2023, was even a rough winter, even for Montrealers, who are used the long and desolate cold season. Between tunes at a Hay Babies rehearsal, Katrine said, half-jokingly: “We can’t seem to find time to make this album. Why don’t we go to Louisiana or something?”

Julie and Vivianne missed the joke, but caught the genius: Like many Acadians, the three girls felt a deep-rooted connection to Cajun culture, and always met a warm welcome in the Bayou. They booked flights south that very evening.

The band was already well-connected in Louisiana and were offered lodgings in an ancestral house just outside Lafayette, complete with farm, garden, sugarcane field—and even loaner instruments! Their generous welcome meant that their schedule quickly filled up with shows, chance chats with French speakers eager to release their pent-up paroles, and family namesakes (maybe distant relatives?). So it wasn’t long before they stopped accepting dinner invitations in order to concentrate on their Louisiana mission: writing music.

Their previous album Boîte aux lettres was a concept album, narrative in nature; whereas Tintamarre is thematic, focused on pan-Acadian identity and its innate joie de vivre, distinct voice, and all-encompassing pride. Louisiana is a dynamic place: Everything and everyone is constantly in motion. Tintamarre captures that eclectic vibe deftly with party tunes that span musical idioms from country, to roots, to classic rock; and lyrical topics from communities, to celebrations, to recipes.

Les Hay Babies on Tintamarre:

Tintamarre is our latest classic-rock/country album. We went to Louisiana to let the good times roll and we came back to New-Brunswick with a better understanding of the “Acadian joie de vivre”. Sometimes you have to leave home to see what your house actually looks like.

We wrote the songs in the South Louisiana heat, and recorded them in the dead of winter in our home studio, La grosse rose, in New-Brunswick. It was nice to keep warm with the sunny memories of these southern rock influenced songs.

Tintamarre will definitely assuage the ears of Waxahatchee and Wednesday. The album is available for pre-order HERE