In 2007, Montreal's Patrick Watson (QRO interview) came out of seemingly nowhere to win Canada's
prestigious (and lucrative - C$20,000...) Polaris Music Prize with Close To
Paradise (QRO review), beating
out the (much) bigger-name likes of Arcade Fire's Neon Bible (QRO
review) & Feist's The Reminder
(QRO review).And then... he kind of disappeared, at least to
Americans.While the
French-Canadian singer/songwriter had always been more known north of the
border and in Europe, the Polaris award & the excellent Close To
Paradise seemed like the perfect opportunity to introduce himself to
the States.Instead, it's taken
two years and a new record for him to come back.And while Wooden Arms
can't match the perfection of Paradise, more Watson is definitely welcome.
Comparing Arms to Paradise is a bit unfair, but is going to happen.Unfortunately, that might be the
record's worst light, as fans of the earlier album can't help but miss some of
the instrumentation & vocals on the far more stripped down Arms.Watson's orchestral beauty is most definitely still there, but he plays
it much smaller, with a grand echo instead of grand orchestration.He also relies more on what sounds like
‘found objects percussion’ - drumming on random, non-musical objects.Meanwhile, the stripping down has taken
Watson's hints of alt-country and turned them into hints of alt-folk, but he's
still far more towards the highbrow, classical side of things.
Patrick Watson has a presence and charm that can't be
denied, and it very much still comes through on Wooden Arms.The
record was nominated for this year's Polaris Music Prize, but didn't win
(instead, losing out to wild-punk Fucked Up - QRO photos - ‘cause
those two acts have so much in common...), and Arms is kind of like that: well worthy of a nomination, well worthy of any
artist, but not quite Close To Paradise - but what is?...
When is an album not an album? When Unkle takes the leftovers from a previous release, gets inspiration from visual media, and combines them in a 20+ track non-"album".
When is an album not an album? When Unkle takes the leftovers from a previous release, gets inspiration from visual media, and combines them in a 20+ track non-"album".
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