Valence

From the first notes, Valence invokes a prism of colors, decorated with flowers and poetic rosaries. The indie-pop project of Vincent Dufour, originally from Quebec City, serves as an outlet for his passions; when Valence arrives, he gets to the bottom of things.

It was in 2019 that Valence’s landscape took shape for the first time with the release of the EP Cristobal Cartel, a suave offering overflowing with spacious arrangements and impressionist texts that exalt the hearts with velvet gloves. Following the microalbum, the single track “Pruneau” became an instant success on listening platforms, propelled by an invitation to the public to remix the original piece which prompted an impressive number of reinterpretations. Less than a year later, in the fall of 2020, the singer-songwriter was crowned with top honors at the 24th edition of Francouvertes, leaving the prestigious showcase competition with first place among around twenty competitors.

This was followed by a first full album, Pêle-Mêle, released in 2021 on the Chivi Chivi label. The long play offers rich, dreamlike and ardent music, testifying to the exuberant chaos punctuating the artist’s twenties. The eleven solar pieces that make up this work carry intimate and emancipatory lyrics, as well as an instrumentation between the fantastical nostalgia of the 70s and the ethereal sweetness of current bedroom pop. It marks the resounding start to Valence’s career, who won the Revelation of the Year award at GAMIQ 2021, in addition to receiving nominations in the categories of Pop Album of the Year and Music Video of the Year – Choice of criticism. To date, Pêle-Mêle has accumulated more than 2.5 million listens on the platforms and received a generous reception from the media, both in Quebec and in France (La Presse, Le Devoir, Libération, France Inter, etc.)

Valence wastes no time in hitting the stages in the four corners of the province, offering a jubilant and incandescent show with its traveling troupe of six musicians (guitars, drums, bass, synthesizers, saxophone, transverse flutes, percussion, pedal steel guitar and choirs) . We see him performing at all the biggest festivals in Quebec (Osheaga, FEQ, Francos de Montréal, Le Festif!, La Noce…), opening for Choses Sauvages, Les Louanges and Dumas and even in concerts in Vancouver and Sudbury. He also participates in the La Traversée initiative which will see him fly to France to collaborate with artists from France.

Produced by Alexandre Martel (Alex Burger, Lou-Adriane Cassidy, Thierry Larose, LUMIÈRE) and recorded at the Pantoum, La nuit s’achève has the scope of a concept album, without having too much narrative considerations. Valence delivers a total art work through which he demonstrates that he’s arrived at maturity as a singer-songwriter.

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