Canada Day 2004, I crammed myself into a crowd of ten thousand in front of a giant stage in Montreal’s Old Port to see a huge show featuring a ton of local stars. We were shoulder to shoulder, and getting impatient. When the stage lights finally came up, two very tired stagehands dragged out a keyboard riser. Then we noticed him: a young guy in a white T-shirt standing on top of the keyboard, arms raised high into the air, with an intense look of excitement on his face as he rode his keyboard toward center stage. He paused to look around, reached for the microphone – "Oh my god… vous êtes plein de monde!" – and started pounding away on his keyboard. That was my introduction to Antoine Gratton.

Gratton is a multi-instrumentalist from Montreal with two albums, a Juno award, and endless critical acclaim. Back in 2004 he was promoting his first album, Montréal Motel, but he owes much of his success to its 2006 follow-up, Il était une fois dans l’est – a record that won Gratton a Juno for best Francophone album. This newer record is a more mature effort for the young musician. Drawing inspiration from blues, classic rock and Americana, the instrumentation is more organized and less eclectic than his debut. The songs themselves stand out. Drawing attention to the actual tunes can be dangerous for some songwriters, but Gratton’s songs are well written and have gotten even better since his first album. Each tune on Il était une fois has a strong trajectory – a path and a purpose – and Gratton’s slangy, personal lyrics tell great stories.

In the few years that have passed since I watched Antoine stand on his keyboard in front of a crowd of ten thousand, little has changed: Gratton and his band still put on a mesmerizing show, and he still seems genuinely thrilled to be playing in front of an audience, no matter the size. If anything, Antoine has become even more charismatic, joking with his audience and playfully interacting with his bandmates. When I caught his show this past November, he seemed amused by his new keyboard’s somewhat limited sound effect bank, teasing the audience with a couple of verses from a cheesy 80s tune complete with cheesy 80s electric piano. Eventually he grabbed an acoustic guitar and played a funkified solo version of “Billie Jean” that would’ve had us all laughing if it hadn’t been so damn good.

Go pick up a copy of Il était une fois dans l’est. It’s way better than anything playing on English radio right now and it’ll hold its own alongside some of your favourite records. Come on, it’s even got some English lyrics.

By Jake Shenker