THE DEVIL'S MOUTH Vol. 135: Ten Rounds with Geneviève & S. (Menace Ruine)
We managed to peek a bit behind the veil of quiet mystery that has always enveloped this experimental Québécois duo - and we loved everything we saw and heard.
They’re only a couple of years away from celebrating two decades since their first album came out (which, by the way, is ‘In Vulva Infernum’ - according to Geneviève we’ve got it all wrong and that isn’t a demo), but unusually enough we don’t really feel like we’ve got Menace Ruine all figured out. On the contrary. Each of their own incredible records is a little unsettling, inspiring and moving universe, each one a new puzzle piece, yes, but in a way it's like each one of them belongs to a different puzzle. There is atmosphere, drone, black metal, electronics, folk and medieval music and so much more in there, but what comes out is genuinely their own and no one else’s. Theirs has been a journey of absolute discovery, of entirely new music that sounds like no one else and that keeps on being fascinating no matter what form it takes. I have spoken of them often here in this thingy, like when they were Band Of The Week, or when I picked ‘Nekyia’ among my favourites of 2022, or when the little spin-off project Ghost Heartbeats won the “best EP” title of 2023 miles ahead of anyone else, for example, but each time feels like the first. Just like each time you hear Geneviève sing, your soul feels renewed and ready to take on another day. So let’s do that, for starters.
You might now have the temptation to just go and listen to ‘Nekyia’ and ignore whatever else I might have to say, but bear with me, because this is special. You see, Geneviève and S. are quiet people who enjoy living their own lives with their beautiful cats in the middle of their gorgeous surroundings, and of the few interviews that exist with them, the vast majority, if not entirety, is in written form. It’s therefore an honour to present episode 135 of The Devil’s Mouth podcast, where we miraculously managed to convince the pair to actually have a little chat with us and go through the usual Ten Rounds of songs picked by them. As it would be expected, it was amazing - we got a rare glimpse into their background as musicians and as people, some of the (often unexpected) songs that inspired or mean something to them, and also the latest news on the upcoming releases (there’s at least two different albums in the making! Go listen now to know everything!) and on the couple of live shows they have announced for this year after so much time away from the stage. One of them is at Amplifest and it’s obvious that you should start planning your trip there right now.
Before we leave to it, just one more thing - after telling us about a few more songs they love that didn’t really make it to the cruel boundaries of the Ten Rounds, we dared them to make a playlist out of them, and lo and behold, here it is:
Right, you now have all you need. Go listen!