This album is about negotiating a world where you don’t know what’s real anymore. I really spent a lot of time reading to improve my lyrics...

This album is about negotiating a world where you don’t know what’s real anymore. 

I really spent a lot of time reading to improve my lyrics for this record. I was very inspired by Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson, The Waves by Virginia Woolf and Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin. The lyrics are a collection of little thoughts that were pacing in my head. We worked hard on rebuilding the tones of our arrangements and we brought a bigger electronic component to the music. With the addition of modular synths, we able to find a warmer and more touching approach to the electronics, that feel as acoustic as the rest of the instruments and move like liquid. Basically, I went back to school for the last two years to be able to bring something new ha-ha. Andrew Barr from the Barr Brothers joined us on drums for this record, it’s a pleasure to play music with such a great musician. 

“Height of the Feeling” is about using intimacy as a compass when you feel out of your skin. I sometimes just have trouble without affection to ground me. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, it just is. I was lucky to be able to co-write this with Ariel Engle from La Force. She’s so much fun to work with. We just did loads of improv takes on one mic and giggled together the whole time.  

“Ode to Vivian” and “Little Moments” were inspired by the photography of one my heroes Vivian Maier. Especially how she manages to catch just wonderful, unbelievable little moments that in the end are much louder than the big ones. 

“Blue” is about being addicted to negative feedback in your own head just like any other drug and sitting in melancholy as a form of escape due to the overwhelming experience of it… But it’s also about just sitting beside someone you love and letting go together. My girlfriend Heather O’Neill at one point turned to me and said, “if you’re not here, well, neither am I” and I loved it. 

 The song “La La La La La,“ well, that’s self-explanatory. Mishka Stein had brought these wonderful chords and we literally just improved on it and made this wonderful treat by accident. 

“Stay” is an idea brought in again by Mishka. He was inspired by the feeling of holding on to one’s humanity as the digital reality is pulling us so quickly down a new path.  

We were so lucky to have Elisabeth Perrault bring us such amazing artwork for this record and make one of the best videos we’ve ever had. She’s a young, talented artist and I imagine we’ll be seeing a lot of her in the future.  

Patrick Watson