WATCH / SHARE “ONE WOMAN” HERE
BUY / STREAM “ONE WOMAN” HERE
LIVE, LAUGH, MAJOR LOVE OUT MAY 17, 2024 VIA SLOW WEATHER
PRE-SAVE LIVE, LAUGH, MAJOR LOVE HERE
TOUR DATES BEGIN MAY 16 - FULL DATES LISTED BELOW
“Major Love — the collaborative project between Edmonton songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Colleen Brown and Scenic Route to Alaska — are following up their 2018 debut this May, excavating the painful reverberations of pandemic isolation with latest single "Making the Most of It." Produced by Marcus Paquin, the upcoming record promises catharsis and introspection like only Brown and co. can provide.” Exclaim! | Most Anticipated Albums of 2024
Photo Credit : Ryan Parker // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
Today, Major Love are sharing another new track from their upcoming album, Live, Laugh, Major Love. In celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8, the Alberta band is sharing “One Woman” today from the new record which arrives May 17, 2024.
On the track, songwriter Colleen Brown says “I wanted to highlight the way women are pitted against one another, and question the idea that there are only so many spots available for women to succeed. This felt especially true for me in my twenties, but as I get older it's more apparent that it's just bogus. We always lose when we fight with each other instead of banding together - when we spend time comparing ourselves and being in a state of jealousy instead of celebrating one another. It chips away at our self esteem when we don’t stand up for our own worth, personally, but also collectively, with and for one another.”
The video that accompanies “One Woman” was filmed on a record-breaking -45.9 degree January day in Edmonton, with a group of very hardy Albertans at the iconic McDougall United Church. "When director Dale Bailey and I started talking about the video for 'One Woman', he showed me this slow-motion clip of his niece Charlotte running, and I agreed that would be an amazing starting point for the video,” says Brown. “She is such a bright and ebullient little person, and I love how unselfconscious she is here in front of the camera. I'm told that when she saw the video she said ‘I can’t believe how cute I am in that video’ and my heart exploded a little."
WATCH / SHARE “ONE WOMAN” HERE
BUY / STREAM “ONE WOMAN” HERE
Single Art // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
MORE ABOUT LIVE, LAUGH, MAJOR LOVE
Live, Laugh, Major Love, the long-awaited, Marcus Paquin-produced, semi-eponymous sophomore album from Major Love, comes to us like a cheeky valentine, pairing emotional vulnerability with light-heartedness and the kind of confidence that is synonymous with rock. Earnest without taking themselves too seriously on this record, Major Love’s lead singer-songwriter Colleen Brown playfully scorns romantic love even as she openly longs for it.
“When love relationships go bad, there’s always some part of you that recoils at the next opportunity. You’re like the armadillo. You’re always wearing your armour. And then you attract more armadillos, both of you protecting yourselves, both of you only showing a small part of your tender self. All the while, wishing, at least in part, to relieve yourselves of your shells. To be naked in your need,” says Brown. “The older I get, the more plainly obvious it is to me that in order to survive, we need to learn to love each other, forgive each other, be emotionally vulnerable with one another, look for ways we can collaborate and compromise, and become totally and utterly truthful with ourselves and each other.”
The eleven tracks that comprise Live, Laugh, Major Love showcase Brown’s willingness to do just that, in partnership with her Major Love bandmates: Trevor Mann on guitar and vocals, Shea Connor on drums and vocals, and Murray Wood on bass, who also make up the trio Scenic Route To Alaska.
WATCH / SHARE “MOUNTAIN STANDARD TIME” HERE
BUY / STREAM “MOUNTAIN STANDARD TIME” HERE
This latest offering, Live, Laugh, Major Love, began with the creation of these two demos; “The More I Know” and “Mountain Standard Time” and became the starting point for the whole record after a serendipitous meeting with Grammy Award-winning producer Marcus Paquin, who would go on to complete the album with the band. “I met Marcus in early 2020, when the two of us were backing up Hawksley Workman and Sarah Slean on tour. I showed him a bunch of my music. He played me the new Weather Station album he had just completed and I was really blown away, obviously, so I really wanted to work together…and we hatched plans to complete the rest of [Major Love’s] album at the National Music Centre in Calgary.”
There were some worldly delays to getting started on that - during which time Brown released two solo albums - Isolation Songs in 2020 and Winging It in 2022 - the latter of which features Paquin as mixing engineer on the track “I Am Leaving (And It's Okay)”.
The band finally convened in May 2022 to record Live, Laugh, Major Love, titled in homage to the very cheesy home decor of the rental house they stayed at while recording in Calgary, and in a nod to Brown’s self-help journey that colours a lot of the songwriting. “I'm kind of poking fun at myself while also earnestly repeating my daily affirmations… That's the thread that ties all the songs together - it's me wrestling with my shadows, succumbing at times, trying to pull myself back into the light.’
By the time we hear the album’s closing track “Better Excuse” we do feel as though we are once again in the light. Brown brings us back, full circle, to her romantic optimism, but this time holding on to all the lessons gleaned from the preceding tracks, as she sings about living the life she wants without waiting for love, while also putting forth the offering: “I’ll make the time, I’ve always got space for two.”
WATCH / SHARE “MAKING THE MOST OF IT” LYRIC VIDEO HERE
BUY / STREAM “MAKING THE MOST OF IT” HERE
PRE-SAVE LIVE, LAUGH, MAJOR LOVE HERE
TOUR DATES
May 16 - Edmonton, AB, Varscona Theatre
May 17 - Calgary, AB, King Eddy
May 18 - Lethbridge, AB, The Owl
May 19 - Red Deer, AB, Bo’s
May 21 - Penticton, BC, Dream Cafe
May 23 - Vancouver, BC, The Lido
Jun 9 - Ottawa, ON, Live on Elgin
Jun 10 - Toronto, ON, Horseshoe Tavern
Jun 26 - Golden, BC, Kicking Horse Culture
LIVE, LAUGH, MAJOR LOVE TRACKLIST
01 For The Long Run
02 Making The Most Of It
03 Same Girl
04 One Woman
05 The More I Know
06 Mountain Standard Time
07 Keep Your Heart To Yourself
08 Mind Body
09 Mistake Again
10 Time
11 Better Excuse