Sparklers & Gin
Picture This
It was March 2020–the very start of the pandemic. I was living in NYC and decided to go back home to my parents’ place in Montreal–thinking I’d be there for two weeks. Time went on, I was scared and sad, so to cheer myself up, I threw myself a livestream, birthday concert in the living room.The longer I stayed, the more I realized I had to adapt.So, I filled out my first ever grant application to record my next album and got the grant on the second try (Thank you Canada Council for the Arts and FACTOR)! Then, I had to figure out how to actually rehearse and record 10 new songs during a pandemic... My parents we working on our family farm in Saskatchewan, so I had the house in MTL and their home studio to myself. The band, my producer and I all quarantined for two weeks before moving in together–into my parents’ empty house. We lived together for two months as the album was recorded.In a lot of ways, my parent’s house was the inspiration behind the videoshoot’s aesthetic–pure unbridled maximalism. As a kid growing up, our house was always full–full of love, people, music and frankly, stuff. In this video, you even get to see the very spot that I learned to play the fiddle (thankfully my playing has improved since then).
The Band
It was a privilege to record this album with the same four-piece band that I have toured with for the last four years. These musicians are some of the finest young musicians Montreal has to offer. In order of appearance, we have: Zach Bachand (guitar), Stéphane Krims (bass and banjo) and Aaron Dolman (drums). And then there's my brilliant producer, Will Owen Bennet. I promise to feature them in greater depth in upcoming care packages.
Many amazing musicians passed through the home recording studio when I was young. I really consider this fullness of music and instruments a large part of my musical upbringing. It’s part of what we attempted to capture visually in these videos. Although to most people recording in your living room may sound unusual, since my dad, Paul Campagne, is a producer with his studio in our home, I grew up thinking it was normal. My parents even featured me in a few of the kids albums they produced. I distinctly remember singing on Un Trésor Dans mon Jardin. The song of the right, Le Petit Bonhomme (sung by none other than Luck Mervil!), features my brother and I as part of the kids choir. I loved the song then and still do now!