SHORT BIO:
Greenvale Manitou is Cedric Briand's most personable project, and the staple name for everything he enterprises in the music industry. An eclectic taste and a love to fuse popular genres with World music is his favorite recipe. Niches are about borders, frontiers... In response, Briand resists mentalities of isolation and enclosure by flirting with many genres, performing as a multi-instrumentalist using live samples and loops, and fueling his curious soul with experimentation, occasional partnerships and transcendence.
LONG BIO:
Organic world percussion, trance-like riffs, loops or beats often serve as a common thread to Greenvale Manitou's music. Because it connects us all. The first music we ever hear is our mother's heartbeat. The drive to stretch the skin of an animal on a carved piece of wood is something all cultures across the world have in common. Drumming together was often key to survival, building communities while keeping predators at bay. As old as fire itself, Briand's music shares that everlasting transcultural vibe of belonging and rebuking, of basic comforts and primal fears. In today's unsettling times, when our tribal impulses are taking a much darker countenance, Greenvale Manitou serves as a reminder to tap into that primitive crux and confront the many social issues that haunt us.
Briand's music journey started as a young teenager, when he was trained by master percussionists from North and Central Africa. Because they were unusual in his music scene, his early performances peaked the interest of many venues and the local Press. His favorite signature still is to play the African djembe or dun dun, but he also likes to incorporate Celtic, Nordic, Latin, Asian or Native American vibes to his drumming. He also often approaches his guitar and lyrics as if they were percussion instruments. His poetry complements rhythm with narrative, emotion and symbolism, which helped him cope with abuse, physical violence, psychological traumas and even homelessness as a child. As a young adult, Briand served as lead singer for French metal band Beyond The Shadows while taking professional voice lessons on the side. He started learning to play the guitar shortly after, so as to be able to compose his own tunes, and left for the US in 2005. During his PhD education at PennState in the Humanities, he wrote many songs, played with several partners and joined many bands.
After moving to Minnesota in 2016, he decided to continue his self-teaching journey. He learned how to play the bass and operate a drum kit so as to be able to multi-track rock songs on his own. After taking online classes on music production, Briand then recorded his first demos and shared them on Soundcloud. During the Covid lockdown, he spent six months turning his basement into a recording studio. His entire house, which was built in 1949 by Donald Berglund, the legendary St Olaf Orchestra Director, and which would soon welcome many bands for practice, house concerts and fundraising events, was now dubbed "Manitou Studios". Shortly after, he approached local tech-savvy studio engineer Jeenti Dutta. Favoring storytelling and feeking in his play style as well as modern production techniques, Dutta served as both lead guitarist and producer on Greenvale Manitou's first EP, "Born of the Same", which was released on June 8, 2023. Working on this EP helped Briand escape monolithic labeling and fuse many genres, such as dream pop, psychedelic rock, heavy metal, hip hop, electro, lo-fi trip hop, or soul, together. Dutta soon created his own LLC, Summit Stream Studio, based in Dundas, MN. While no longer involved in the songwriting, Dutta still serves as Briand's producer of choice. He mixed and mastered Greenvale Manitou's second release, the 2-track "Santa Closet", released on December 25, 2023, and Briand's first single from his upcoming album "M.A.G.M.A.", the antifa anthem "Song to the Fascist", symbolically released on Nov 5, 2024. The LP will be made of previously unreleased remastered Demos.
On stage, Briand likes to produce himself either as a solo act, or with the help of musician friends. This insures that he has access to a variety of venues, from the most intimate to the most expansive, showcasing a variety of sonic flavors, from acoustic, to electric, or electronic, making use of samples and loop pedals to bind everything together. The occasional addition of Nolan Perry Arnold at the guitar, keys and accordion, and Berit Johanne Bringsjord at the violin allowed Briand to expend his horizons, including previously unreleased originals and personalized covers on stage.
Briand has since then joined Minneapolis-based prog metal band The Broken Rule as lead singer and lyricist. Their first single "Thief" was released June 16, 2025. They spent the following Fall/Winter recording their first self-titled LP at 14:59 Studios. Among other acts, Briand has partnered with the MSP French Alliance on events such as Breizh Fest and La Fête de la Musique, for which he served as main act and sound engineer. In Summer 2024, he joined in Art Makers, a local, inclusive, integrated, non-profit arts community that provides opportunities for artists with disabilities to participate in music projects as they choose, and helped them write, perform and record musicals "Alice's Wonder" and "Askeladden". He often serves as a percussionist for Northfield-based jam band Northern Roots, who play traditional music from the nordic countries, and joined the Hot Spot Punk Jam as a drummer. On top of his writing and performing duties, Briand is also currently trained on music production by Minneapolis metal producer legend Will Maravelas, and is expanding his career creating and coordinating music events, which involves booking and managing bands. On Halloween 2025, after more than 12k views on IG and about 300+ tickets sold, Metal Fest, his very first attempt, was a acclaimed success. This kept him going with further events such as Brave New World, or Celtic Fest, which are now happening on a yearly basis. He often raises money for various causes, especially during Indigenous Peoples Day at Manitou Studios, which have helped causes such as the UNICEF or MIRAC.
Briand is currently working at releasing "M.A.G.M.A."'s second single, "Willard Preacher". The Broken Rule is also releasing a second single, "Connivance", from the recently recorded LP, which will be made available shortly after. He is forming a new band from scratch with guitarist Mark Fier and previous Broken Rule bassist Ezekiel Choffel, with grunge tunes reminiscent of Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters and RHCP. He is still looking for more...