Another delightful serving of rustic folk tones and rich, husky vocals, Sydney troubadour Lorenzo Guevarra returns with the quaintly beautiful 'Rue Saint-Denis'.
The follow-up track to the single 'Côtes du Rhône' (which we premiered) released in May, 'Rue Saint-Denis' was written during a visit to Montreal in 2024.A pilgrimage to Leonard Cohen's hometown and final resting place, inspired by Lorenzo's return to live performance in 2023 that fell on Leonard's birthday, resulted in a 'stars aligning' moment.
Welcomed by the local arts scene, his internal creative flame was forever lit. "Written in a hotel room in Montréal, it's love letter to the local music scene that accepted me with the warmest hospitality," Lorenzo says of 'Rue Saint-Denis'.
Relieved of his bourgeois status (having spent his early 20s working 9 to 5s), Lorenzo is once again slinging his guitar around to resume his self-appointed task: to be as honest as possible.
Here, he shares five activities that created life-long memories from his time in Montreal.
Visit the local music stores
There is value in tasting the varietals available to the local scene. To handle the tools that manufacture the songs. Much like how we have Maton and Cole Clark, they boast Godin and Larrivée amongst a few others.I was inspired by a few nylon-strung acoustics that I tried and even had my very own Godin shipped home. The very same one that birthed 'Côtes du Rhône' back in May.
Nantel Musique and Centre de Musique Diplomate stood out to me. Brick and mortar places with some nice (exclusive) pieces. The staff were real sommeliers of their respective stock.
Sign up for an open mic (or two, or three)
A sharp contrast to the scene we have here are the amount of originals-oriented open mics that were available. I was gutted I couldn't attend them all!Bar Courcelle will always hold a special place in my heart as the first time I introduced myself on Canadian soil. If you're there during the summer, definitely check out the Parc Jeanne-Mance sessions. Turbo Haüs and Le Big Jeudi were also kind to me, conveniently on Rue Saint-Denis.
Attend a local show
I attended a secret little loft show somewhere in the Plateau that had quite an eclectic line-up. The details were passed on to me by a promoter for a different show that I played.Montréal isn’t so secretive about its love affair with the arts, but a part of me felt validated for being invited to this little soirée. If not for it, I would not have been mesmerised by Hanako who I had the luck of listening to live.
Go for a hike
I happened upon a community/ social leader at the Parc Jeanne-Mance open mic who regularly puts together group activities; a kind, gentle soul. She invited me to attend a group hike around the Mount Royal trail (which I didn't know existed) where I had the pleasure of meeting many artists of the scene.I ended up having to leave the group early to help an elderly tourist back down the slope. She was from the North Shore of Sydney, so I felt obliged to see that she got back to her hotel safely – small world.
Bagels
This is not a joke by any means. The city has ruined bagels for me. My fondest memory is waking up every morning and trying a different bakery. There is a long-standing (albeit friendly) rivalry between Fairmount and St-Viateur. A deep-embedded history for sure; I enjoyed them both!I found myself sitting at the bar table of Bagel ETC often. A cool little '50s-esque café/ resto favoured by many, many artists. Leonard Cohen himself (who lived across the street) still has his nameplate tagged to his favourite seat. I heard that he was a fan of the plain sesame-seed bagel paired with an allongé (fancy word for long black coffee). I'm not drawing any lines, but I too found this pairing to be ideal.
