have featured locations “east to west in the United States.” Lands End, which lends its name to his latest album, is a park in San Francisco, California, the westernmost portion of the States.
For Lighthouse, the single on “Lands End”, Landry collaborated with a couple of other local artists on a rather quirky project.
Puppeteer Dylan Gibson created a puppet version of Landry (to the delight of his young relatives, who love the puppet), and cinematographer Gerry Kingsley put together Gibson’s puppetry and Landry’s music to create a video, which you can watch below.
The story finds Ed, a daring puppet, exploring treacherous lands in search of enlightenment and truth. Through thunderstorms and shark-infested waters, Ed discovers that everyone's journey towards finding meaning and purpose is unique, and what brings fulfillment to one person may differ from another.
“I’m a huge Muppet fan,” said Landry. “When would you ever get the opportunity to have somebody approach you and say ‘I've made a puppet of you, so can we use him in a video’?”
Dayv Poulin’s ‘Tout est relatif’
Poulin, who, like Landry, has also made music in both French and English, says his current French-language solo album, “Tout est relatif,” translates to “it’s all a matter of perspective.”
“It’s all depending on how you see it, and where you’re at in your life,” he said.
“It's super simple stuff, it's super simple messages, but people are connecting to it, which is really neat.”
The musician said he’s gone about releasing this album a bit differently than he would have in the past. He’s been slowly releasing singles over the past year, and is stoked to have seen some radio success, especially in Quebec.
“That's been really amazing,” Poulin said.
This is actually the first time Poulin has released a solo album under his own name. He’s performed under monikers including Le Paysagiste in the past.
You can listen to Poulin’s latest single, “Comme ça qu'ça marche”, below.
Love all around
Landry and Poulin aren’t shy about heaping praise on each other’s musicianship.
“David is a master melodist, and he’s a chameleon, too,” Landry said, adding that Poulin has been involved in so many different projects under different artist and group names. “It’s great that he’s releasing stuff under his own name now.”
For his part, Poulin said he’s amazed at the way Landry produces music. “It's very methodical,” he said. “It’s pretty fascinating to watch it to see all these albums be released, and also that he's got some in his pocket … It’s really rare to see that kind of thing in an artist.”
Poulin said the two friends are “genuinely always happy for each other” when they see success. “There's nothing more beautiful than that, because the music industry can be cutthroat at times, or there can be a lot of jealousy,” he said.
For those interested, you can download Landry’s latest album here, and Poulin’s latest album here.
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.
