As we prep for the imminent release of our second full length album, “New in Town”, we are launching new music, a single, as a warning shot.
The landscape for music promotion evolves every six months, so this is an opportunity to reacquaint myself with the process. I remember the basics (bang your head against the wall.) But new music is always cause for celebration. My only rule going forward is to enjoy the ride.
“Le 6 Octobre”, a melancholy reverie of my years in Montreal, is sung entirely in French — but don’t worry! A video with English lyrics will accompany the release, which takes place on October 6th. You can follow along as I tell the story.
We recorded it during the same session as “Acadiana Girls”, and the pairing now makes perfect sense. Years ago, I moved from New Orleans to Montreal. In my mind, I was trading one old French town for another, but it was a shock to go from sweaty south Louisiana, with its party atmosphere, to a snowy, more reserved cosmopolitan city. The chorus asks, “Who are these people who love the fall?” It’s not that I don’t enjoy it myself, but the season has the whiff of losing something wonderful — summertime.
And Montreal fall was glorious until it wasn’t. Mix early sunsets and gray skies with snowstorms and heartbreak, and you get a grim Northern stew. It wasn’t the red beans & rice I left behind, but I persevered — thrived, really. I made some of my best friends ever. The picture above is of my street, and…that’s exactly how it was. I can close my eyes and hear the squeak of my boots as walked the streets of the Plateau.
The band, Beau Dommage, captured vibe of this neighborhood in their song, “Montreal” (“The sky is low, the earth is gray. The river is dirty”). It sounds better in French, of course. Their sounds was 70’s, Quebecois Fleetwood Mac, kind of. The recordings are sublime (all early EMI Records).
I return yearly, and the ghosts are around every corner.
Take one last look at that photo. That’s exactly how it was.