Last year, Canadian singer-songwriter Jerry Leger released his tenth studio album ‘Nothing Pressing’, shaped by “the experience of the pandemic with its reflections on isolation, longing and gratitude, but also on the passing of one of his best friends.” Mike Davies described it as an album of “…songs that give you the strength to come through on the other side.” It was his second release on the Cowboy Junkies Latent Recordings label, to which he returns for his brand new studio album Donlands on October 27th.
Alongside the album announcement, you can hear his first single, “Three Hours Ahead Of Midnight,” accompanied by a music video Directed, filmed & edited by Mitch Fillion and set in Toronto.
Leger shared about the single and video: “I hear it as a soulful song about maybe losing the battle but not losing the fight. I love the space in the recording, it keeps you close to its chest. The video was filmed at the Imperial Pub in Toronto, which has been there since the ’40s and is one of the few remaining pubs of its type in the big city. It has an incredible atmosphere and Mitch Fillion did a beautiful job making the video; he really captured the feeling of the song.”
Save/stream Three Hours Ahead of Midnight here: https://eek.lnk.to/JLTHAOM
The accompanying album press reveals that for Donlands, Leger has taken a different approach, teaming up with legendary Canadian producer/engineer Mark Howard (Lucinda Williams, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Neil Young), whose trademark atmospheric sound adds an entirely new dimension to Leger’s approach. Named after the street in Toronto’s east end where it was recorded, in what once was the Donlands Theatre, Donlands presents Jerry Leger as he’s never been heard before.
“Not a lot of people make records like Mark Howard anymore,” Leger says. “After I got to tell him how much Tom Waits’s Real Gone meant to me, I fell right into the experience. Like all my albums, we recorded Donlands mostly live in the studio with my band The Situation [Dan Mock, Kyle Sullivan, Alan Zemaitis] in a circle—no headphones, just listening and existing, breathing as a whole. To me, it’s a record that lives in its own world. Since I was a little kid, I’ve loved how recordings like The Flamingos’ ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’ and ‘Pledging My Love’ by Johnny Ace sound so haunting. I knew Mark could get us that, with the right choice of material.”
Leger began by sending Howard twenty demos and was pleasantly surprised when they basically agreed on which ten should comprise the record. From there, he describes the process as treating each song like a blank canvas, building up arrangements with the help of engineer Aaron Goldstein, who also added pedal steel and guitar to several tracks. But overall, Leger says it all came down to the atmosphere Howard created. He says the experience felt almost like creating a film noir soundtrack, with something unknown always lurking in the shadows.
Leger will take to the road internationally for live shows from late summer—dates below, with more to be announced.
Aug 26 – Limestone City Blues Fest, Kingston, ON
Sept 17 – Magazin General La Peche, Lascelles, QC*
Sept 23 – Fern Resort, Ramara, ON (with The Sadies)
Oct 21 – Ramblin’ Roots Fest, Utrecht, NL
Oct 24 – Q Bus, Leiden, NL
Oct 28 – Rootzz Fest, Breda, NL
Oct 29 – Grenswerk, Venlo, NL (with The Sadies)
Nov 3 – Take Root Fest, Groningen, NL
Nov 18 – Massey Hall, Toronto, ON (part of “The Last Waltz” celebration)
All dates are full band except *solo
Website: https://jerryleger.com/