Flore Laurentienne released “Fleuve VII” today, the second single from Volume III, which arrives April 10 on Secret City Records. The track continues composer Mathieu David Gagnon’s series of pieces built from the same chord progression rearranged in different sequences, a compositional constraint he describes as evoking the ever-changing character of the St. Lawrence River.
The new album marks the end of a trilogy Gagnon started in 2019 with Volume I, conceived partly as homage to L’Infonie’s Volume 3, the first album from the cult Quebec collective that mixed jazz, prog, and classical music in the 1970s. Unlike his first three records, most of Volume III was developed with his seven-piece band during residencies and concerts before studio recording, shifting his process from solitary composition toward collaborative arrangement.
For the album sessions, Gagnon expanded beyond his core group to work with a 19-piece string orchestra, a cello quartet, a drum duo, and a guest harp duo. His regular touring ensemble includes violinists Mélanie Bélair and Chantal Bergeron, violist Ligia Paquin, cellists Annie Gadbois and Jean-Christophe Lizotte, drummer Robbie Kuster, and multi-instrumentalist Antoine Létourneau-Berger, with Léandre Bourgeois handling live sound engineering. The band members contributed to arrangements during the writing process, a shift from how Gagnon worked on earlier releases.
Gagnon’s music has had a busy year in commercial placements. Three pieces from his 2023 album 8 tableaux appear in Nino, the César-nominated film directed by Pauline Loquès and starring Théodore Pellerin. “Petit piano” from Volume I soundtracks Louis Vuitton’s spring/summer 2026 campaign featuring Jeremy Allen White. He also worked with Moog Music on a video demonstrating his use of the Minimoog, the analog synthesizer that anchors Flore Laurentienne’s sound onstage.
The project tours Europe this spring with dates at Royal Albert Hall’s Elgar Room in London, La Botanique in Brussels, and Centre des Arts in Enghien-les-Bains, along with stops in Bratislava, Prague, and Düdingen. The run precedes a Maison Symphonique show on June 26 as part of the Montreal International Jazz Festival, followed by the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on June 27. Since releasing Volume I in 2020, Flore Laurentienne has picked up three Félix awards, two GAMIQ awards, and a Polaris Music Prize long list spot.
Gagnon frames Volume III around cycles of growth and decay, light emerging from chaos. The opening track “Fleurs” recalls the sound of Volume II, while the closer “À travers les Chablis” points toward whatever comes next.
Flore Laurentienne Tour Dates
Thursday, April 9 – Bratislava, SK – Nova Cvernovka
Friday, April 10 – Prague, CZ – Palac Akropolis – Spectaculare Festival
Saturday, April 11 – London, UK – Royal Albert Hall – Elgar Room
Tuesday, April 14 – Brussels, BE – Botanique – Rotonde
Wednesday, April 15 – Düdingen, CH – Bad Bonn
Thursday, April 16 – Enghien-les-Bains, FR – Centre des Arts
Friday, June 26 – Montreal, QC – Maison Symphonique (Montreal International Jazz Festival)
Saturday, June 27 – Ottawa, ON – National Arts Center (Ottawa Jazz Festival)
Saturday, October 24 – Sherbrooke, QC – Granada Theatre
Photos – Alex Blouin & Jodi Heartz
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