Diane Labrosse

Keyboardist and sampler specialist Diane Labrosse belongs to the core of Montreal’s avant-garde collective Ambiances Magnétiques. During the 1980s she performed with several feminist avant-pop ensembles before moving from keyboards to sampling and from rock formats to electronic improvisation. Although solo releases exist, her most recognized projects emerged alongside Ikue Mori and Martin Tétreault; she also contributes to numerous recordings by fellow Ambiances Magnétiques members, notably Jean Derome, Joane Hétu, and Michel F. Côté. In addition, she co-founded and serves as artistic co-director of the Montreal concert-production firm Productions SuperMémé.

Before Ambiances Magnétiques formed, Labrosse was already involved with the left-field circles L’Enfant Fort and Pouêt Pouêt Band. There she encountered saxophonist and singer Hétu along with drummer Danielle P. Roger, and the three women established Wondeur Brass. Labrosse’s distinctive keyboard style, built on unconventional post-new-wave timbres, defined the group’s sound across the albums Ravir (1985) and Simoneda, Reine des Esclaves (1988). The same trio recorded once under the name Les Poules in 1986—an ensemble revived as an improvisation project in the early 2000s—while adding bassist Marie Trudeau created the band Justine, whose early-1990s work attracted a cult audience in Eastern Europe.

In 1985 she and her associates joined Ambiances Magnétiques, where she formed a close musical and personal bond with drummer Michel F. Côté. She appeared on his initial two Bruire albums, most prominently Les Fleurs de Léo, recorded the duo album Duo Déconstructiviste with him, and co-composed the score for Robert Lepage’s play La Géométrie des Miracles (Geometry of Miracles), later touring the technological cabaret Zulu Time.

Her debut solo recording, Face Cachée des Choses, appeared in 1995, coinciding with the close of Justine’s run and preceding her entry into Hétu’s new ensemble Castor et Compagnie. The album marked her first sustained exploration of the sampler, an approach she continued to refine. The international release Île Bizarre (1998), made with Ikue Mori and Martin Tétreault, brought wider attention, while further duo work with Tétreault produced the album Parasites (2001) after extensive European touring.