Artist

Men I Trust

band from Montreal

Montreal, Canada • Formed 2014

Men I Trust is a music group from Montreal, Canada, active since 2014. Their discography on Gatefold includes 11 records.

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Albums tracked

In collections

2014

Since

Biography

Men I Trust is Dragos, Emma, Jessy, Mathieu and Alexis. Founded in 2014, the dance band from Montreal, Canada loves smooth sounds, calm melodies and simple rhythms that relax, but make your right foot tap and your chin bounce on the beats. They record, mix, master and shoot their music videos. Jessy and Dragos knew each other since their fourth year of high school. Back then (mid-2000’s), Dragos had somewhat of a background in classical piano and Jessy mastered the dark and esoteric art of the metal guitar solist.

The Arc of Men I Trust

The pivots — what forced Men I Trust to reinvent.

The Guest Vocalist Era
Before they were a fixed trio, Dragos and Jessy functioned as a production project that cycled through different voices. You can hear the lack of a cohesive identity on those early 2014 and 2015 releases where they were still flirting with more aggressive electronic elements and a rotating door of collaborators like Odile Marmet-Rochefort. The music was polished but felt like a search for a center that hadn't been found yet. It wasn't until Emma's breathy, understated vocals became the permanent anchor that the 'Men I Trust' sound actually solidified into a recognizable brand.
The Oncle Jazz Breakthrough
The band spent years teasing out singles like 'Show Me How' and 'Tailwhip' before finally dropping a full-length that committed to the long-form groove. They moved away from the more upbeat, dance-leaning tendencies of their debut and leaned into a slower, jazz-adjacent tempo that emphasized Jessy’s melodic bass lines. This is where the production got deeper and the tracks started to breathe, shedding the busy arrangements for space and silence. It’s the sound of a band realizing that doing less is actually significantly harder to pull off in a studio environment.
The Untourable Lockdown Pivot
With the world shut down, the band retreated into a more insular, moody recording process that resulted in Untourable Album. Deprived of the road, they leaned into weirder, more experimental synth textures and slightly more complex song structures that moved away from their standard pop loops. The record felt more like a studio experiment than a collection of live songs, featuring tighter arrangements and a colder, more clinical atmosphere. It proved they weren't just a vibe-based playlist band and could actually write a cohesive, slightly stranger piece of work when the distractions were stripped away.

Influences

The Isley Brothers — Dragos has explicitly cited the band's obsession with 70s soul and the Isley Brothers' rhythm section. You hear it in the way the bass leads the melody while the guitars stay strictly rhythmic and percussive. It’s that 'Between the Sheets' DNA filtered through a Montreal basement.
Benny Sings — The band has cited the Dutch songwriter as a major touchstone for their approach to 'pop' songcraft. You can hear his influence in the way they prioritize a catchy, simple hook without over-producing the arrangement. Both artists share that same knack for making high-level musicianship sound like a casual afterthought.
Mac DeMarco — The direct influence comes from the shared DIY recording ethos of the Montreal scene and Mac's signature 'jangle' and tape saturation. Men I Trust took that lo-fi, pitch-warped guitar aesthetic and cleaned it up for a more sophisticated audience. It’s the same pitch-bend technique, just without the cigarette ash on the console.
Stereolab — The band's penchant for analog synth textures and motorik-lite rhythms traces back to the Groop's influence on the Quebec indie scene. You hear it in the repetitive, hypnotic keyboard loops that underpin their more 'dreamy' tracks. They share that same obsession with vintage gear used in a modern, non-ironic way.
Carly Simon — Emma has pointed to 70s folk-pop vocalists like Simon as the blueprint for her vocal delivery. It’s about that intimate, close-mic technique that feels like she’s whispering directly into the listener's ear. It strips away the artifice of a 'big' performance in favor of something much more conversational.