Musician and actress Catherine-Audrey Lachapelle and multi-instrumentalist Léandre Joly-Pelletier bring an Appalachian vibe to Quebec’s music scene with their project VERANDA. After releasing a first EP, Yodel Bleu, in 2020, the couple spent their pandemic between the edge of a river in La Macaza and the stages of Quebec, Western Canada, Yukon and Alaska.
Their new album, Là-Bas, offers resonant human themes weaved into sweet harmonies and soulful melodies. The duo delivers a fresh take on classic Country and Bluegrass music, from high lonesome bluegrass to intimate folk ballads. Questions regarding the pursuit of happiness and human loneliness are approached through the eyes of forests, mountains and rivers rather than from the simple point of view of human experience.
Imagine a place way out in the countryside, where there is a rustic cabin in the woods in front of which Dolly Parton, Ralph Stanley and Emmylou Harris are quietly swaying under the pine trees; that’s where Veranda calls home.