by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

"We've gone from killing each other on the Plains of Abraham," says Matt Lipscombe, "to this coexistence that's kinda cool, but I think we're ready to take it up a notch. I mean, I'm half English and half French, and so are a lot of people I know. I don't particularly relate to these abstract political definitions of Quebec and Canada, but I do feel a kinship to Montreal."

As well he should, given the accolades Lipscombe and his former Me Mom & Morgentaler bandmates once earned from Montrealers from either side of the linguistic divide. These many years later, it's that divide that Lipscombe aims to bridge again with the first of what promise to be many of his Festival Franglais soirées. The night's bill splits neatly down the middle, linguistically, and each act has been encouraged to take a shot at a song or two in the other tongue.

"I'm not forcing, I'm suggesting, but they've all taken me up on the offer. One chansonnier act, one folk act, two rock 'n' roll bands and a theatre troupe doing funny songs - that's what we got."

On the English side, Lipscombe's booked the "very organic, folky, warm music" of Matt Tomlinson & la Petit Patrie and the "kick-ass power pop" of Creature, the latest from guitarist Kim Ho, most recently seen backing Jérôme Minière.

On the French end of things, Lipscombe offers Parisians, both faux and the real deal. Local theatrical types Balaise, he explains, "get dressed up in Parisian poet costumes and they have this persona, not pretentious, but arrogant. They're funny - very, very funny."

Solo act Bertrand Viret, meanwhile, is "a transplanted Parisian living here who writes these very quirky songs and is just a loveable guy."

Finally, there's Lipscombe's own Mr. Matt & the Birth of Something New, a sonic circus of folk, pop, rock and global sounds. "We're totally bilingual. I don't think that's a category of music in itself, English or French. Rock 'n' roll, reggae, R&B - these are categories, but English or French doesn't necessarily connote a style of music."

At la Sala Rossa on Friday, Feb. 20, 9pm, $10

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