In 2017, Hugo Mudie—the frontman for Montreal punks The Sainte Catherines—took his fans by surprise by releasing Cordoba, a debut solo album whose unmistakable pop edge signaled a drastic departure from his band of more than a decade. On his second LP, Concerta Fantasio, the singer-songwriter, who also played in the country folk group Yesterday’s Ring, goes back to his first love—crunchy-chord punk. But he hasn’t completely turned his back on his newfound penchant for bright, catchy melodies. “With my previous album, I deliberately sowed confusion, because that’s simply in my nature,” Mudie tells Apple Music. “But also because I felt like breaking from my image. I listen to all kinds of music—not just punk—so I wanted to explore new genres and see if I’d be able to do great songs outside of my usual element.” Concerta Fantasio, which he walks us through track by track, splits the difference: “I knew I wanted to do something that would reach those who hadn’t really come on board with my approach the last time, while keeping a pop side to it,” he says. "Ultimately, it’s like my take on '90s punk rock, but in French."
Pennywise & Cypress Hill “It’s about my youth, from about the age of 14 to 18. It was during that time that I decided to stop playing hockey and focus on music, and also when I stopped wanting to be accepted by others and dared to be different. Before that, I’d pretend I liked bands like Pennywise and Cypress Hill just to be like my friends, but to be honest, I hated them! I also wanted to start off the album on a positive note by talking about how when I was 15, my dream was to become a musician, and that around five years later, I was touring around the world.”
Secondaire 4 “I’ve come to realize that I often make friends with people who have been harboring deep wounds for a long time. I don’t know whether it’s because I attract that kind of person or if it’s me who’s attracted to them. But once in a while, it gets me down when I realize that I myself don’t really know who I can open up to when things aren’t going well, and that’s what this one’s about. At the time I wrote it, I was listening to a lot of Tony Molina, an artist best known for his pop punk in the style of Weezer and The Lemonheads. I wanted the guitars to be overly saturated, almost metal, but the vocals to be gentle and melodic.”
Magic Johnson “I’ve always had a hard time with authority, but I now have a son of my own who likes video games way too much and it’s sometimes hard to get him to do anything else. But I remember that at his age I too could sometimes spend a whole day in front of the TV doing the same. In short, I talk about how when you’re young, you can often feel misunderstood by your parents.”
Emma Stone “This is a track I wrote while I was recording my last album and one I’ve been performing on stage for the past two years. It’s truly the one song that reminds me the most of Weezer. It’s kind of like a little hats-off to their ‘Island in the Sun,’ with the theme as well as the sound. It’s a tribute to mellowness, tenderness, and romance. With the refrain, I wanted people to picture driving along with their new date next to them as the sun is setting and having that feeling of utter freedom.”
L’exorcisme “I’ve never had so many messages from people telling me they can identify with the lyrics to a song as I have with this one. I touch on a somewhat darker period in my life. In my early twenties, I began having panic attacks and developing all sorts of fears. Looking back, I realize that anxiety often stems from a refusal to not be in control of things that are very unlikely to happen.”
Alien “In this song, which yet again sounds a bit like Weezer, I’ve put myself in the shoes of an alien who arrives on Earth. I’d originally wanted this to be the central theme of the entire album. Inspired by the film Lilo & Stitch, which I saw with my kids, I imagine myself being rescued by my girlfriend and deciding not to go back to my own planet. There’s some truth in it: If I didn’t have my family, I’m not sure where I’d be in my life.”
Hang Out avec Kesha “Kesha is probably the artist I’ve listened to the most in recent years. I really like her albums Rainbow and High Road, which were a huge inspiration. So in this song, I picture myself chilling with her, and in the spirit of Kill Bill, we take revenge on the person who made her suffer their abuse of power and aggression.”
Dilaudid on the Beach "The verses on this track, with their dissonant chords, are somewhat dark, but the refrains are much brighter. I wanted to recreate a Beach Boys-style California atmosphere, but one where they meet up with the Ramones, in order to illustrate that fun yet weird state of mind you sometimes find yourself in the morning after a long night of partying and using some substance or other.”
Track & Field “This is about my parents’ divorce, about the precise moment my father left and just how much I have never come to terms with it. I wanted to do this song to break free, and also connect with people who have experienced the same thing. In retrospect, I realized it sounded a bit like something the Vulgaires Machins could have written.”
La maladie d’amour “This track’s different from the rest because I wanted to break away from the album’s fairly punk atmosphere. While writing it, I pictured that scene in Pulp Fiction where the two of them are dancing to a '60s-style tune. It talks about having your heart broken at a young age, which was the case for several of my friends and myself. It was only after I’d finished composing it that I realized both the lyrics and the melody could bear a resemblance to Cat Stevens' ‘The First Cut Is the Deepest,’ so I decided to wrap it up with a little allusion to the song.”
Toujours froid “Here, I look back at my twenties, which I literally spent on tour, sleeping in a van with the band. With hindsight, I realize it was totally crazy. We’d steal to eat, fight, scavenge in garbage cans, and we were overdoing it with the use of substances and having one dead-end relationship after another. I’d never be able to live like that again, but I have some really great memories. It was tough, but also truly magic.”