DIY invention of experimental prog-rock duo Angine de Poitrine has hit the knock-off market
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The mysterious Quebec prog-rock duo Angine de Poitrine are continuing their journey to world conquest this month, and as we all know, the path goes through England. “Klek” and “Khn,” musician pals from Saguenay who have developed their own genre of fast, tightly choreographed microtonal music, arrived for a tour last week and were promptly the subject of an illustrated profile in the Guardian.
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There followed a five-star review of an Angine set at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds. That’s the definition of high pressure for any rock musician: literally playing live at Leeds. But the masked gentlemen passed the audition.
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“Wonderfully, their music is every bit as outre as their clothing: a weirdly hypnotic, berserk hybrid of math rock, prog rock, punk, jerkily repetitive rhythms, microtonal loops and twiddly guitar bits, with song titles such as ‘Sarniezz’ and ‘Utzp.’ … Although one must admire the fearsome musicianship that produces a sound this intensely tight — never mind while wearing those outfits — the key to their success is that in dark times they are simply ridiculously good fun. At many points, band and audience make matching pyramid shapes with their hands in a gesture of mutual thanks; at another point everyone bounces up and down in perfect unison.”
As Laura Snapes’s interview points out in passing, the Angine de Poitrine mini-craze has led to unexpected celebrity for an important artistic partner: a Quebecois guitar-maker named Raphaël Le Breton. The double-necked guitar/bass at the heart of the Angine sound was originally built as a DIY project — not by Khn, who plays it, but by Klek, the drummer, who took a saw to some old fretboards in a fit of humorous inspiration. They brought their Frankenstein’s-monster to Le Breton, who has a home-based guitar shop in (even more remote) Alma, and had him turn it into something professional-grade and durable, with exact 24-TET tuning (you’re welcome, music-theory nerds).
Canadian prog-rock YouTuber Dean Wolfe conducted an interview last month with Mr. Le Breton, who, like Klek and Khn themselves, is clearly still absorbing the implications of Angine-mania. (Le Breton was also profiled by Radio-Canada.) As some commenters on Wolfe’s video point out, Le Breton may have accidentally made one of the most famous guitars of the 21st century on the shores of Lac St.-Jean. But the interview provides the sense that the re-building of the Angine double-neck from Klek’s prototype was mostly a giant headache. Le Breton estimates that it took him at least 150 hours of work, and speaks reluctantly of maybe having to charge north of a thousand dollars to repeat the feat.
Three months ago, anybody reading that paragraph would naturally ask “Well, how big could the market possibly be for a microtonal double-neck guitar/bass, anyway?” The answer landed on Monday, courtesy of Eastwood Guitars, a custom shop in Brampton that specializes in producing playable replicas of legendary instruments. Most of Eastwood’s ordinary trade is re-creating quirky, obscure, and sometimes dazzling guitars that stopped being made decades ago.
According to Guitar World, Le Breton approached Eastwood about making a “signature model” of Khn’s guitar, but when Khn vetoed the idea, the company, already attracting some interest in microtonality, went ahead with their own knock-off design. (Fortunately, it’s much too late in history for anyone to copyright 24-TET.) Eastwood operates by taking deposits from potential customers, Kickstarter-style, and the Angine replica was oversubscribed by 175 per cent. And counting.
This may be for the best. Another theme that emerges from close attention to Dean Wolfe’s interview with Le Breton is the dreadful risk of international travel for the only musical instrument of its kind currently in existence. Le Breton has already had to perform some maintenance on Khn’s polka-dot behemoth, and if it were badly damaged on tour, it would be game over for Angine until they could get back to Quebec (or find another mad-genius luthier living in a different wilderness).
Some of my readers will know the pain of travelling with single-neck guitars, ones you can buy a sturdy case for in any city if you need to. Angine’s creature was made with detachable necks, which create their own tuning and wear problems, and it reportedly travels wrapped awkwardly in a sleeping bag. May the guitar gods protect it.
National Post
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