Been listening to a lot of me lately, with a new album and a new Audio book in the works, so I’m excited to listen to someone else for a while this week. I’m in Halifax for a few days to record some new music for the Ennis Sisters. I feel so lucky to be a part of it all. I’ve been a fan of their singing and Maureen’s writing and guitar playing for over two decades. We’ve been writing and arranging new material over the summer and have descended on the Sonic Temple to lay it down with a killer band including Cory Tetford, Kris MacFarlane, Aaron Collis, and Ronald Hynes. Once again, I can’t believe my luck.

Back in my world, you can check out the newest track from the new album now—Fall. You can STREAM on my updated Spotify playlist, or PRE-ORDER the album on iTunes to download it for yourself now.

Fall is a song I wrote with two of my favourite writers in Newfoundland these days. Tim Baker has been the driving force and creative engine of Hey Rosetta! for many years. His versatility as a composer speaks for it self on every one of their beautiful and complex songs. Andrew James O’Brien could very well be the best lyricist in the province and you can hear his poetry on all the wonderful songs on the Fortunate Ones tunes.

I thought it would amazing to get them in one room to help me with a song. I had the idea for Fall for quite awhile. The central figure in the song is a person who has never really truly been in love, but desperately wants to be. The character in Tom Wait’s “I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You” has always fascinated me. Likewise, I studied The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock in University and both characters struck me as people I’d want to write about myself. Not because they are like me, but because they are not.

Musically, I love slower songs in 6/8 time signature as they sound like powerful waltzes. It is quite common in Celtic music and when it occasionally crosses over into pop and rock, it can be brilliant. Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris” might be the best example of this and has always been one of my fav songs.

When Tim and Andrew and I gathered, I sprung these two ideas and influences on them and we all ran with it. Trust me, they wrote all the good parts.

I hope you like Fall.

Cheers,
Alan