Music: Being born into it is one thing; making it your life’s work is something else entirely. Hailing from Saint-Prime in the Lac-Saint-Jean region, Gab Bouchard has released two critically acclaimed albums and is gearing up to release a third. Blending pop rock, country-folk, and soul, he dives into themes of failure, pathos, hope, and borrowed glimpses into other people’s lives. Often guided by intuition, Gab just wants what’s best for everyone.

He first rose to prominence in 2020 with his debut album, Triste pareil. The single Tu m’connais trop bien became a breakout hit, picked up by commercial radio and earning him a wave of new fans. A tour across Quebec was planned, but like so much else that year, it was cancelled. Instead, Gab channelled his energy into creating Cool pareil, a web series mockumentary inspired by the offbeat humour of the American version of The Office, which chronicled the making of the album.

Two years later came Grafignes, a second album with broader, weightier themes and a sound shaped by country and soul influences. It was met with widespread critical acclaim and introduced Gab to a broader audience. Success followed swiftly: just days after the album dropped, he played sold-out shows at Montreal’s Corona Theatre and Quebec City’s Impérial. He would go on to perform nearly 100 shows across Quebec, culminating in a packed MTELUS in fall 2023. The album was nominated at ADISQ for Rock Album of the Year and Critics’ Choice Album of the Year. The track Ton shift est pas fini won the SOCAN Song Award, while Dépotoir earned the Prix collégial for Song of the Year.

After the whirlwind, Gab returned home to find some quiet and ended up staying. He built a studio, Acause, where he could write and record on his terms, explore production, and welcome other artists into his creative orbit. Now, or very soon, he’s back with a third album, set for release in early 2026. Recorded entirely at Acause, the new material strips things down—free of artifice, grounded in simplicity, and true to his roots.