CoolTrad – Nicolas Boulerice

CoolTrad is Nicolas Boulerice‘s third album as a duo with his faithful sidekick Frédéric Samson. A departure from current trends in traditional Québécois music, CoolTrad is a project that brings to the fore the lyrics and poetry of the elders, supported by music that is imbued with respect for tradition, but also ready to make it shine in brand-new contexts.

CoolTrad presents 12 songs that possess a gentle pace and melancholy; 12 encounters that feel jazz-like in the swing and rhythm of their lyrics. It represents a constant dialogue between the trad repertoire and its two protagonists who take their inspiration from cool jazz and the beatnik movement of the 1950s. The pulse of CoolTrad is calmer, invites us to slow down, the emotion clearly evident, stories are very much at the heart of these interpretations and the repertoire is embedded in North America’s oral tradition, lying somewhere between improvisation and thoughtful arrangements, slam and a traditional jig.