Introducing Montreal's Post Punk Band Choses Sauvages

Image credit: Marc Andre Dupaul

Montréal’s fiercest export, Choses Sauvages, are back - and they're turning up the heat. With their third album Choses Sauvages III dropping via legendary Quebec label Audiogram, the French-speaking dance-punk renegades are ready to make their global statement. Known for their razor-sharp grooves, vintage synths, and incendiary live shows, the band blend post-punk urgency with cosmic introspection — like a disco ball thrown into an existential crisis.

Led by the magnetic Félix Bélisle, the album is their rawest, most visceral work yet, brimming with AI anxiety, social disillusionment, and philosophical pondering, all soundtracked by snarling guitars and heady synth pulses. With tracks like the ghostly ‘Fixe’, the AI-laced ‘Incendie au paradis’, and the slow-burning ‘Cours toujours’, Choses Sauvages channel late-70s punk energy through a distinctly 2025 lens.

Your new album Choses Sauvages III is described as the closest you’ve come to capturing your imagined sound. What aspects of self-producing the record helped you achieve that rawer, live-show energy?

A: It's the first album that was recorded live and that changes the overall sound of our record. There's a lot less editing in the process and it gives the songs a live texure in the end.

Songs like ‘Incendie au paradis’ explore the ethical and moral implications of AI. What role do you think music should play in addressing these kinds of global issues?

A: I don't think music should necessarily be addressing anything or have a take on society. These lyrics are just me thinking out loud in the form a song. It's inspiring scary to live in this weird, fast evolving world.

Your music draws from post-punk’s classic era while still feeling fresh. How do you balance nostalgia with innovation in your songwriting and production?

A: It's fine line to dance on. A melody can be really cheesy and obvious if the tone of the instrument that's playing it is exciting and suprising. Also, simplifying riffs and working the dynamics, as in not all playing at the same time, made the songs edgier for us.

French-Canadian music often takes longer to break internationally. What challenges have you faced as a Francophone band trying to reach a global audience, and how are you tackling them?

A: The language we sing in makes it harder to break in non-french speaking territories/countries. But, luckily, The energy of the live performance is a universal language. Normally, once we've played a city, even though the audience doesn't get the lyrics, it's gets easier to come back. It's to get there first that can be tricky sometimes. Perseverance is the key.

Your live performances are known for their explosive energy. With a European tour coming up, what can audiences expect from your shows, and how do you translate your recorded sound into a live experience

A: It's a chaotic and liberating experience for us and crowd normally. We always have the live show in the backs of our minds while creating new material. Is it exciting enough? Is it too fast or too slow, too short or too long?  It makes it easier for us to build the live set because these questions have been answered during the recording process.