David Usher

david usher is a canadian songwriter and performer who has sold over 1.3 million albums worldwide, has received multiple juno awards both with his band moist in the 90s and as a solo performer, and has had numerous hit songs at radio in canada, asia and europe over the past 20 years. david is a long time active supporter of amnesty international and warchild, and recently began working with the reforestation program, tree canada.
the mile end sessions — album release date: september 14, 2010.
the mile end sessions, david’s seventh solo album, is composed of hits and live favourites, spanning his solo career, re-interpreted in stripped down, acoustic arrangements. “i woke up one morning with the idea of an acoustic album, re‐visualizing the songs with new arrangements,” explains david. “with space and air for the vocal and melody to breathe, tracing my way back to when they were first written.”
the 14 tracks on the album include well known hits such as black black heart and alone in the universe, with their recognizable hooks and melody lines intact, but sparingly and tastefully arranged with acoustic guitar, piano and strings.
one of the two new titles on the album is the stunning french track, je repars, david’s first french language recording, and the lead single in québec (cracking the top 10 in just its fourth week at radio). “it’s actually a re‐record of sorts,” says david, “although, it’s hard to think of it that way when it’s so different. my friends marie -mai and fred st‐gelais wrote french lyrics to a song of mine from the hallucinations album called i’m coming down, and it morphed from an english, first person narrative to this amazing french duet that marie‐mai sings with me on the album.”
interestingly, the newly recorded i’m coming down is the first english radio single, which has created a great synergy between two songs that tell different stories but come from the same place.
marie‐mai comments on writing and recording with david: “working with david was a blast, as it always is! he has so much talent and creativity. translating this song from english to french was a lot of work as we really wanted to respect the original feel and emotion of the song and, at the same time, try to bring a new perspective. getting him to actually sing the whole song in french was a process indeed, but was also the best part of the whole thing! you could see that he truly wanted to do it… for him… but, also for his french fans. david and i have a different musical background, but mixing our two voices together really proved that music is music. and, when you have a great song, it has no boundaries!”
“marie‐mai and i have recorded and played live with each other in the past and i love working with her, and doing a french track was really important to me,” agreed david. “i’m a montréaler. this is my home and where we’re raising our family, and i want to be a part of the community as much as possible.” david and his wife sabrina returned back to montréal a few years ago, after a stint in new york, and their two daughters go to french schools. “i’m working hard on my french, but it doesn’t seem to come easily for me. the good thing is that releasing je repars has put even more pressure on me to work even harder.”
the other new song on the album is fall to pieces, a driving acoustic track echoing the pace and sentiments of life on the road. one of the many highlights on this album is the version of everyday things, which includes a special guest appearance, and beautiful backing vocals, from singer‐songwriter béatrice martin, perhaps better known as cœur de pirate.
the album is produced by david’s guitar player and recording engineer, jonathan gallivan, along with david and long-time keyboard player and collaborator, kevin young. “it was important having jonathan produce this album because it was really about trying to capture the intimacy of where the songs are going in the live show, and building that around the guitar and voice. so, having jonathan, who is on stage beside me every night, put that together was just natural.”
on plans for touring this album david explained: “i love doing the big rock shows and festival stages, and that will continue to happen, but i’ve been wanting to put this album together for a while now and to go play shows with minimal accompaniment on stage, with more room to let the songs speak for themselves. we’re going to take this show into theatres and intimate venues where these songs can be shared in a different way.”
“the title of the album,” says david, “is a nod to my neighbourhood in montréal — mile end. we’ve been back there for a few years now, and it’s where these songs were re-shaped and where much of the album was made. originally, i thought i’d just spend a week or two putting it together. sometimes a week turns into a year and life leads you down many paths. the fun part is that you never know what’s round next the corner…”
management – graeme mcdonald for kharma management (graeme@kharma.ca) / 613‐378‐1956
media relations – mary mill at maple music recordings (mary.mill@maplemusicrecordings.com) / 416‐961‐1040
live booking – jeff craib at s.l. feldman & associates (craib@slfa.com) / 416‐598‐0067