Russell Louder's Humor is one of Exclaim!'s 29 Most Anticipated Canadian Albums of 2021, and the PEI-based artist has now detailed their debut album.
Arriving February 26 via Lisbon Lux Records, the nine-track Humor follows Russell's 2017 debut EP Think of Light.
Louder explains of their debut full-length, "The reason I chose Humor as the title was to use it as this sort of conceptual invitation into the work — because so often I use humor as a disarming method to talk about hard things — I think the role of a title is to be the door that opens people into the work — humour also can have multiple meanings (in bad humour, in good humour, 'humour me', etc.) so that gives the listener some agency over what the album means to them."
On Humor, Louder's lyricism is said to draw from themes of memory, grief and identity, splitting the difference between the personal and universal. Previously shared singles "Hello Stranger," "Light of the Moon" and "Cost of Living" all appear in the tracklist, and you can revisit the first of those below.
"Giving the listener some agency and room to connect with work on their own terms feels really important to me," Louder continues. "I don't want this album to feel like "I'm telling you something. Here is the message. I wanted to leave enough open-ended for the listener to feel like they can make their own meaning from it. My favourite work does that."
Humor:
1. Home
2. Cost of Living
3. Light of the Moon
4. Vow
5. Outside
6. Hello Stranger
7. Know the Game
8. Lavender
9. Go Now
Pre-order Humor.
Arriving February 26 via Lisbon Lux Records, the nine-track Humor follows Russell's 2017 debut EP Think of Light.
Louder explains of their debut full-length, "The reason I chose Humor as the title was to use it as this sort of conceptual invitation into the work — because so often I use humor as a disarming method to talk about hard things — I think the role of a title is to be the door that opens people into the work — humour also can have multiple meanings (in bad humour, in good humour, 'humour me', etc.) so that gives the listener some agency over what the album means to them."
On Humor, Louder's lyricism is said to draw from themes of memory, grief and identity, splitting the difference between the personal and universal. Previously shared singles "Hello Stranger," "Light of the Moon" and "Cost of Living" all appear in the tracklist, and you can revisit the first of those below.
"Giving the listener some agency and room to connect with work on their own terms feels really important to me," Louder continues. "I don't want this album to feel like "I'm telling you something. Here is the message. I wanted to leave enough open-ended for the listener to feel like they can make their own meaning from it. My favourite work does that."
Humor:
1. Home
2. Cost of Living
3. Light of the Moon
4. Vow
5. Outside
6. Hello Stranger
7. Know the Game
8. Lavender
9. Go Now
Pre-order Humor.
