Patrick Watson - Adventures In Your Own Backyard

Patrick Watson - Montreal's freewheeling creative force -- the man, the band -- raises the substantial ante of the altogether amazing '09 Wooden Arms with yet another sprawling album of sophisticated and theatrical (sm)art/pop songs..."beautiful and wondrous" says The CBC // Release: Adventures In Your Own Backyard (May1, Secret City) // Sounds like: take a compelling, unpredictable melody, add an arrangement of dazzling, sweeping scope, then toss in Watson's sweet, tenor-to-falsetto vocals and complex harmonies and you've got a decadent souffle of rich pop goodness that sends goosebumps straight to the soul...we can't think of an album this year that clearly swings for the artful fences and knocks it out of the park quite like this Adventure-ous collection...watch the fine new video for "Into Giants" below...

Quote: "I like taking the time to get good songs. You have to take time to evolve before you put out another record. It’s not worth saying the same thing twice...I didn’t really focus on a theme. I just wanted a collection of songs that gave me goose bumps. That’s what all of us put our energy in: let’s try and make the best songs we can write and put them on a record." // What we like: Harnessing both whimsical charm and an intricate arrangement, lead track "Into Giants"plays like a cross between Paul Simon's "Rhymin' Simon" period and David Byrne at his most playful (with some Sgt. Pepper-ish brass to boot) -- an achievement even more impressive since the album was recorded in Watson's apartment..."Lighthouse" opens the album with gorgeous piano balladry, a finespun melody that eventually builds on the orchestrated atmosphere of an Italian western soundtrack...

Patrick Watson - "Blackwind" (from Adventures In Your Own Backyard)

Patrick Watson - "Into Giants" (from Adventures In Your Own Backyard)

Stream the full album at NPR