Adventures in Your Own Backyard

by Patrick Watson

Overview

After spending nearly five years on the road promoting 2006's Close to Paradise and 2009's Polaris Music Prize-nominated Wooden Arms, Patrick Watson and his band retreated to the Montreal-based singer/songwriter's apartment to craft the appropriately titled Adventures in Your Own Backyard. Spare, haunting, and emotionally charged, Watson's fourth outing feels a little voyeuristic, like walking in on a character in the midst of a moonlit soliloquy. The lush chamber pop arrangements that have become his forte over the years are alive and well but respective of the austerity of the project, relegating themselves to the hallway, allowing standout cuts like "The Quiet Crowd," "Lighthouse," and the spooky Antony and the Johnsons-meets-Radiohead-inspired title track the room they need to find an emergency exit should the deal go bad. Watson's angelic yet occasionally impenetrable voice, which sounds a lot like the aforementioned Antony Hegarty mixed with Appalachian folk legend John Jacob Niles, serves as the foundation for each of the 12 tracks, and his tendency to stretch syllables and bend vowels to his will, like the late Jeff Buckley, makes that voice feel less like a lyric delivery mechanism and more like an instrument. In the end, it's the subtlety of Adventures in Your Own Backyard that will ultimately decide its fate. The digital age has not been kind to the LP, especially one that requires such patience, but listeners willing to devote an hour -- rather than a rushed five-minute scan of the first 30 seconds of each cut -- to this unassuming little gem will likely want to revisit it again and again. ~ James Christopher Monger

Product Details

Release Date:	05/01/2012
Label:	Domino
UPC:	0801390032110

Tracks

1. Lighthouse
2. Blackwind
3. Step Out for a While
4. The Quiet Crowd
5. Into Giants
6. Morning Sheets
7. Words in the Fire
8. Things We Do
9. Strange Crooked Road
10. Noisy Sunday
11. Adventures in Your Own Backyard
12. Swimming Pools

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Patrick Watson   Primary Artist,Piano,Vocals,Mellotron
Brad Barr   Guest Artist
Melanie Vaugeois   Violin,Guest Artist
Simon Angell   Guitar
Ligia Paquin   Viola,Guest Artist
Colin Stetson   Flute,Clarinet,Guest Artist
Joe Grass   Pedal Steel,Guest Artist
Mishka Stein   Bass,Guitar
Robbie Kuster   Drums,Marimba,Drums (Steel)
Melanie Belair   Violin,Guest Artist
Bojana Milinov   Viola,Guest Artist
Annie Gadbois   Cello,Guest Artist
Jocelyn Veilleux   French Horn,Guest Artist
Maude Lussier   French Horn,Guest Artist
David Carbonneau   Trumpet,Guest Artist
Jay Mills   Guest Artist
Benjamin Raymond   Piccolo,Trumpet,Guest Artist
Rick Hayworth   Pedal Steel,Guest Artist
Erik Angell   Vocals,Guest Artist
Jean-Sebastien Vachon   Guest Artist,Trombone (Bass)

Technical Credits

Patrick Watson   Mixing,Composer,Engineer,Horn Arrangements,String Arrangements
Sylvaine Arnaud   Assistant Engineer
Simon Angell   Composer
Mishka Stein   Composer
Robbie Kuster   Composer
Jules Buckley   Horn Arrangements,String Arrangements
Rob Heany   Mixing,Engineer
Montana Martin Iles   Assistant Engineer
Harris Neuman   Mastering