NEW LP, MEANTIME, OUT NOW VIA BIRTHDAY CAKE RECORDS
BUY / STREAM MEANTIME HERE
"His folk and psych-rock stylings recall older songwriters like Nick Drake, Mickey Newbury, and Neil Young. But they also live in the world of modern classic writers like Andy Shauf, Bedouine, Big Thief, and Bill Callahan. His silky voice has been compared to Roy Orbison or Bryan Ferry." - Northern Transmissions
"a glistening, golden folk dream" - Atwood Magazine
"A meditative and deeply poetic effort, featuring a world-worn vocal performance from Davidson set against some winding fingerpicked guitar." - Under the Radar Mag (on "Nothing Really Changes")
Photo Credit : BnB Studios // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
Today, Slow Leaves (Grant Davidson) is announcing a run of tour dates across Canada this fall supporting Jenn Grant. While the two have performed together in the past, recently they co-wrote a song together for Jenn’s latest album, “Under The Overpass”. "Many years ago I sent Jenn a message to tell her how much I appreciated her music,” says Davidson. “Since then, I’ve had the privilege of opening some of her shows, co-writing on her new record, and calling her a friend. I’m so thrilled to be part of her upcoming tour."
Full tour dates, including a string of UK performances in early 2024, can be found below and tickets are available here.
LISTEN / SHARE SLOW LEAVES + JENN GRANT CO-WRITTEN TRACK
“UNDER THE OVERPASS”
MORE ABOUT MEANTIME
Slow Leaves’ latest album, Meantime, is about waiting for something momentous to occur in life, and how all the mundane stuff that happens during the wait actually constitutes what is meaningful. If you blink, you miss it; if you think too much, you miss it. If you’re lucky, in the meantime, there’s love and there’s death and not much less. “I see this album as a love letter, a collection of messes that fit neatly within a regular life if there is such a thing. In that sense, I guess these songs serve as a reminder for myself, since I’m forgetful, that all moments are equal in that they pass through us once only in long stretches of boredom or by bursts of love and death. In the meantime, I only hope not to let any more go by unnoticed.”
The lead single, “American Band”, is a quaint and sweet toe-tapping track with a Tom Petty flair for roots-rock impressionism. Its taut, indie-rock groove lends the song a contemporary feel, but its chorus’s lush layers of airy vocals recalls prime 1960s folk-rock. The song speaks to the glittered mythology about being in a band on the road, and here Davidson’s words are scene-setting and heartfelt. He sings: ‘I wanna see the ocean / Tell my baby I’m coming back home instead/I don’t feel good/I want my own sweet, own sweet, bed / I don’t feel so good no more / Roll the window down and turn it around’. “At some point on every tour, I feel the weight of an existential pressure to justify why I’m not somewhere else doing something more reasonable,” Davidson says. “I know reality is always grittier than the dream, but like most things worth doing, the allure is in moments that break you just enough to feel saved.”
WATCH / SHARE “AMERICAN BAND” HERE
An elegant earthiness courses through Meantime which features a collection of folk songs adorned with paisley 1960s and 70s touches. While there is a retro sensibility to music, it is offset by an immediacy to the lyrics, setting him firmly in modern times.
The reverie of new love and open-window summer nights comes alive on “Grand Marquis”. Here, against a waltz-like groove with chiming guitars and symphonic swells strings, Davidson’s vocals have a breezy flow as he poetically details a fictional account of physical entanglement. One stunning passage reads: ‘The hair on your forearm afield / Light through the crown of a dandelion seed’. Amidst twinkling guitars, ultra-hooky folk-rock, and lushly layered vocals, Davidson waxes rhapsodic about nostalgic love on the fictionalized but emotionally resonant “Jenny”. “With this song, I feel like I’m tapping into a sentimental look into the freedom and naiveté of young love,” he reveals. The album closes majestically with the lonesome fingerpicked ballad, “Say Goodnight”, an intimate rumination on love and death. “Say Goodnight” features some of Davidson’s most literate and heartfelt words. He sings: ‘I had a nice time, I had a nice time / That’s what you said when you let me go / Then I drifted off far below / And I closed my eyes.’
WATCH / SHARE “NOTHING REALLY CHANGES” HERE
Slow Leaves is a self-contained solo project with Davidson curating every aspect of the music and its presentation, including being the multi-instrumentalist, producer, cover art designer, photographer, and videographer. He views the totality of these various aspects as being essential parts of a larger project of self-understanding through artistic methods. His folk and psych-rock stylings recall older songwriters like Nick Drake, Mickey Newbury, and Neil Young. But they also live in the world of modern classic writers like Andy Shauf, Bedouine, Big Thief, and Bill Callahan. His silky voice has been compared to Roy Orbison or Bryan Ferry.
WATCH / SHARE “JENNY” HERE
Davidson began playing guitar at age 15, inspired after discovering a Led Zeppelin II cassette tape in his older brother’s room. It was a finger-picked guitar however that would eventually form the heart of his songs. After three shoe-string budget albums under his own name, Davidson debuted as Slow Leaves in 2014 with Beauty Is So Common, followed by Enough About Me (2017), Shelf Life (2020), and Holiday (2021).
BUY / STREAM MEANTIME HERE
SLOW LEAVES TOUR DATES
*supporting Jenn Grant
Oct 4 – Nanaimo, BC @ The Queens *
Oct 5 – Victoria, BC @ Wicket Concert Hall *
Oct 6 – Cumberland, BC @ The Waverly *
Oct 7 – Vancouver, BC @ The Pearl *
Oct 11 – Saskatoon, SK @ Alt Haus
Oct 12 – Edmonton, AB @ Starlite Room
Oct 13 – Calgary, AB @ King Eddy
Oct 14 – Mission, BC @ House Show
Oct 17 – Nimmo Bay, BC @ Wilderness Resort
Oct 19 – Kelowna, BC @ Red Bird Brewing
Oct 21 – Lethbridge, AB @ Geomatic Attic
Oct 24 – Regina, SK @ The Artesian
Oct 25 – St. Catherine’s, ON @ The Warehouse *
Oct 26 – Ottawa, ON @ NAC *
Oct 27 – Kingston, ON @ The Grad Club *
Nov 9 – Toronto, ON @ Dakota Tavern
Nov 10 – Peterborough, ON @ Jethro’s
Nov 12 – Montreal, QC @ Quai des Brumes
Nov 14 – Windsor, ON @ Phog Lounge
Nov 16 – Hamilton, ON @ Into the Abyss Records
Nov 17 – London, ON @ London Brewing Co.
Nov 23 – Charlottetown, PEI @ Trailside Music Hall *
Nov 24 – Fredericton, NB @ Wilmot United Church *
Nov 25 – Halifax, NS @ Rebecca Cohn Auditorium *
Jan 24 - Bedford, UK @ The Place
Jan 25 - Cardiff, UK @ Acapella
Jan 26 - Leek, UK @ Foxlowe Arts Centre
Jan 27 - Cheltenham, UK @ Everyman Theatre
Jan 28 - Nottingham, UK @ Malt Cross
Jan 30 - Glasgow, SCT @ Cottiers
Jan 31 - Manchester, UK @ Retro
Feb 1 - Birmingham, UK @ Kitchen Garden Café
Feb 2 - Woking, UK @ The Fiery Bird
Feb 3 - Brighton, UK @ Folklore Rooms
Feb 4 - London, UK @ Green Note