Johnny de Courcy has served time in British Columbia hard rock band Black Wizard, and he's experimented with troubadour-like acoustic material, but these days he favours more pop-friendly sounds. His album Alien Lake comes out on Saturday (November 22) through Neptoon Records, and it can be streamed ahead of time on Exclaim.ca.
The album was recorded over eight days at Alien Lake Studios in Kelowna, BC. It was largely captured live with de Courcy's band, with minimal overdubs added afterwards. The songwriter told Exclaim! that the album was "emotional freak-rock," with "each song [representing] one of my multiple personalities."
Opener "I Can't Be That Man" has hints of noisy rock tension, but it quickly shifts into a vintage-sounding, jangling pop ditty lifted straight out of the '60s songbook. Many of the album's tunes are similarly bright and catchy, although there are some curveballs along the way: "Turkish Freakout!" is a quirkily jagged, weirdo instrumental, "Amélie" is a folksy acoustic number, and the title cut is a classically informed piano piece.
Hear it all below.
Johnny de Courcy will celebrate the release of Alien Lake with an afternoon show at Vancouver's Neptoon Records on Saturday. It's due to kick off at 2 p.m., and you'll be able to livestream the event here. Also, pre-order Alien Lake here.
The album was recorded over eight days at Alien Lake Studios in Kelowna, BC. It was largely captured live with de Courcy's band, with minimal overdubs added afterwards. The songwriter told Exclaim! that the album was "emotional freak-rock," with "each song [representing] one of my multiple personalities."
Opener "I Can't Be That Man" has hints of noisy rock tension, but it quickly shifts into a vintage-sounding, jangling pop ditty lifted straight out of the '60s songbook. Many of the album's tunes are similarly bright and catchy, although there are some curveballs along the way: "Turkish Freakout!" is a quirkily jagged, weirdo instrumental, "Amélie" is a folksy acoustic number, and the title cut is a classically informed piano piece.
Hear it all below.
Johnny de Courcy will celebrate the release of Alien Lake with an afternoon show at Vancouver's Neptoon Records on Saturday. It's due to kick off at 2 p.m., and you'll be able to livestream the event here. Also, pre-order Alien Lake here.
