Mike O’Brien, the singer-songwriter and guitarist from Montreal who has accompanied the likes of Adam Cohen and Lisa Leblanc in studio and Elisapie on stage, has released his eponymous album under chouchou records. It is O’Brien’s first available solo album. O’Brien is also a member of the country duo Sin and Swoon and of the band El Coyote.
For this album, Mike collaborated with bass player Andrew Horton and producer Howard Bilerman, whose past collaborations include Arcade Fire and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. His wife Michelle Tompkins adds her voice to some of the songs. The album was recorded in just two days at Bilerman’s studio, Hotel2Tango. The result is a country-folk album with ten moving songs, ranging from the intimate to the rather lively. Even though the songs were recorded in only a few takes, their writing process sometimes took years. “Some of these songs only took me a couple of hours to write, but I’ll admit I tend to write a lot of drafts before the final product. Most of these songs took months and even years before I came across their final version.”
Such is the case with “Raincloud”, released in the beginning of March: Mike wrote it in snippets while he and his wife were waiting for their first child. Inspired by early Country music (think Tex Williams) and the universe of classic Disney scores, the song opens slowly with the warm ring of a nylon string guitar. Between the creak of the strings on which O’Brien plays and his voice up-close to the microphone, it’s like the listener is in the room with him.
Mike on “Raincloud”: “I have a soft spot for classic Disney cartoons. I was especially influenced by the Sherman brothers. I taught grade school music for about five years, and we’d sometimes sing their songs in class. I really wanted to write in that style, to keep things simple and at the same time try to express what echoed inside of me.”
Like a cartoon or a children’s story concealing important life lessons, Mike can say a lot with very little. His work conveys a simplicity in its imagery that listeners can interpret as they wish. This intimacy within O’Brien’s music flows naturally, in part because of the tangible sincerity of his interpretation. “In writing ‘Raincloud’, I wanted to unearth the hope we can feel in difficult times. When I think about it now, in the beginning, singing it was almost like a prayer for me. The song helped me a bit.” Incidentally, all the released songs come with old family pictures, like the one on the record’s sleeve—a picture of Mike’s grinning grandfather in a rowboat.
Mike on the visuals of his album: “The family pictures I used on the sleeve and the singles give me a sense of belonging, of calm and support. It’s cool to think that they are part of the project. I love the picture of my great-aunt gone fishing on a boat—she’s a nun in a small town in Ontario, still going strong. And I’ve always loved the photograph of my grandfather in the rowboat. I remember that smile. I miss him a lot.”
Like “Raincloud,” writing “Le Prix” took years—nearly seven years. In composing his songs, Mike constantly wonders about their meaning, their raison d’être. “Writing songs feels like you’re in a mine: it’s pitch-black, you walk, you dig, you try to find the way.” Mike on “Le Prix”: “I was often being asked what the lyrics meant, and it was always really vague—I didn’t really know for sure. It’s only recently, while I was shoveling my car out after a snowstorm, that I finally understood. I remembered something that happened in my family when I was a kid, and it all made sense. I realized, okay, now whenever I sing this song I’ll think back to that moment.” When we listen to Mike O’Brien’s album, we too feel the time that he takes to build, dissect and play his songs until he finds their meaning. The subject of the songs isn’t as important as feeling their undeniable sincerity. Listeners will feel spoiled and lucky to have access to these songs that each form their own little world. On the album and on stage, Mike personifies them, and between him and the audience an invisible cord is woven: an exchange of quiet strength that is rarely felt, but that will be cherished for a long time.
Mike O’Brien is available via chouchou records.
Mike O’Brien tracklist:
1. Lieder Hose Hive
2. Cakes
3. Sad Lessons Wake
4. Who’s Left and Whose Right
5. Business
6. Boys Give Em Hell
7. Grocery Rag
8. Le Prix
9. Staring at Your Belly and You Can’t Get a Break
