MYRIAM GENDRON’S NEW ALBUM MAYDAY OUT MAY 10 VIA CHIVI CHIVI (CANADA), THRILL JOCKEY & FEEDING TUBE
WATCH / SHARE “LONG WAY HOME” HERE
BUY / STREAM “LONG WAY HOME” HERE
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR BEGINS MARCH 22, INCLUDING DATES WITH JIM WHITE & MARISA ANDERSON DUO, AND KURT VILE
"As a vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter, she’s a masterful musical interpreter, transforming long-past art into present-tense vision… [Her music is] plainly open about its themes and sources yet reaching depths far beyond the sum of her inspirations." - Pitchfork
"The magic of Myriam Gendron is transformation. The Québécois singer-guitarist takes traditional songs in French and English and sets them out of time, placing her sepia-toned voice against the grain of current aches." - NPR Music
"masterpiece... a contemporary folk album of the highest tier." - The Vinyl District
Acclaimed guitarist/singer/songwriter Myriam Gendron has announced her new album Mayday, out May 10th on Chivi Chivi, Thrill Jockey & Feeding Tube Records. Along with the album's announcement, Gendron has shared first single "Long Way Home," a spirited, bounding crusade informed as much by folk traditions as it is pop forms, buoyed by the deft playing of fellow guitarist Marisa Anderson and drummer Jim White (Dirty Three)
Photo Credit : Justine Latour // DOWNLOAD HIGH RES
Acclaimed guitarist/singer/songwriter Myriam Gendron has announced her new album Mayday, out May 10 on Chivi Chivi in Canada and Thrill Jockey & Feeding Tube Records elsewhere. Along with the album's announcement, Gendron has shared first single "Long Way Home," a spirited, bounding crusade informed as much by folk traditions as it is pop forms, buoyed by the deft playing of fellow guitarist Marisa Anderson and drummer Jim White (Dirty Three).
"This was one of the first songs I wrote for the album,” explains Gendron. I wanted to write a song with verses and a chorus, which was a bit of a challenge for me, as I’m more used to ballads without a chorus. I also wanted to continue the work I’d started on Ma délire, where I’d begun to experiment with songwriting inspired by tradition. But the aim of such a process is to go beyond a mere exercise in quotations. The result has to be internally coherent and reflect emotion in a way that’s fair and true. And it has to be a pleasant song to listen to, even for those who don’t know my sources of inspiration. I feel I’ve met that challenge with "Long Way Home", which is in a way my first pop song, thanks to the contributions of Cédric Dind-Lavoie, Jim White and Marisa Anderson. We made jokes while recording it in the studio. Jim isn’t used to playing in this style, and it made him smile a lot. He said he felt like Mick Fleetwood! This song opens the album with the idea of a symbolic shipwreck ("when my great ship went down", a reference to the popular song "It Was Sad When That Great Ship Went Down" about the sinking of the Titanic) and the retreat that follows. The words of the refrain "Mother make my bed" are also very old, and are a recurring motif in traditional songs about returning home (sometimes to die)."
WATCH / SHARE “LONG WAY HOME” HERE
BUY / STREAM “LONG WAY HOME” HERE
Mayday presents an even more syncretic fusion of the elements Myriam uses to create her sound on her acclaimed previous releases Not So Deep As A Well (2014) and Ma délire –Songs of love, lost & found (2021). Most of the songs are original, sung in both English and French, and they blend traditional and avant elements with abandon. She is often accompanied on this album by the guitarist Marisa Anderson and drummer Jim White, whose work provides a quietly aggressive sort of free-rock base. Additional players this time include Montreal bassist Cédric Dind-Lavoie (a fellow fan of trad/avant dynamism), Bill Nace (Body/Head) and saxophonist Zoh Amba (whose horn actually gets the final “word”). Mayday is a thoroughly thrilling effort that manages to create new vistas of sound while maintaining a feel that is both intimate and familiar.
Myriam Gendron will be touring extensively in support of Mayday in 2024, kicking off with Big Ears Festival and a North American tour this spring where Gendron will be joined by Jim White and Marisa Anderson's duo on select dates, and Canadian shows with Kurt Vile & the Violators, with more dates to be announced. All tour dates are listed below.
MAYDAY TRACKLIST
1. There Is No East Or West
2. Long Way Home
3. Terres brûlées
4. Dorothy's Blues
5. La Luz
6. La belle Françoise (pour Sylvie)
7. Lully Lullay
8. Look Down That Lonesome Road
9. Quand j'étais jeune et belle
10. Berceuse
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES
Mar. 22 – Knoxville, TN – Big Ears Festival
Apr. 2 – Minneapolis, MN – The Cedar
Apr. 4 – Rock Island, IL – Rozz Tox
Apr. 5 – Milwaukee, WI – Wilson Center
Apr. 6 – Chicago, IL – Judson & Moore
Apr. 26 – Williamstown, MA – Clark Art Institute
May 16 – New York, NY – Le Poisson Rouge *
May 17 – Keene, NH – Thing in the Spring *
May18 – Montréal, QC – Lion d’Or *
May 20 – Portland, OR – Holocene *
May 22 – Seattle, WA – Rabbit Box *
May 23 – Vancouver, BC – St. James Community Square *
May 24 – San Diego, CA – The Loft *
May 25 – Los Angeles, CA – Zebulon *
May 26 – Mill Valley, CA – Sweetwater Music Hall *
Jun. 28 - Toronto, ON - Danforth Music Hall ^
* w/ Jim White & Marisa Anderson (duo)
^ w/ Kurt Vile & the Violators
MYRIAM GENDRON ONLINE
INSTAGRAM
FACEBOOK
YOUTUBE
BANDCAMP