On September 17th 2015 at 7pm, James Leclaire will release his latest album with a double appearance. He will first take the stage at the Marvest offshoot of this year’s CityFolk Festival on the Abderdeen Stage. This will be his first ever appearance at the festival. The band will be back on stage a few hours later at The House of Targ for a midnight encore.
An experienced interviewer will quickly gain their subject’s trust. I on the other prefer to raise the interviewee’s stress level. As we began to chat about the double bill, James joked, “Thanks for raising my stress. You just reminded me I should send a few emails!”
It’s only been a year since he released his last album. I asked about this new album coming so quickly. “I don’t write everyday, but I go through bouts of creativity. I might produce a batch of songs over a weekend due to inspiration,” shared James about the quick followup. “I figured I had to get this music released while it was fresh.”
The album came to life at Little Bullhorn here in Ottawa with the assistance of Dave Draves (who also worked on Kathleen Edwards first album).
“This was our first time going analog to tape. We played it live. We’ve recorded live before, but I would go back and do vocal overdubs. It was a little more stressful this time around. If you messed up, you had to start over from the beginning.”
These Weights will also be available on vinyl. “It’s all I listen to. With the analog recording, I felt it was the right format to put it out on,” James noted.
Comparing These Weights to his last effort, James stated, “I think it’s rockier and it has a faster edge. There’s still elements of my past work, just with a little more energy. It’s also the first time I’ve had fiddle on an album. My daughter played fiddle on Got You Back, which suited as it is a song about my kids.”
As our conversation came back around to CityFolk, you could hear the excitement in James’ voice. “It’s gonna be neat. The Aberdeen probably has 150 years of music history. It will be a large concert with lots of beer vendors. And it’s free!”
He continued, “Having free locals is fantastic! Everyone knows the draw is for the big names. When people can just walk in, it helps us sell albums. If they were just in the area anyway, they have extra cash since they haven’t bought a ticket or paid cover. It’s starting to get a music week feel to it. And still getting paid is pretty awesome.”
Later this fall, you can also catch James at a vinyl party at the Record Centre on October 3rd, as well as November 20th with Slow Leaves at Pressed Cafe.
If you’re headed to CityFolk, be sure to stop in and check out James’ performance, as well as many of the other locals appearing as part of Marvest!