Music Around The Globe
March 23, 2026
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Image courtesy of Valence, design by Nareh Nersisian.
TikTok might have you believing that Lady Gaga does not want to be French, but even she would change her mind after listening to Valence, a French-Canadian artist creating beautiful, ambient music for you to get lost in.
Québec City-based Vincent Dufour, known as Valence, sings about the matters of the heart in his indie-pop project, pouring his soul into exploring the intricacies of life and creating a live experience, which combines emotional intimacy and showmanship to the fullest. With captivating live performances he creates an intimate ambience that invites the listener, French-speaking or not, to enjoy a tender display of musical arrangement and humanity. As he put it, “A Valence performance is an ode to music as a unifying force and to the concert as one of our few remaining gathering rituals.”
After launching his highly praised EP Cristobal Cartel and winning the 2020 Francouvertes, an annual music festival held in Montreal, Valence went on to release his debut album Pêle-mêle in September 2021 through the Montreal-based label Chivi Chivi. In 2024, he was also awarded the first-ever Bourse Karim-Ouellet, an honor that celebrates outstanding songwriting and performance.
His second album, La nuit s’achève, released in 2024, was nominated for Pop Album of the Year at the Gala de l'ADISQ, a celebration of local music in Quebec. This further cemented his place among Québec’s most compelling new voices. On stage, he is surrounded by four talented musicians in slick suits reminiscent of a colour TV version of the Rat Pack era. Valence is a natural narrator, conveying a dialogue that is initially introspective and sensitive but ends up explosive and energetic. Our conversation took us along his creative journey, what it means to be an active proponent of a local music scene such as Quebec, on the importance of live shows and more! Enjoy and bienvenue à la musique de Québec!
V: Honestly it changes every month, and it has for many years. It feels like the more I make music, the more I like everything. That’s the beauty of getting deep into a passion: the more you know, the more you love.
Lately I’ve been really drawn to The Blue Nile and their album Hats. I love the cinematic ambience they create. I’ve also gone back to MBV by My Bloody Valentine, which feels to me like some kind of massive pop songs but completely drowned underwater, down on a gloomy, creepy seafloor.
V: The result I hope would be better than what I cook. I have a hard time following recipes, it stresses me out, it feels too arbitrary. I have learned to make music in the same kind of innocent mindset, so it’s hard to talk in precise quantities… But I know what I want to serve: something that makes you want to live your day as fully as possible. I also want the thing to be warm and welcoming. Nostalgia, hooks, tenderness, some happy-sadness… and hope.
V: I’ve been working on an album for many months. It’s definitely my biggest musical project so far - both in the number of ideas to execute and in the amount of time I’ve spent on it. Trust the process, they say!
V: I haven’t traveled much outside of Quebec — I’ve played a little in Vancouver, Toronto, and Paris — but for me, everything is really focused here. So I wouldn’t say I feel like I represent French-speaking Quebec on the world stage. It’s also hard to say what it feels like to represent it, since it’s my native language and culture.
That said, if I think about how coming from a small and unique nation shapes creativity, I’d say it emphasizes the feeling of participating in a real, tangible community. Because it’s small, you quickly meet the people engaging with your music, and you share a very similar physical and cultural experience with the world around you.
Now, with AI creating fake music that can feel impersonal and inhuman, people will want to see the humans behind the art — and that’s when the idea of small communities really comes into its own.
V: I think it’s gotten bolder, more focused in a way, but it’s still retained its naivety. Talking about naivety consciously is kind of funny — even paradoxical — but, as I said in the cooking question, music has always been 100% intuitive for me. I don’t want to overthink what I like. I’ve always tried to protect myself from arbitrary answers. I love art that makes you want to create art yourself. I don’t want to hear execution; I want to access the impression of something.
I once read a line by Lennon that went something like, “I don’t want to know what the tree looks like, I want to know how you feel under the tree.” That’s why I don’t connect with the rigid rules of songwriting that insist you need to explain the exact context — where, when, and what — in the first lines.
My voice has changed; I think I sing a little lower than I used to. But it’s still really fragile, in all the best and worst ways, haha.
V: I hope they feel welcomed. It’s an honest, fragile project that I hope creates a bubble of energy — something that makes them want to live life to the fullest.
V: First, thank you — I really appreciate and connect with this description. I want my love for massive arrangements to coexist with the more intimate, spontaneous side of my personality. I like the music to feel focused, so the band and I rehearse carefully — no doubts musically. But beyond that structured side, nothing is scripted. I don’t overthink what I say. I like chaos and real connection, and I want to reflect the fragile interactions of everyday life. And since it’s a welcoming and warm project, the more real, the better.
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