Put on a CRi record, and one of the first things you might notice is its emotional intensity. A hypnotic blend of warm future-house synths, euphoric bass lines, and hazy multilingual vocals, this French-Canadian DJ has coined his sound as “deep chalet music”—a tongue-in-cheek play on “deep house” that rather fittingly describes CRi’s ability to integrate his Québecois spirit into what’s become an internationally-recognizable sound.
Self-taught and having come up in Montreal’s vibrant electronic scene, CRi (a.k.a. Christophe Dubé) quickly emerged as one of the city’s most accomplished and trailblazing musical voices of the past decade. Having signed with Anjunadeep in 2019, CRi was one of the first electronic acts to headline the Montréal Jazz Festival and the first to receive a prestigious Félix Award in 2021 for his debut album, Juvenile.
Fast-forward through a pandemic, the birth of his first child, and a semi-permanent escape to the serenity of the Laurentian mountains, and it’s clear that CRi’s music has developed and matured in tandem with his own experiences of adulthood. His most recent project, the Hold You EP, came out in late August and serves as the B-side to the critically acclaimed 2023 sophomore album Miracles.
Sitting down with us backstage at this summer’s Osheaga Festival, the CRi talked us through his decision to get out of the city, his experiences touring the world several times over, and how he represents Québec on the international stage.
Nexus Radio: Great to meet you, CRi. How has your Osheaga experience been so far?
CRi: It’s been great. I feel very lucky, I’m not sure there are many artists who have played Osheaga four times.
NR: They definitely love you here. Are you originally from Montreal?
CRi: Originally, I’m from Quebec City, but I moved here 12 years ago. Quebec City is a great city to have kids or a normal job, but building a musical career there… When I lived there, it wasn’t possible to build one. So, I moved to Montreal.
NR: Do you still live in the city?
CRi: I bought a house in the Laurentians during the pandemic and moved there. But we kept our apartment in Montreal, in Little Italy. To me, it’s the best neighborhood in Montreal. We have a great balance between living in the country and the city.
NR: I love that area!
CRi: Anything around St Laurent Boulevard and north of Mont Royal is great.
NR: All the best restaurants! And some great clubs, too.
CRi: It’s a great neighborhood. But I have to admit I prefer living in the mountains and forests. My life is basically about touring around the world and then returning home to rest and care for my newborn son. And then making music.
NR: Do you ever miss the city?
CRi: I don’t need the perks of the city, you know? I can’t go out anyway. I’m a dad! And it’s nice there; we have a big studio with a view of the forest. And, when I finish work, I go with my wife and baby to the lake during the summer, and during the winter, we go outside and cross-country ski. To me, now, the city isn’t something that I need. But maybe eventually yes.
NR: Would you consider that your chalet?
CRi: (laughs) Well, we live there full time, so it’s more like the chalet is my apartment in Montreal.
NR: That makes sense! You talk about “deep chalet music”. Could you define Quebecois chalet culture?
CRi: I think, as Quebecois, we are proud of our nature and the beautiful landscapes and the slower lifestyle that comes with it. We live in the constant rush of everything, and to live in nature… Everything is calmer and slower, and even the people are more chill.
NR: An escape from urban life, right?
CRi: Right. And the chalet music thing to me is like a joke… Because my music is labeled as deep house, so I thought it’d be funny to call it deep chalet music. Though I guess my music is a bit softer and more calm. I guess it fits in with the chalet lifestyle.
NR: When I first discovered your music, I was struck by how emotional it is. I think that’s one of the reasons people have connected with you so much. Has music always been an emotional escape for you?
CRi: Definitely. For instance, when my sister gave birth to my niece almost two years ago, it was such an emotional moment for me that when I came back from the hospital, I was like… “Okay, I just need to evacuate this emotion.” That’s how I wrote “I Can Make It”—one of my best songs, I think. I made that in thirty minutes.
NR: That’s a beautiful story. Is that usually how things go with you, music-wise? Is it a quick process, or do some tracks take longer?
CRi: Both. The song is not necessarily better when it’s a fast process. On Miracles, for instance, the song “Memories” was something I worked on for almost three years. There’s no recipe, and you never know what will happen, so you must respect the process—if it’s a slow process, that’s ok.
NR: I did a deep dive into your background and came upon Feuilles et Racines, one of your early projects. And then I saw you’d completed a bachelor’s degree in digital music at the UQAM. How have those two experiences informed the way you approach making music today?
CRi: Feuilles et Racines was just about discovering music—making music with people, collaborating, being excited about it, playing shows… I wouldn’t listen to those shows today but, still, the passion was there. I fell in love with music while working on that project, even if it was totally different than what I’m making now.
NR: You were beatboxing, right?
CRi: Yeah, and my friends were rapping. There was a producer in the band who showed me how he made beats, which is when I switched and started making electronic music. I worked as a pizza delivery guy for a year and spent that time trying to figure out my music and build up some money. And then, I moved to Montreal and started that degree. That’s where I met some of the most important people in my career.
NR: What kind of things did you learn in your program?
CRi: I’m honestly not sure I learned that much. Back then, the program was maybe too diverse, touching on too much stuff but never going deep. That was just my experience. The great thing about the program was that my parents were paying my rent, so I had the space for almost three years to only work on music. Just, music, music, music.
NR: That’s such a blessing. What work did you do after getting out of school?
CRi: I wrote music for ads—Lancôme, Mastercard, Via Rail… I had the time to figure out my sound, and since I signed with Anjunadeep [2019], I’ve just been doing this project full-time.
NR: How has your sound changed as you’ve toured?
CRi: It’s more dance-oriented. The more I tour, the more I want to see people dance. The early CRi stuff was more ambient, with slow drums. I think I’ve succeeded in keeping that melancholic emotion but adding harder drums, which is a great blend. You can basically listen to my music on your couch, chilling with friends, driving a car, or thinking about life. Or you can dance your ass off on the dance floor.
NR: Can you tell me a little about how you approached your second album, Miracles, versus your debut, Juvenile?
CRi: I feel like with Juvenile, I touched on something that was very genuine and authentic. The inspiration for it came from my childhood and background. And then I decided to make another album that just follows my life, in a way.
I see Miracles as a sequel to Juvenile, and because I love the concept of a trilogy, the third album will be a sequel, too. And then I’ll do something new. Maybe it’s because I love Star Wars, the way each film is like an episode in a master film, you know? I want to do the same with my music.
NR: But you’re also releasing stuff in between! Your EP Hold You is coming out this summer, right?
CRi: Yes! I love dropping EPs between my albums because they’re basically like the B-sides of my albums. I revisit the songs that didn’t make the cut and make them better.
NR: As one of the biggest Quebecois names in electronic music, do you see yourself as a representative of Quebecois music on the international scene?
CRi: You know, when I was making ad music, Tourisme Quebec asked me to revisit Daniel Bélanger’s
“Fous N’importe Où” with Charlotte Cardin. The song was supposed to be for an ad campaign, but it was so successful that we decided to release it, and then it became a radio hit.
NR: Would you say that was your first big hit?
CRi: It was my first and only one in terms of radio. (laughs) Since then, I’ve tried to build a bridge between Quebecois pop and electronic music. Do I represent Quebecois music? I don’t know. It’s diverse. But I’m very proud to be considered as a representative of it.
NR: Do you think there are still barriers for electronic artists from or in Quebec?
CRi: I think with Juvenile, we broke the barrier of electronic artists from Quebec being recognized. And with Miracles, the goal was to export that success to the US and other countries. And we did it! I had 23 dates in the US, I went to India, I went to China, I went to Europe and Mexico. Now, I’m dreaming of, like, playing Coachella or winning a Grammy.
NR: You’re definitely on that trajectory. Ok, last question: what can people expect from a CRi performance?
CRi: Well, I perform in two ways: DJing or playing a live set. For my DJ sets, I blend my music with others’ music, but for live sets, I just play my own stuff and music specifically made to play live. Today will be a live set and we’ll even have live vocalists—Jesse McCormack, Sophia Bel, and Klô Pelgag.
NR: I can’t wait. Thanks for sitting down with me.
CRi: Thank you!
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This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. Check out CRi’s latest EP, Hold You, here.
