For those unaware, born in 1958 in Montreal, where she still lives and works, Joane Hétu is a musician, composer, improviser, conductor, cultural worker and manager.

Winner of the prestigious Freddie Stone Award in 2006 for her involvement in Canadian creation music, Hétu wields her two instruments, voice and alto saxophone, combining the flexibility of one and the urgency of the other in a symbiosis that is uniquely hers. She directs the noise choir JOKER, which she founded in 2012 and for which she created, among others, the works Où est-il donc ce rêve ? (2014) and Langoureusengagée (2017).

She co-directs the Ensemble SuperMusique (ensemble of 6 to 20 musicians) with Danielle Palardy Roger since 1998 and thus propels the creation and interpretation of graphic scores as well as directional gestures in improvised music to the fore. Ardently passionate about contemporary and improvised music, she has been hosting the Mercredimusics series with Jean Derome and Lori Freedman since 2001.

In recent years, she has composed for the Ensemble SuperMusique, the Bozzini Quartet, the Now Orchestra, Quasar saxophone quartet and Instruments of Happiness. She forms, with Jean Derome, the magical duo Nous perçons les oreilles and she directs the quintet Castor et compagnie which is dedicated to lewd and loving songs.

Her latest release, Elle a son mot à dire, captures Hétu once again leading Ensemble SuperMusique through thirteen of her pieces — most of them new compositions alongside select revisited works from earlier periods.

1. Elle n’a pas de mot [3:05]
2. Mot elle a [6:59]
3. Elle n’est pas un animal [4:19]
4. Un idéal [3:18]
5. Avoir le motton [4:30]
6. Vivante [4:03]
7. Lumière [4:10]
8. Chant à elle [00:58]
9. Jojo dit [1:48]
10. Elle n’est pas un animal [4:43]
11. Elle a dit oui [4:19]
12. Elle a son mot à dire [1:26]
13. Elle qui est-elle? [7:47]

Continuing to demonstrate her continued resistance to artistic pigeon-holing, moving fluidly between ambient textures and quasi-operatic vocal explorations (amongst others), the new album opens on the enchantingly ambient delights of Elle n’a pas de mot, the fervently captured Mot elle a and the atmospherically-charged Elle n’est pas un animal and then brings us the organic Un idéal, the fluctuating tones of Avoir le motton, and then we get the rhythmic Vivante.

Along next is the spatially effective Lumière and the short but sweet Chant à elle, and these are in turn backed seamlessly by the creatively thought-provoking Jojo dit, the hinged Elle n’est pas un animal, the veritably enrapturing Elle a dit oui, the set rounding out on another atmospheric, animalistic cut Elle a son mot à dire, closing on the languishing beauty within Elle qui est-elle?

Ensemble SuperMusique:
Joane Hétu, saxophone alto, cheffe [1, 3-8, 11-13]
Sarah Albu, voix [1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 10-13]
Émilie Fortin, trompette [1, 4, 5, 7, 10-13]
Julie Houle, tuba [1, 10-13]
Luzio Altobelli, accordéon [1, 3, 7, 9-13]
Noam Bierstone, percussions [1-5, 7, 9, 11-13]
Michel F Côté, percussions, électronique [1, 3, 6, 7, 9, 11-13]

Official Purchase Link

Joane Hétu @ Instagram