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It can get lonely out there in Canadian singer/songwriter land, and Michael Feuerstack – a pro at creating interior worlds in his tunes – surely knows that.
On Singer Songer, he builds a bridge out of musical isolation by enlisting nine friends to take over lead vocal duties on songs he wrote.
Singer Songer, though conceptually reversed, is reminiscent of Neko Case’s Canadian Amp (in which she sang songs by various Canadian artists), perhaps because Feuerstack’s collaborators invest so much of their own personalities in each of the tunes, which he wrote with their unique vocal styles in mind. This is particularly clear on Out Of Season, in which Feuerstack nails Devon Sproule’s characteristic lilt in the melody Stories, featuring Jessie Stein’s hushed, spooky and idiosyncratic vocals and Friday Night Guard, which struts along contagiously with all the fun bells and whistles (and in which John K. Samson sounds a lot like he’s channelling Jim Guthrie).
Top track: Friday Night Guard
Michael Feuerstack plays the Piston Sunday (April 13).
