Lune très belle is the nü fusion project of Montréal composer and poet Frédérique Roy. Her music is an open form, at once unstable and reassuring: a pop neology of experimental, environmental sound. Roy has shared new song “Mona,” introducing the second iteration of the Lune très belle ensemble – featuring Robin Dann of Toronto indie pop collagists Bernice backing Roy’s vocals in French, Bernice-mate Philippe Melanson on percussion, Samuel Gougoux (VICTIME, Corridor, Kee Avil) on electric bass/synths, and Simon Labbé on guitars/synths. With chiming keys, percussive found sound, and alien atmospherics, “Mona” embodies the allure of a shifting castle where rooms of different shapes and volumes bleed into each other. “Deliberately deliberate,” the song’s lustrous tune, and tortuous path evoke the synergy and sensitivity of the players to one another. A platform for her to explore new sounds through new collaborations, Roy’s compositions, words, and arrangements are beautifully interpreted and improvised by its players.

“I think ‘Mona’ is about approaching the body we move with and that binds us together. Bringing comfort, or a little push,” the Montreal-based Roy says. “It is also a wink to Agnès Varda’s film Sans toit ni loi, to Mona’s life force that continues on. In the song, Robin, Phil, Simon, and Sam follow Mona’s extended breathing with tenderness, and I duplicate myself with the vocoder multiplying her voice.”

Lune très belle originated in 2016 as an ensemble for Roy’s song explorations. The project released its debut album Ô la lune in 2019, a raw and mostly live recording that Roy describes as a series of long shared breaths. More akin to waves of liquid flowing through the body, “Mona” utilizes intentional layering to create a rich entanglement of unrepeated melodic phrases and unexpected interjections. The result is a boldly tentative compositional experience that occupies the vaporous space of Grouper, with the sonorous palette of Pat Metheny, anchored by the pop affliction of Arthur Russell.

A patient process of care and diligence, at times involving onerous negotiations and confusion, “Mona” resolves itself in the beauty of the unresolvable. Roy’s work unfolds through a slow process of tending to sensations and the affective traces they leave on her, turning these traces into words and music just as fleeting. To stay true to the oblique nature of this form of translation, the texts and songs she assembles propose no clear paths to follow, but the process of wandering itself as an image. A new Lune très album will be released in 2023 via Toronto experimental label Boiled Records.