Milk and Bone Planning Tour

Milk and Bone. Milk and Bone.

For those of you who don’t know Milk & Bone (have you been living under a rock?), the duo is composed of the two talented women, Laurence Lafond-Beaulne and Camille Poliquin.
The two Montreal girls met in school and they became friends and began their musical journey being choristers and touring musicians. At different times, they shared the stage or the studio with artists such as Karim Ouellet or Ariane Moffatt.
They finally decided to record a song (New York) and then another one (Coconut Water), and then their first album Little Mourning. Since then, they have done a lot of live concerts and they are planning a tour in Canada, Europe and the US.

Their electro-pop is minimalist and is a mixture of their keyboards, an electronic drum and their warm and enchanting voices that harmonize perfectly. They have the particularity to immerse their listeners into a hypnotizing and contemplative velvety universe.

The complicity of the duo is felt not only in their shows and on the album but also in their creative process.

For the third year in a row, Milk & Bone did a cover of a classic Christmas song. After I’ll Be Home for Christmas and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, the duo offers their version of Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley.

I have had a talk with Camille Poliquin about being a part of Milk and Bone.

Milk & Bone. M for Montreal. Photo Bruno Destombes

Milk & Bone. M for Montreal. Photo Bruno Destombes

Sarah Bemri: You were part of bands for a lot of artists before starting Milk & Bone. When did you make the decision to start out on your own?

Camille Poliquin: We’re both tour musicians but we both wrote songs, each on our own. Being friends, at some point, we decided to put our work together and try to record a first song (New York). But making an album was not really part of our initial plan.

SB: You said you had a good response abroad from the beginning. Is it still the case, one year after the launch of your album?

CP: Yes and it is expanding. The album was launched in March 2015. And discussions are underway with record labels and we are planning a tour in the US and Europe.

SB: The tour you’re planning, will you be alone or opening for other artists?

CP: It depends. There are shows where we will be alone and others for which we will do the openings but there will also be shows with shared headliners that we can’t unveil now.

Milk & Bone. M for Montreal. Photo Bruno Destombes

Milk & Bone. M for Montreal. Photo Bruno Destombes

SB: Do you have a project for a second album?

CP: Yes, sure. But since the first came out less than one year ago, we have been busy promoting it. So we’re not yet in the studio to record the second album. However, the writing process is in progress.

SB: Let’s talk about your covers of Christmas songs, why did you choose to do that?

CP: This is the third year we did this. When it started we had just created the group, so even the album was not recorded yet. And the idea of doing covers of Christmas songs seemed appealing. From that point it became a tradition. We thought why not continue this mini-tradition. This year, we chose Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley. We wanted to make a version with a ukulele, quietly at my place. Finally the friend offered to film the performance and suggested we do it instead in a field, all filmed by a drone.

SB: How do you choose which songs to cover?

CP: Every year we wonder what song we would like to do. This year the choice was a bit more difficult. We wanted to make a universal song, not too much in the classical repertoire. And all the covers of this song are country, while there was a way to transform it into a smoother version, a version that corresponds to our music.

SB: Should we expect another cover for Christmas 2016?

CP: Of course! We really would like to keep this tradition. Ideally people will wait and wonder which song will be featured this year.

Milk & Bone will play in Annex 3 (475 Boulevard de L’avenir) in Laval January 29 at 8 p.m. $25/30. Tickets HERE. They they will open for Chilly Gonzales on February 8 at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts at 8 p.m.. Tickets $36 and up HERE.