by LORRAINE CARPENTER

“M This is just to tell you how sad it is that Caféïne doesn’t exist anymore. Caféïne was one of the greatest bands here in Montreal. Xavier, continue, eh? Continue your great job with another band and people, take care of our local bands, okay? Bye. [BLEEP!]”

Whoever left that weepy Rant Line™ message in 2002 oughta be elated by the news that Xavier Caféïne is back with a new album, Gisèle. It’s been six years since Caféïne’s last release, an English-language trash rock record called Pornstar, followed by a similarly-oriented eponymous album in 2004 by his other band, Poxy, also in English. But longtime fans are in for a treat, because not only is Gisèle Caféïne’s first record en français since 1997’s Mal éduqué mon amour, it’s also his best album since that flagship set sail.

“A year and a half ago, I started by writing two new songs in French ’cause I wanted to see if I could still do it,” says Caféïne. “I find it hard to write French lyrics that sound good and that are poetic enough to read without being pompous. It can easily become pretentious—it’s a disease of the French language.”

“Montréal Cette Ville” and “Gisèle” were the songs that spurred the comeback, inspiring Caféïne to hunker down and pen an LP.

“You’ve gotta be very focused,” he says, “more than if you write in English, which kinda sounds good automatically, even if you say crap, like Kiss.”

The album has its share of allusions to rockin’ and rollin’ all night and partying every day, but Caféïne delves deep into malaise and heartache in songs such as the title track, about “when you hurt people so bad that it breaks your heart.”

“The songs are very real,” he says. “I went to a very honest place inside of me to write [the album] and when you do that, people can say whatever they want, but you’re comfortable with your choices.”

When it came time to record, Caféïne chose not to choose between longtime collaborators Michel “Away” Langevin and Pat No, who both lend their distinctive drum stylings to Gisèle. No is also part of Caféïne’s live band, which features Eric Sonic and Alex Crowe, familiar faces from both Caféïne and Poxy. But Caféïne played all the other instruments on the record himself, and considers the new incarnation of this project to be more solo- than band-oriented. This made it easier for him to be himself musically, and to work with esteemed producers Glen Robinson and Gus Van Go to pull his sound out of the glam-punk gutter.

“I’m getting older and I want to explore,” he says. “In punk rock, it’s very easy to be trapped in a certain format. As Henry Rollins said, punk rockers are the most fascistic people [regarding] what’s punk and what’s not—I hate that attitude. I wanted to go a little further in the music, and I will go even further on the next album. For me, a good career orientation is Tom Waits, who didn’t care and just did what he felt like doing. At this point, I think I’m ready to do that.”

CD launch at Petit Campus on Tuesday, Aug. 22, 5 p.m.

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