Henri was born in southwestern Ontario, and his indie folk song-writing draws heavily from his Canadian roots. In particular, the tracks from his album “fonder with time” reflect on his childhood spent in rural Ontario and the nostalgia it brings. The title alludes to the idea that it is only with the passing of time that experiences can be properly contextualized and imbued with meaning, and that the present moment can never be fully understood and appreciated until it has passed.
Henri currently resides in Barcelona, Spain, from where he is launching fonder with time, along with a series of music videos. He has already started creating new music and experimenting with film to better communicate his stories. He views the city as the ideal place for inspiration and creativity and is looking forward to discovering new ideas as he continues to explore the culture and the people around him.
“While riffing on a finger-picking pattern on the guitar, I was lulled into this vision of sitting on the banks of a large basin of water. Not a specific memory, but something that felt incredibly familiar. Some Canadian landscape: a mix of the great lakes, Georgian Bay, the Bay of Fundy; places that my parents had taken me when I was young. I was struck by the feeling that, at the time, I had never really appreciated the moment the way I feel that I would now. Funny how that works. We feel that with the extra context of the moment having passed, maybe now knowing that that was the last time we would ever go there, or the last time we would travel with our family, or the last time we would get the chance to be that age, to be at that point in our life, it becomes so much more alluring than experiencing the moment itself. The song evolved from a contemplation on the desire we have to possess the wisdom of the present in the past, to an acceptance of the passage of time and how every moment brings with it new context and beauty. That the thing we call longing is not really a desire to return to the past, but an appreciation for what we now know and the ability that gives us to now impart meaning on our past.” – Henri-Julien
