Greenvale Manitou is Cedric Briand's most personable project, as well as the land base name for everything he enterprises. An eclectic taste and a love to fuse popular genres with World music is Greenvale Manitou's favorite recipe. Niches are about borders, frontiers... In response, resisting mentalities of isolation and enclosure by exploring various styles and instruments, multiply the experiences so as to... grow? Nope. Figure out what was already lying dormant inside of you. Plural. It's all about fueling curiosity with exploration, experimentation, partnerships and occasional transcendence.
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. As for drumming, it is one of the oldest universal practices. The drive to stretch the skin of an animal on a carved piece of wood, clay or metal is something we share in all cultures across the world. Wherever you may look, drumming together was key to survival. It helped build communities while keeping predators at bay. It makes us belong as much as it helps us confront. It comforts as much as it tantalizes. In today's unsettling times, when our tribal impulses can take a much darker countenance, I willingly choose to channel that primal sonic crux so as to address the many social issues that haunt us.
As a teenager, I was trained by several North and Central African percussionists. These are the first performances I ever did. My favorite signature is to play djembe or dun dun, but I also like to incorporate Celtic, Nordic, Latin, Asian or Native American vibes to my game. As a matter of fact, I often approach my guitar and lyrics as if they were percussion themselves. To me, poetry, which I extensively wrote since high school to help me cope with child abuse, physical violence, psychological traumas and homelessness, often blooms best when rhythmic patterns come first. As a young adult, I served as lead singer for metal band Beyond The Shadows for three years, taking singing lessons on the side and honing my skills as lyricist. I started learning to play the guitar shortly before I left for the US in 2005. During my PhD education at PennState, where I studied language, poetry, literature analysis, philosophy, critical theory and politics, I played with many partners and joined many bands.
When I moved to Minnesota in 2016, I came with 150+ songs on my repertoire. I had just learned the electric guitar, and decided to learn bass and how to play with a drum kit. After taking classes on music production, I recorded my first demos and shared them on Soundcloud. During the Covid lockdown, I approached local producer Jeenti Dutta, who had just finished Summit Stream Studio, for tips. During the next six months I finished my basement and turned it into my own home recording studio. Jeenti and I then collaborated on a few songs. As a tech-savvy studio engineer focusing on modern production techniques, I knew I could use his how-to. As a treasure trove of killer guitar licks and solos, while favoring storytelling and emotion first, I knew I could also count on his songwriting skills. Jeenti served as lead guitarist on Greenvale Manitou's first EP, "Born of the Same", released June 8, 2023, while I mainly concentrated on writing singing melodies, lyrics and percussion. I like to record, edit, comp from my home studio - Manitou Studios, based in Northfield, MN - and supervise the groove of each track before and after production. With this EP, I wished to escape monolithic labeling, and so I liked to fuse many genres such as dream pop, psychedelic rock, heavy metal, hip hop, electro, lo-fi trip hop, or soul, together. Since then, Jeenti has created Summit Stream Studio, based in Dundas, MN. I reached out to him for the release of my second EP, "Santa Closet", released December 25, 2023. Both songs have been fully recorded and edited by myself and mixed/mastered by Jeenti.
You can find more details about each song and stories or anecdotes on people's backgrounds under the "music", "videos" and "gallery" sections on this website, or follow us on social media.
On stage, I like to produce myself either as a solo act, or with the help of my team of musician friends, which is always expending. This insures that I have access to a variety of venues, from the most intimate to the most expansive of stages, and that I can present a variety of shows, whether acoustic, electric, and/or electronic, often using samples or looping pedals to bind everything together. Given he serves as producer and lead guitarist for many acts, Jeenti's availability for gigs has been occasional. The addition of St Olaf College alumni Nolan Perry Arnold at the guitar, keys and accordion, and Berit Johanne Bringsjord at the violin by my side during the 2023 gigging season has allowed me to expend my horizons and bring additional flavors and spices to my songs, including previously unreleased originals and personalized covers.
My goals for 2024 are the recording of a full album in my home studio, with the help of Jeenti for mixing/mastering, and Nolan and Berit for occasional takes, more gigs, more press, more outreach, and the creation of my own LLC, Manitou Studios, which will provide a savory mélange of recording, editing, voice, percussion, artistic self-management, cooking, wine tasting, language learning and myth studying classes and services. It will also serve as an intimate, private venue, both indoors and outdoors.