David Usher; Songs from the Last Day on Earth

Juno Award winner David Usher is releasing his eighth studio solo album; ‘Songs From The Last Day On Earth’.

The album will be released on October 2nd through MapleMusic Recordings.

Rice Paper / Partir Ailleur, is the first.single to be released and is currently circulating on radio. A video for the song was shot by award winning Quebec short film director Arnaud Brisebois.

According to Usher, this is his first disc with a central theme. It’s premise is a group of friends sharing their last day together and some thoughts on what might stand out as the things that have stayed with them over a lifetime. How everyone relives moments over and over through memories. Fragments of love, loss and regret.

Songs From The Last Day On Earth reunites Usher with longtime collaborator and co-producer Jonathan Gallivan who was at the helm of his last record – The Mile End Sessions.

That album included David’s first #1 french radio hit with Je repars (2011). The touring in support of that stripped down album of acoustically reinterpreted songs served as Usher’s organic starting point for writing new material.

Usher says he wanted it to be an extension of that thinking. It was formed on an acoustic foundation but the progressive layers added more dynasism to the finished product.

A prolific singer, songwriter and producer he has created genre-defying music and achieved a critical respect since embarking on his solo career in 1998. A four-time JUNO Award winner -including Best Pop Album in 2002 – Usher has had six albums ascend to the Top 20 of the Billboard Top Canadian Albums Chart, and 10 chart topping radio singles.

On the international stage, he’s had top ten and top twenty radio singles in England, Germany, France, Russia and fourteen other countries.

David is equally passionate about using technology to build new and interesting projects.

From social media aggregation software he has developed that’s currently being used by the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames, to his company, a creativity lab that brings together, designers, artists, hackers and programmers to develop and collide on new and interesting projects. At the request of Amnesty International, David has developed ArtistsForAmnesty.com, a platform that enables Amnesty to leverage the social reach of supportive artists.

David is active in many other business n, from technology and the environment to creative and social endeavors.

He has traveled to the Burmese refugee camps on the Thai-Burmese border for WarChild to film a documentary on children affected by war. He is a long time active supporter of Amnesty International, Tree Canada and the David Suzuki Foundation.

Having sold 1.3 million albums as a solo artist and from his time as the frontman of Moist, one of Canada’s most enduringly well-respected bands, David has undoubtedly become one of Canada’s most emblematic performers.

See David on the road when he plays The Mod Club in Toronto on November 9th and Club Soda in Montreal on November 15th. More dates to be announced soon!

Up next …an interview with Steve Hill