New Patrick Watson Album–Adventures in Your Own Backyard

Apr 19th, 2012 in Music

Quebecois singer/songwriter Patrick Watson has a big buzz about him, and he and his band (including Simon Angell, Robbie Kuster, and Mishka Stein) have been garnering clamorous critical cries for both their recent live performances at SXSW (which NPR dubbed the best of the entire event) and in Europe, and for new album, Adventures in Your Own Backyard (to be released on May 1st).  And it’s not just the critics:  fellow musicians (including, notoriously, Kathleen Edwards and others) have been raving about the new album.  Adventures in Your Own Backyard is actually Watson’s fourth proper album.  Heretofore 2006’s Close to Paradise was the most notorious and propelled Patrick Watson quickly into stardom in Canada and elsewhere; it went gold in Canada, and won numerous awards, including Canada’s prestigious Polaris Prize.

For those missing Jeff Buckley, you may have a new singing savant in Watson (just watch his Jeffy performance on opening track Lighthouse for L’Hiboo below).   Watson’s songs and sound combine into Buckley-esque cabaret at times, but evince eclecticism too, featuring everything from chamber-pop, to folk, to ambient, to occasional shoegazer sonorities.  And despite the complecticies (our new word for the day), it all manages to coalesce into a marvelous whole.

To get a flavor for Patrick Watson, check out a recent live performance on L’Hiboo in France and then one of the band’s SXSW  performances from last month, followed by a series of performances captured by CBC at the Glenn Gould Theater, and a brief Mojo magazine interview with Watson.   Then get out and buy the new album on May 1st before Watson tours the West Coast (as listed way below) in the first two weeks of June.

L’Hiboo:

A SXSW playing of the new album’s Into Giants (this was the performance that captivated the NPR reviewers):

The following performances for CBC, the first a reprise of Into Giants:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf8Xra_DOZA&feature=channel&list=UL

Black Wind:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55XkPgGLMek&feature=relmfu

Adventures in Your Own Backyard:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JytEqxjg5xs&feature=channel&list=UL

Step Out for a While:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o-HGUeBUNc&feature=channel&list=UL

Quiet Crowd:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1jAm7-2-ow&feature=channel&list=UL

Mojo Interview:

West Coast Tour Listing:

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