Myriam Gendron is a Canadian musician and songwriter based in Montreal.
Myriam Gendron was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada in 1988. She spent part of her childhood and adolescence in Gatineau, in Paris, and in Washington, D.C.
In 2014, her first album Not So Deep as a Well set poems by Dorothy Parker to music.https://mouse-magazine.com/issue-4/myriam-gendron Most vinyl editions of the album included a raving one sheet insert by pioneer rock critic Richard Meltzer: âÂÂthe disc you now hold is the hottestâÂÂand FINEST!âÂÂImpossible Love collection in, I dunno, 30 years.à35!à(True.) ⦠ARE U READY 4 WOE?âÂÂ. Two other poems by Parker were also set to music and released in 2015: âÂÂBric-à-bracâ and âÂÂThe Small HoursâÂÂ.
A second album was released in 2021, titled Ma Délire. Songs of Love, Lost and Found and largely oriented around her contemporary interpretations of popular Canadian music. It received high praises from critics both in the francophone world (Le Devoir ranked it as 5th best Quebec album of the year; Olivier Lamm in French paper Libération wrote that âÂÂMa délire is a classic for the future and for the past.âÂÂ) and in anglophone medias : Pitchfork<nowiki/>'s Marc Masters gave it a rare 8.0 score, writing âÂÂAs a vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter, [Gendron]âÂÂs a masterful musical interpreter, transforming long-past art into present-tense visionâÂÂ, Joseph Neff in The Vinyl District graded it A+ writing âÂÂits 15 tracks cohere into a statement of astonishing power, making it one of 2021âÂÂs finest releases.â The album notably includes âÂÂAu cà Âur de ma délireâÂÂ, a traditional song first popularized by Dominique Tremblay and Philippe Gagnon, two members of Robert CharleboisâÂÂs touring entourage . It also includes a version of âÂÂPar un dimanche au soirâÂÂ, and âÂÂLe tueur de femmesâÂÂ. The song âÂÂPoor Girl Bluesâ is an interpolation of âÂÂUn Canadien errantâÂÂ. The album also includes her interpretations of several traditional songs from other cultures, such as âÂÂGo Away From My WindowâÂÂ, a traditional American folk song collected by John Jacob Niles, and songs with more complex histories, such as âÂÂShenandoahâÂÂ, an American sea shanty dating from the early nineteenth century with French-Canadian origins.
âÂÂLiterature is a passion for me, and in folk music IâÂÂve found a literary form that suits me wellâÂÂ, she explains, adding: âÂÂI love all kinds of music: alternative music, metal⦠I like when it rips, and folk is not incompatible with that.â She also works as a bookseller in Montreal.
On may 10th 2024 her third album Mayday was released to critical acclaim as a corelease on American labels Thrill Jockey and Feeding Tube Records for physical and digital copies and on Canadian label Chivichivi for streaming. The album was longlisted for the 2025 Polaris Music Prize.