“This is unsettled music for an unsettled era, the kind of songs which can sometimes make you feel euphoric and sometimes make you feel down-hearted (sometimes even both at the same time). Through it all, though, these tunes are the sonic equivalent of living, breathing, human warmth. Who could ask for anything more?” – Sputnik Music

The seventh full-length release for Canadian singer-songwriter Patrick Watson, Better in the Shade is said have been inspired by Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson, The Waves by Virginia Woolf, and Fever Dream by Samantha Schweblin.

*Note: This is Watson’s festival record, not his festival book. But you got that!

From a review by Folk Music UK: Patrick Watson ceases to amaze, and his new album, Better in the Shade, surprises again and again. His slightly dishevelled look seems at odds with music that tends to be much more gentle and composed. The more you listen, the more you hear; along the way, you start realizing that things aren’t always what they seem, and despite the moments of beauty are seams that don’t quite fit. Nothing is ever perfect. It’s the imperfection that makes things much more interesting.

Watson says, “Better in the Shade” is about negotiating a world where you don’t know what’s real anymore.”  Amidst a soft gauze of piano, a second comes in not so much at odds with the first yet playing in a slightly discordant fashion. Strings enter, and a maze of sounds seems to unsettle the careful balance. Only then do you realize Watson is creating the musical equivalent of the world we’ve wandered through over the course of the past couple of years, where beauty and pain occur in waves both disquieting and mesmerizing.

BE CURIOUSER

• Everything about Better in the Shade – Street City Records
• Leonard Cohen’s posthumous album features constellation of Montreal stars – Montreal Gazette