Marie-Josee Houle

by John Sekerka

Marie-Josée Houle on the accordion swing

'My baby is about 50 years old!' declares Marie-Josée
Houle. 'It's black, Italian, not very intrusive.' In this instance,
that 'baby' is an accordion, but it could very well be fine wine.
'It's a little bit sharp. It tends to cut through everything. I have to
confess that I cringe when I hear some accordions, but I do like the Italian
ones.'....

All Marie-Josée Houle ever dreamed of was a rock and roll life, but instead
fate would deem a career as a squeezebox queen. Since a piano was too
expensive, the accordion was plopped down on her at age 5. It was the next best
thing.

'I didn't realize how uncool the accordion was until I got into my
teens and was sporting a purple mohawk. How am I going to play this in a band?
I always wanted to play in a band. By then I was playing the piano and the alto
sax, but like most people who pick up instruments, they lay it all to rest when
they start university, and that was the end of my accordion playing days, until
about five years ago.'

Houle picked up the electric bass and realized her dreams with several
stints in rock bands. She then moved from rocking ....Edmonton....
to ....Ottawa.... with two objectives:
civil service employment and a heavy metal band. She found neither.

'What I did see, however, was an accordion played in a jazz band and it
blew my mind. Because of my classical training I never really thought to
explore the instrument, or to listen to other kinds of music that might have
accordion in it. So for the first time in my life I really did prick up my
ears, and listened, and noticed that accordion was used in all kinds of music, not
just the stuff that we associate with your old uncle's wedding.'

Houle's rekindled accordion relationship has resulted in wonderful levels of
sultry mood frolic over two primo albums that not only feature her instrumental
dexterity, but also a splendidly saucy vocal styling in three languages:
English, French and Romance. If guys with guitars get the chicks, then chicks
with accordions get the guys.

'Well, if you listen to my last album [Monsters] then you
realize that she may get the guy, but she doesn't keep him for very long,'
says Houle.

Who needs the rock when you can swing? - Ottawa XPress - November 27, 2009

In Romantic/Gothic fiction, it's common for someone to fall head-over-heels for a person they've never met. All it takes is a brief glance across a crowded room or a striking portrait hanging on the wall. One view and the Hero is swept away."Monsters" by Marie-Josée Houle is like that, but a CD.

Marie-Josée is a mixture of French Canadian and not-so-French Canadian heritage, a classically trained accordionist who cut her teeth in a punk band. Her lyrics remind us that a sultry pout or a pixie like smile can hide quite sharp teeth.

The album opens with "Shallow Breathing" where Houle is wrestling with her broken heart, and ends with the meditative instrumental "Grace." On these bookends and the numbers in between, she reveals her heart, her humor, her lovely voice and her talent with the piano and hammond organ (as well as the accordion, of course).

She's written most of the tunes here but her cover of Jolie Holland's "Old-Fashioned Morphine" is especially sweet in its Tom Waits-like glory. For those not so laid back, "That Off-Key Blonde" is bound to grab you with its klezmer rock bounce. Fans of Amanda Palmer should check out "I am Not the World." But there are no missteps on this CD. I found myself swept away by each piece, be they based in French chanson, folk or tinged with South American rhythms (as "Hush" Is).

I find Ms Houle wonderfully complex and mystifying. Listening to "Monsters" gives us tiny windows into her soul, but these brief revelations only make her more intriguing. This just draws our heart out more.

This CD reminds me of the days when I'd buy lots of 45 records and you could tell my favorites by the wear on the sleeve. I've only hand "Monsters" a short time and already the cover is showing serious signs of wear.

I recommend this CD, and for those who love accordion it's practically a required purchase.

January 2, 2009: http://www.sepiachord.com/mjh.htm - http://www.sepiachord.com/mjh.htm

Marie-Josee Houle - Our Lady of Broken Souls ****
(Ottawa Xpress, March 22, 2007)

With her trusty cache of instruments in tow, Marie-Josee Houle left Edmonton for Ottawa in '03 but with a few modest goals in mind: to find a respectable career, meet a few like-minded musicians and put together a metal band. Never one to wilt under pressure, Houle - her career hopes in limbo and her metal dreams dashed - has, in the years since, become Capital City's consummate roots ringer - an unselfish pro's pro whose sweet and sensuous accordion has melted many a heart and summoned rivers of sweat. A passionate and personal purge of carnal conflicts long past, the alternately bruised and breezy Our Lady of Broken Souls - Houle's first solo effort - swings and swoons like a Gypsy-tinged take on Blood on the Tracks. Our Lady of Broken Souls revels in everything from frisky freylekhs and French valse musette to folk, Paris chansons and shades of Cuban son; it skewers those who "use and abuse" (the bristling Garden Raider stands as her Idiot Wind) and picks over the "human carnage left behind" with a sense of redemption, compassion and satisfaction. Though emotionally tangled up in blue, the velvet voiced Houle maintains unwavering focus throughout, playing as if every note, every word, every gasp and breath of the squeezebox literally sustains her. (Steve Baylin)
- Ottawa XPress

Passionate and sensuous, sought-after Ottawa accompanist plays it cool

By ALLAN WIGNEY

Ottawa Sun – Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Marie-Josee Houle has her sights set on improving
the accordion's standing in the public ear.

Marie-Josee Houle was raised in Edmonton and attended university in Halifax. Now, after nearly four years in Ottawa, the artist has mastered the local dialect enough to correctly mispronounce the name of her alma mater's founder.
"I immediately learned that Ottawans pronounce 'Dalhousie' differently than do Haligonians, or academics in general," Houle confirms. "Whether or not I learned to consistently pronounce it like an Ottawan depends on who you speak to. Perhaps that will be the indicator of whether or not I've become a true Ottawan. But I do have the switching from French to English and vice versa in mid-sentence thing down pat."

Minds her languages

That would be mid-sentence, as well as mid-album. Houle, a sought-after accompanist you may have seen at the side of Casey Comeau, Glenn Nuotio, Melissa Laveaux or Benoit Joanisse, demonstrates as much on her remarkable solo CD, Our Lady of Broken Souls, crooning tales of woe in both official languages.

Our Lady of Broken Souls showcases a third language in which Houle is proficient: The much-maligned accordion. The artist herself freely refers to her first instrument (she also plays that other singalong-staple, the bass guitar) as 'the most uncool instrument one can play.' Yet, in the context of Houle's twisted carnivalesque Tom Waits/Regina Spektor/Nick Cave musical world, the accordion sounds very cool indeed.

Noteworthy

"I must admit," Houle nonetheless says, "I hate most accordion music. Guitar players that can play 500 notes per minute don't impress me; I appreciate accordion players who play 500 notes per minute, even less. The accordion is much like the banjo -- another instrument I hate. They are loud instruments that cut through all the others in a band. They hurt the ears when they are poorly or over-played, which like the cheesy grandpa's wedding image gives the instrument a bad name."

She may not sing the praises of her instrument in conversation. But Houle, like Vancouver's Geoff Berner, has on disc and in performance taken great strides to improve the accordion's standing in the ears of the public. Accordions -- even banjos -- don't have to be uncool, she admits.

"The banjo and accordion are wonderful additions to bands when a lot of thought has been given to an arrangement," Houle observes. "I have a lot of appreciation for these instruments when they are used to add intonation and texture.

"I put down my accordion at the age of 18 and picked it up again when I moved to Ottawa because I needed something to do while looking for work. I had recently seen the accordion in a jazz band and realized the versatility of the instrument. I'm a very passionate and sensuous person, and after picking up the accordion again, all of this music suddenly came out of nowhere. For the first time, I made the accordion mine and was able to perform with it, without feeling like a spectacle."

Houle is not unfamiliar with spectacles. She has composed music for films, and recently performed on stage during the Chamber Theatre Co.'s production of Forever Yours, Mary-Lou.

'Personal growth'

Additionally, Houle creates visual art that ranges from glasswork to the caged-bird illustration that adorns the cover of her CD.
"It's all about personal growth," she explains. "I do it because to keep myself from doing it would be to keep myself from breathing. I put paint to canvas; I slosh ink onto paper; I build websites; I create posters; I put my hands in clay; I knit.

"I enjoy creating. It's not whether or not I leave anything tangible behind that counts. Perhaps that's why I can spend hours sculpting in the sand knowing that the next day, the tide will have washed away my art and that perhaps no one will have been able to see it but me."

And perhaps that's why Ottawa's own Marie-Josee Houle plays such an uncool instrument, so coolly.
---
- Ottawa Sun

Marie-Josee Houle
Our Lady Of Broken Souls
Independent

The accordion is a wonderful instrument. Besides the lush and powerful sounds it can create, it is the last remaining instrument of the outsider and untouched by commercialism. I’ve always been enamored by the accordion and the artists that play them, from Walter Ostanek to Linda McRae and ‘Weird’ Al Yankovic to David P Smith. Now I can add Marie-Josée Houle to this list.

Born in Quebec, Houle started playing the accordion at five years of age. Not because her parents loved the instrument but because it was the cheapest thing they could find in Alberta where she grew up.

By the time she got through university in Edmonton she had also learned to play the piano, electric bass and saxophone while recording and playing shows with post-modern musak band The Elevators and all-girl punk band Pangina. Since moving to Ottawa, she has been busy making ugly socks (uglysocks.com), hitting the stage and recording with the likes of Casey Comeau & the Centretown Wilderness Club, and producing music for independent filmmakers and local theatre companies.

Now well established in the nation's capital, Houle has released her solo debut Our Lady of Broken Souls. The album fuses French cabaret and Québécois folk styles with indie-pop sensibility. Opening with "Three Red Beads" there is an immediate connection with the wonderful blend of Houle’s vocal and accordion skills. The album then moves on to "Marie m'appelle", sung in French. I have little to no idea what it is about but it moves me none the less. All of Houle's songs have a feel that would be welcome in my kitchen at the next family gathering, or shared intimately with a lover in the tavern of my mind that is still smoky and occasionally contains the outbursts of some raving lunatic philosopher type.

There will be a day when I host the largest gathering of the new wave of artists embracing the accordion. When that day comes I can only hope that Marie-Josée Houle will be available to take the stage alongside all my other favourite accordionists like Wendy McNeill, Anna Bon Bon and Geoff Berner.

By Rob Pingle
Jul 27, 2007
- Earshot!

Accordion to her
E-ville expat Marie-Josée Houle returns to the fold(s)

MARIE-JOSÉE HOULE
Fri, July 27 (8:30pm). Blue Chair Café (9624-76 Ave).

By her own account, Marie-Josée Houle has become something of a "go-to" gal in her adopted home of Ottawa, at least when it comes to accordion-playing. She’s played everything from art openings to weddings to (in one instance, anyway) a barbecue for Supreme Court judges.

Also by her own account, she never planned it this way. When the Edmonton expat–an alumna of local groups The Elevators and Pangina–moved to the nation’s capital five years ago, following a stopover in Halifax to attend Dalhousie University, she figured she’d continue her musical pursuits much as she had before she left town: as a bassist.

But after a period of unemployment during her first year in Ottawa, and after seeing the accordion atmospherically employed by a jazz band, Houle returned to the instrument she had been formally trained on from the age of five until she abandoned it in high school. "The accordion was something I did in school and was good at it, but I didn’t love it and I didn’t think of using it for anything," recalls Houle from a tour stop in Vancouver. "When I was a teenager in the ’80s, it wasn’t something I really considered. It was not cool–I wanted a guitar."

Times certainly have changed–there’s been a veritable accordion explosion in indie-alternative circles lately–the once-maligned squeezebox, instrument of choice for geeks everywhere, is now featured prominently in the music of groups like Gogol Bordello, Devotchka, The Decemberists and Arcade Fire, to name just a few, as well as in tunes by Edmonton acts like Hot Panda and The Secretaries.

Houle, who also teaches music, chuckles that she’s seen an increased demand for lessons from prospective pupils as a result.

"It’s beyond the ‘Look at me and my ironic trucker hat and mustache,’" she says. "It’s not necessarily a spectacle anymore–it’s exotic. I’ve been very careful not to market it as a joke."

Houle credits folks like Geoff Berner and fellow former-Edmontonian Wendy McNeill for having paved a respectable path for the instrument in indie singer/songwriter circles.

Still, returning to the fold, so to speak, was a painful experience. "It’s when I started writing music that it completely changed my relationship [to the instrument]," she says. "All this stuff just came pouring out. I don’t know where it came from. My mother says it’s because she listened to Édith Piaf when she was pregnant."

The ghost of Paris’ Little Sparrow certainly can be heard in Houle’s modern-day take on gypsy jazz and French cafe music. As such, Houle says she’s been able to free herself not only from the logistical confines of being in a touring band (she’s being accompanied in this, her first cross-country tour, with just a bassist, native Norwegian Arthur Holoien), but from some of the aesthetic limitations as well.

"I downplay the instrument a lot," she explains. "I leave a whole lot of room for my voice. I’ve played in bands with big walls of noise, and I’m tired of it. I want to leave room for singing and passion. My criteria for musicians to play with now is that I don’t care how many notes per second they can play–I want them to know when not to play."

Zoltan Varadi
July 26, 2007 - SEE

Si Marie-Élaine Thibert s'est bâti un public en lui offrant précisément ce qu'il attend, c'est-à-dire de beaux gros frissons enrubannés de rose, Marie-Josée Houle, quant à elle, préfère la provocation du rouge, celui du feu, du sang, de sa saisissante crinière et de la pochette de son premier disque, Our Lady Of Broken Souls (Autoproduction).

Ayant élu domicile à Ottawa il y a trois ans, l'accordéoniste et auteure-compositrice de souche franco-albertaine investit son répertoire d'une sensibilité assez proche de Tom Waits (ce qui se comprend, vu l'instrument de son choix), poussant de décoiffantes goualandes tantôt en anglais, tantôt en français, et arrondissant les 30 petites minutes de cette galette inaugurale de quelques pièces instrumentales réalisées en quatuor. C'est sans doute aussi son «piano du pauvre», qui a dicté la prédilection de Marie-Josée pour les valses et tangos qui prêtent à sa musique cette saveur rétro.

Cela dit, Our Lady Of Broken Souls n'est pas un simple exercice de nostalgie pour un temps qu'elle n'a pas connu, puisque des chansons comme Cale ton verre et, surtout, le vitriolique Garden Raider suggèrent l'amorce d'une écriture personnelle, qu'il lui faudra maintenant développer tout au long d'un vrai disque dont on souhaite qu'il impose son style sans compromis auprès d'un plus vaste public.

-Dominique Denis, Express de Toronto, le 8 mai 2007
- Express de Toronto

Eclectic influences cohere on singer's second disc
Roger Levesque, Freelance
Published: Friday, October 10, 2008
Moving from punk rock roots to French chanson and upbeat accordion seems a stretch, but Marie-Josee Houle is negotiating the musical journey just fine.
Disparate musical, travel, educational and career experiences have come together for the Ottawa-based singer-musician in a surprising, cohesive fashion on her recent, second CD, Monsters, recorded in Oslo, Norway, and Ottawa with a mix of Norwegian and Canadian jazz and roots players.
Despite such varied ingredients and influences, it's Houle's zest for life that comes out.
"I'm not really concerned about labels," she admits. "You could call some of it sultry French cafe accordion music. All that matters to me is that it has allowed me to present myself for a mix of performing opportunities, and to both folk and jazz festivals, but I can't predict where it's all going."
The long, winding road that brought Houle to her present sound started with her birth in Val d'Or, Que., her family's move to Edmonton at age four, and the start of classical accordion lessons at five which lasted into her teens. She also learned piano, picked up alto sax, and later taught herself electric bass to join the all-girl punk outfit Pangina and a faux-muzak unit, the Elevators.
It was only when Houle moved back to Ottawa that she began to play accordion again with a real passion for the instrument. The reconnection came when she was offered work in a now-defunct worldbeat group, which led to her own solo work and her debut CD, Our Lady of Broken Souls, in 2007.
Houle characterizes her new album as much more of an in-depth expression of her creative angst.
"The Monsters title is a reference to all those things in life you can't control, both internal and external. I think I really delved much more into my darker side and more personal subjects."
Houle plays tonight at Hulbert's, 7601 115th St. Tickets are $10 at the door.
- Edmonton Journal

Marie-Josée Houle : la musique pour créer des liens
Par Marilyse Hamelin – La Voix Pop, 25 juin

(http://www.lavoixpop.com/article-226701-Accordeoniste-du-XXIe-siecle.html)
Artsite indépendante tenant à sa liberté musicale, Marie-Josée Houle joue de l’accordéon. Mais encore? C’est simple : «Les gens adorent ou détestent ma musique», indique-t-elle, en toute simplicité. Avis aux curieux, la jolie musicienne sera en spectacle le 5 juillet au Centre St-Ambroise.

Elle qui a suivi une formation classique avec des cours d’accordéon de l’âge de cinq à 18 ans, elle a du fuir son instrument pour la base électrique et se produire au sein de formations punk pendant des années pour enfin trouver sa voix. Encore aujourd’hui, alors que ses compositions sont tout sauf académiques, elle fuit les partitions : «Quand je vois une feuille de musique, c’est comme si je retombais en enfance lorsque je devais jouer des chansons quétaines pour faire plaisir à la visite», rigole-t-elle.

Le répertoire de l’auteure-compositrice-interprète fait dans l’émotion plutôt que dans la virtuosité avec un quelque chose d’envoûtant dans le rythme et un soupçon d’irrévérence dans l’interprétation. Elle s’inspire des musiques folkloriques d’Europe de l’Est, de France, de Grèce, de Suède et de Norvège, et même du Québec: «l’accordéon était le piano du pauvre, on pouvait l’apporter avec soi. S’il est devenu moins populaire avec les années, il a effectué un retour en force récemment avec des groupes comme Arcade Fire, qui n’hésite pas à l’incorporer dans leur création», indique l’artiste.

Le son de Marie-Josée Houle est plutôt traditionnel cependant, vaguement inspirée de la valse musette: «Je ne sais pas d’où ça me vient, la seule chose que je sais, c’est que ma mère écoutait beaucoup Édith Piaf quand elle était enceinte de mois», raconte-t-elle.

De la dualité du «Franglais»
Née au Québec, Marie-Josée Houle a grandi en Alberta et ses compositions bilingues illustrent parfaitement les deux solitudes canadiennes: «Je ne rentre dans aucun moule, je ne peux pas recevoir de subventions pour les artistes francophones Hors-Québec, car mon travail st à 50% bilingue», déplore-t-elle.

«La question de la langue est très politique et sert à diviser les gens alors je me sers de la musique pour créer des liens. Mon public est autant francophone qu’anglophone et j’espère éventuellement avoir la chance de représenter le Canada à l'étranger en donnant des concerts dans les ambassades, par exemple.»

En attendant le lancement de son nouvel album prévu pour octobre, Marie-Josée Houle entreprend une tournée pancanadienne avec des arrêts à Toronto, Montréal, Ottawa, dans le sud de l’Ontario, les Prairies et l’Alberta. Quelques spectacles sont également prévus à Paris et elle sera du festival d’accordéon de Vienne en Autriche en mars prochain.

Marie-Josée Houle en spectacle au centre St-Ambroise le 5 juillet à 20h
- La Voix Pop, 25 juin

Our Lady of Broken Souls ****
Marie-Josée Houle (Independent)
(review, Ottawa Citizen, March 17, 2007)
By Fateema Sayani


When Marie-Josée Houle preformed during the Michel Tremblay play Forever Yours, Marie-Lou at Cube Gallery, someone said, “Edith Piaf is in the house.”

Huh? Houle’s style is much more current. Perhaps the hollerer meant Siouxsie Sioux in The Creatures days with that drippingly sensuous punky singing, but repartees only allow for few words and mainstream references.

Houle’s stirring defiance is all her own on this debut that is equal parts red velvet, expensive booze, vamp and high drama made alive by a pile of instruments including the accordion, stand-up bass, fiddle, mando and that creamy, cabaret-torch voice.

This could be cheesy if writ too large, but Houle reins in the baroque parts, gives it a Québécois folk touch with the song Marie m’appelle and even adds a little kick with Garden Raider. “You’re so thick… thinking every flower’s yours to pick; yours to prick,” she sings, emphasizing the word prick as if she’s spitting. Grade-school French presumes songs such as Cale ton verre and Blasé d’la vie are equally pointed.

Marie-Josée Houle’s CD release show is at Le Petit Chicago in Gatineau April 4.
- Ottawa Citizen - March 17, 2007