Two extraordinary songwriters – the well-traveled, now settled in Port Williams, NS – Pat LePoidevin and the fabulous Gabrielle Papillon – team up for a show at The Carleton on Thursday, March 29th. Show time is 8 PM and tickets are $15.
Born of a sleepy mountain town in British Columbia and built in equal parts by Scotland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and the Yukon, Pat LePoidevin is a songwriter strongly influenced by community. His powerful, melodic vocals bring life to his songs. With friends and fans across the country, Pat is at home wherever he is playing.
His latest undertaking – American Fiction – is focused largely on community and identity. The son of an American-born artist, LePoidevin has held dual citizenship since birth, yet has never felt different from any other Canadian boy, spending his childhood playing hockey and eating hot pockets. The album marks a turn for LePoidevin. In search of his half-American identity, LePoidevin teamed up with his best friend from childhood and fellow Patrick Roy enthusiast Lewis Smith. Together, they wrote about ten small American towns, drawing inspiration from their own experiences in rural Canada. Accompanying the songs is a book of short stories written by Smith.
American Fiction is a heartfelt tribute to family, youth, and recurrence. Crafted over a winter spent along the Nova Scotia coastline, LePoidevin’s latest effort swells with the presence and confidence of a songwriter truly coming into his own. An American Fiction in name only, this album births a beautiful and real world, with baseball games, jean jackets and above all, full hearts.
Possibly the most powerful male singer-songwriter signed up to Searchlight this year. This guy has LUNGS. And LYRICS. For fans of Dan Mangan, Patrick Watson, and Bon Iver. Grant Lawrence, CBC Music
Loop pedals, guitars, a violinist and a couple of horn players lend the album a miniature indie folk-rock orchestra vibe that’s very pretty but most effective when the band eases up a bit before going full throttle. At its best, the record immerses you in its nostalgia and makes you believe its fictions are real. Sarah Greene, NOW Toronto
I’d listen to just about anything LePoidevin put his name to, but an album this ambitious is especially satisfying. Lindsay Bird, The Coast Halifax
Hailed as, “one of the finest new songwriters in Canada” (Tom Power – Q on CBC Radio 1), Gabrielle Papillon‘s sweeping and hear-piercing Keep The Fire is packed full of thoughts that are wise and poignant, empathetic and understanding, open to interpretation.
This art-pop progression comes partly from Papillon’s continued relationship with producer and pop-folk whiz Daniel Ledwell, helmer of her last, award-winning chart-topper The Tempest of Old. Recording this batch of songs—imagined, Papillon says, as a backdrop to life, a life score—at Ledwell’s Echo Lake studio made for a foundation of strength and collaboration, which allowed for the new part of her record-making process: Corey LeRue. LeRue, the EDM pop genius behind Neon Dreams, lifts Keep the Fire into a new realm with his secret mixing recipes, adding heft and punch to pretty songs. The approaches may be disparate, but the result is something thrilling—melodic and catchy, memorable and affecting.