Willows, l'alter-ego de Geneviève Toupin, voit le jour en 2014. En un délicat mélange folk d’instruments acoustiques et d’harmonies vocales résonnant aussi bien en français qu’en anglais, l’autrice-compositrice-interprète crée une œuvre authentique. L’album Willows (2014) et le EP The Hills (2021), ce dernier réalisé par Joseph Marchand (Pierre Lapointe, Safia Nolin), en sont deux témoignages évocateurs.
Avec à son actif plus d’une centaine de spectacles au Canada et en Europe de même que le prix du Meilleur album de l’Ouest canadien au Gala Trille Or en 2015, elle cumule également quelques nominations marquantes : pour les Luciens du Album folk de l’année (Willows) et EP folk de l’année (The Hills) au GAMIQ, et dans la catégorie Autrice-compositrice de l’année aux Canadian Folk Music Awards.
Musicienne et chanteuse aguerrie, on a pu la voir sur scène en tant que membre fondatrice du groupe électro-pop CHANCES, dans l'orchestre maison du nouveau jeu-variété musical La guerre des fans sur Noovo, dans le spectacle Danse Lhasa Danse ainsi qu'au sein du spectacle Hemenetset de Jorane. Elle a co-composé la musique pour le documentaire Sans maman de Marie-France Guerrette pour l'ONF.
Son nouvel album, Maison vent, a vu le jour en mars 2023. Cette collection de chansons personnelles parle d’abord de femmes: les femmes de sa vie, autant celles qui l’auront précédée que de son expérience en tant que femme et Métisse de la Rivière Rouge d’origine franco-manitobaine, maintenant résidente de Montréal.
Geneviève Toupin’s love for music is in her blood. Some of her earliest memories are of sitting at the piano, listening to her grandmother sing and learning to play along, fingers dancing on the piano keys. From the time she learned to speak, she was singing. From the time she learned to write, she was creating stories and songs.
In 2009 she released her first self-titled francophone album and began touring professionally throughout Canada and Europe. In 2012 she followed up with The Ocean Pictures Project, an English folk-pop album taking inspiration from the in-between places, between waking and dreaming, between ocean and sky.
Then in 2014, she introduced her alter-ego Willows. At the heart of Willows’ intimate indie-folk sound are her guitar or piano based compositions laced with luscious harmonies. 2020 saw her release the delicate indie-folk EP The Hills, a collection of songs centered around the theme of physical and emotional healing. In March 2023, she released Maison vent, a dedication to her heritage and the women in her life.
Her solo career highlights include playing festivals such as Montreal’s Francofolies, Pause Guitares in France, Voix de Fête in Switzerland, TV appearances on Belle et Bum Téléquébec, APTN’s Aboriginal Day Live, hosting and performing in the multi-artist televised concert Constellation Francophone for UNIS TV, and co-producing, hosting and performing in the televised music series La Tournée des Cafés for TFO. Accolades include the Trille Or award for Best Album out of Western Canada (2015), a Western Canadian Music Award for Best Francophone Recording (2010), and nominations at the Canadian Folk Music Awards and Montreal’s Gamiq Awards (2015 and 2021).
Alongside her solo career, Geneviève is active as a composer and musician for other projects. She is a founding member of the electro-pop group CHANCES, with whom she recently had the opportunity to perform with in the multidisciplinary music and circus show Après la nuit for the Montreal complèment cirque Festival. She was a singer/musician in Danse Lhasa Danse as well as in Jorane’s project Hemenetset. She also co-composed the score to Marie-France Guerrette’s documentary Unmothered for the National Film Board. You can catch her on TV this fall as part of the house band in Noovo's new musical game-show La guerre des fans.
Geneviève is a Red River Métis woman, born and raised in Manitoba, and now residing in Montréal.
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