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Local Guides
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Octoberman
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by Shain Shapiro
October 18, 2007 |
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A few years ago I called Marc Morrissette to pique his mind about
his then new album, These Trails are Old and New. As we
chatted, Morrissette revealed that the album came to be on the
road, written and conceived primarily while touring Vietnam and
surrounding regions with a partner. The album art even features
a picture he took of a street corner in Hanoi, one that to him
recalls a sort of controlled chaos that permeated not only his
travels, but also his music. In addition, Morrissette aimed to
distance himself and move forward from his earlier work in
underground Vancouver indie band Kids These Days. The result
was an album filled with songs tipping at the heartstrings of
useless travel and longing. Now as we meet once more for a chat,
Morrissette, or Octoberman to the rest of us is readying his
sophomore solo release, one developed and recorded on different
terms. The album, titled Run From Safety, is a gem, one that has
propelled him to sights unseen a few years back. Even MySpace
hopped on for a week, highlighting the album on their main page,
inundating Octoberman with comments and friend requests. “The
craziest thing to happen though was that MySpace said some nice
things about us and put it on their homepage for a week,” affirms
Morrissette. We were getting bombarded with messages and
friend requests that we couldn't keep up with. Quite the
experience.”
Run From Safety is Octoberman’s best album, hands down.
Each song is a fragile triumph, one that simultaneously weeps
from the roughness of the road while etching its palms in the
beauty that comes from such a life. There is a certain malaise
haunting the output, especially on the gorgeous title track, but
not everything is aimed at the downtrodden here. Instead, the
album displays a shimmer of hope in its core, one that unveils
itself over time with constant listens. Like his older material, Run
From Safety will not bowl you over; it surely took me five or six
tries to get it. But once it clicks, it latches on for good. “In
retrospect, it's a very isolated and introspective record when
looking at it from the outside,” explains Morrissette. “This wasn't
something I set out to do, though. It just came out in the songs I
was writing at the time. The themes seem to be about needing
inspiration and the realization that you have to escape your
comfort zone to find it, I guess.”
Recorded at home in Vancouver and featuring a who’s who
of local musicians and characters in accompaniment, Run From
Safety builds on Octoberman’s traditional acoustic ethos with
more instrumentation, choral accompaniment and musical depth.
Folk is the definite theme at work, but a lot more experimentation
that usual peers through here as well. Honky Tonk brass sections
mingle with bluesy interludes, while makeshift choir practice
wafts overtop, coming in at just the right moment to make the
chorus that much sweeter than it has ever been. A definite
triumph, one that excites Morrissette every time he goes back for
a listen. “I can definitely stand behind this record, which is all
that I care about,” explains Morrissette. “At the same time, we
have so many new songs that are totally different from anything
we've done, and I am really looking forward to hitting the studio
again to further expand on what is emerging from these ideas.”
Until then, Octoberman will settle for the road, which will
see the songwriter and his quartet - Rob Josephson (drums),
Graham Christofferson (bass), Leah Abramson (keyboards/vocals)
and C.L. McLaughlin (guitars/vocals) – join forces with fellow
Vancouver band The Mohawk Lodge for a trip across the country.
Following that, Morrissette will pack his bags alone and head to
Japan in February and the Europe in March to promote the release
of the record in those territories. In addition, more material
continues to surface on the road, as just like traveling around
Vietnam, Morrissette takes ideas from his travels and writes them
down for the next album, one that as aforementioned is already in
the works for 2008. “I write when I have something to say, and I
play all of the time,” concludes Morrissette. “I try to record every
idea I have and listen back and bring the best ideas to the band.
It seems to be working.”
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