Dominiq Hamel and multidisciplinary artist Émilie Sigouin will bring their concert-film En Suspens to Montreal on Wednesday, 28 October, with an event at the SANAAQ Centre. The project combines Hamel’s live music with Sigouin’s dreamlike cinema. The accompanying album, Hamel’s second solo release, arrives on streaming platforms two days earlier, on 26 October.
First presented at Fantasia in 2025, En Suspens grew out of an experience Hamel’s team describes as an existential upheaval following a car accident. The film and performance explore how suddenly life can change, and the fragility that comes with that uncertainty. Rather than explain everything directly, the work brings music and images together in a poetic, introspective story that leaves room for viewers to draw their own meaning.
Sigouin and Hamel cite the cinema of Terry Gilliam and Yorgos Lanthimos as influences on the film’s visual world, which moves between surreal imagery and realism. The film was directed by Sigouin and Hamel, and its Montreal screening will take place at the SANAAQ Centre, a short walk from Atwater metro. A trailer is available on YouTube.
The project brings together two varied creative paths. Hamel has worked across electronic beatboxing with Motus 3F, rap-rock with Gatineau, indie-pop with Orange Orange, electro-rap with DöX FöX, and improvised theatre with L’Instable. After releasing his first solo album in 2014, he returns with a sound the press release describes as indie-folk-pop.
Sigouin studied visual arts at UQAM, acting at the Conservatoire d’art dramatique de Montréal, and mime with Omnibus. After eight years of creating and producing theatre, she turned to directing in 2020, working on fiction films and music videos. Her work has appeared at Quebec festivals including Fantasia, Pleins Écrans and Courts d’un soir. She also directed the Growlers Choir, a metal choir that appeared on America’s Got Talent in 2022.
Before the album release, Hamel will invite listeners on a walk to the summit of Mount Royal on Saturday, 24 October. The group will meet at the Sir George-Étienne Cartier Monument at 2 p.m., then listen to the album together through headphones at the summit. The release lists Sunday, 25 October as the weather backup.
The five-date Quebec tour has already stopped in Amos and Val-d’Or. Its next listed performance is in Quebec City on 21 October, followed by the Montreal event at SANAAQ. The release also lists an April 22 Montreal date at Théâtre Outremont, though it does not specify the year.
Dates:
- Wednesday 21 October: Quebec City, The Creative Hub Centre
- Saturday 24 October, 2 p.m.: Mount Royal listening walk, starting at the Sir George-Étienne Cartier Monument; weather backup Sunday 25 October
- Monday 26 October: En Suspens released on digital platforms
- Wednesday 28 October: Montreal event and concert-film screening, SANAAQ Centre
- 22 April: Montreal, Théâtre Outremont
