{"id":26466,"date":"2016-09-04T13:41:17","date_gmt":"2016-09-04T21:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/?p=26466"},"modified":"2016-09-06T05:56:29","modified_gmt":"2016-09-06T13:56:29","slug":"great-songwriter-john-k-samson-the-weakerthans-returns-with-new-album-listen-to-song-postdoc-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/2016-09\/great-songwriter-john-k-samson-the-weakerthans-returns-with-new-album-listen-to-song-postdoc-blues\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Songwriter John K. Samson (The Weakerthans) Returns With New Album–Listen to Song “Postdoc Blues”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Music lovers have cause for celebration: one of this era’s best songwriters, John K. Samson <\/strong>(of the much-lamented\u00a0The Weakerthans<\/strong><\/a>) is returning from Winnipeg’s tundra with new album Winter Wheat<\/strong><\/em>, his first since 2012’s Provincial<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>(our No. 3 Best Album of 2012<\/strong><\/a>). Evidently “inspired by the search for connection and community… and our individual and collective struggles with addictions to drugs, screens, and fossil fuels,”\u00a0Winter Wheat<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0will be available via Anti-Records<\/strong> on October 21st<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

To entice your ears, Samson <\/strong>has unveiled a great new song,\u00a0Postdoc Blues<\/strong><\/em>, which you can listen to below. In the song and the album’s tracklist (below) we hear and see that some of\u00a0Samson’s<\/strong> totemic touchstones (Winnipeg, Highway 1) and characters (Virtue the Cat) are endearingly continued on the new album. Similarly Provincial’s<\/em> Master’s Thesis<\/em>–<\/strong>writer and his “controller” and “hard drive” yield to the\u00a0Postdoc Blues<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0and its “dongles.” Samson<\/strong>\u00a0presents another character seeking\u00a0community and hope while existing in an isolated, digitized world.<\/p>\n

Samson<\/strong> has said that in Postdoc Blues<\/strong><\/em> he “wanted to see that character move beyond the immediate comforts of screens and solitude, and catch sight of the larger picture\u2014that we need to keep working to build a community that will care for the world and for each other, and that there can be real joy in that labor.\u00a0Postdoc Blues<\/strong><\/em> is also one of several songs on this record that I wrote in response to Neil Young\u2019s<\/strong> 1974 album On The Beach<\/i><\/strong><\/a>. Young<\/strong> was uncannily prescient about our current addictions to screens and drugs and fossil fuels and nostalgia.”<\/p>\n

We are thrilled by the new song and can’t wait for the album, which was co-produced by Jason Tait<\/strong>\u00a0(The Weakerthans<\/strong> drummer), along with Samson’s<\/strong> partner, Christine Fellows<\/strong>, and also features Greg Smith<\/strong> (The Weakerthans<\/strong> bass player) and much of it was recorded by The Weakerthans<\/strong> sound tech Cam Loeppky<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

You can pre-order Winter Wheat<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0HERE<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n