Musical duo Atémi, whose roots are firmly planted in the Vaudreuil-Soulanges region, is starting the year off with a bang, with the release of its new single, Trop souvent, on the radio. The duo, Véronique Plamondon and François Guay, will be releasing their new single on Friday, February 2. 

The new track appears on an album entitled Jouer avec le temps, due for release in November. "We can't wait to get it out there. We've worked hard over the past 18 months to bring this project to fruition. We've really found our voice with this 2nd album, which has a country-folk sound. With our first, we were really looking for our musical style, our guideline. We've found it for this second opus", sums up the duo. 

The concept of play is also very present in the single Trop souvent, as can be seen in this verse:

"I'm very principled. But a very bad rider. I got caught up in my own game. And now, failure smiles on me".

Atemi admits that Trop souvent is a good analogy between life and a game of chess. In their latest song, the chess-playing duo explain that, as on a chessboard, every decision has a consequence, a chain reaction and an impact on the next decisions to be made. While some choices can lead to regret, there's often no turning back, like the pawns in a chess game.

A festive 2nd album 

The title of the forthcoming album refers to the speed with which time passes.  "François turned 40 and I'll be turning mine soon. It's amazing how quickly time flies as the years go by. That's the observation we make on a daily basis, and it's what inspired the title of our album (laughs)," says Véronique. 

For his second album, which features nine songs, Atémi has once again surrounded himself with a trusted team: Christian Alary (Sally Folk, Sylvain Cossette) on production and percussion, Samuel Léonard (Claude Dubois) on bass and Hubert Tremblay on guitar (Corneille, Roch Voisine). Guitarist Yanni Aumont (Roch Voisine) also took part in the creation of the country-folk single, which has been available on all platforms for the past few hours. 

"The album really has a Salebarbes sound, a very popular band for its festive side. That's really the direction we wanted to go in," confides Véronique. 

Songs written as a duo 

A couple in everyday life, Véronique and François also write the lyrics to their songs together. "We write all the songs and melodies on Jouer avec le temps.Sometimes the main idea for the text comes from me, while other times it's Véronique who has a flash.We really do make a good team," says François. 

In recent months, they have benefited from mentoring, songwriting courses with the Société professionnelle des auteurs et compositeurs du Québec and training in launching a business in the music industry."The songwriting courses really gave us a better understanding of what gets a song played on the radio and what radio stations are looking for. The training has paid off, as our next album will feature not 1, 2 or even 3, but 4 radio singles. We're very happy," adds Véronique.

An album almost complete 

To date, at the beginning of February, all the songs have been written and all the soundtracks are in the box. All that remains is to record two complete songs before post-production, and to hear the final result after the mixing and mastering stages.

Did Véronique and François, both teachers, benefit from the strike in the education sector last November and December? "Quite the opposite.With our salaries cut, we were afraid it would put a brake on the project.In the end, it didn't, but we're happy that everything is now settled," they say in unison.

What will the next few months be all about? Obviously, shows and the launch of Jouer avec le temps, due to take place somewhere in July in Coteau-du-Lac.The duo are putting the finishing touches to the project.Otherwise, you can catch them at La Factrie in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield on February 22, and this summer in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and at the Terrebonne Country Festival. 

Atémi's next single, J'ai connu, will hit the airwaves in April. In the meantime, listen to Trop souvent on repeat to get a taste of the Coteaulac band's new sound. 

Born in 2021 in the midst of a pandemic, Atémi has enjoyed a remarkable rise in the Quebec music scene.  

This was the start of a wonderful journey in which they won first place in the Trois-Pistoles en chansons contest and third place in the Propulse ta voix contest. They also won a place in the auditions for the Festival International de la chanson de Granby and Ma première Place des Arts.