(Toronto, ON – January 24, 2020) – On April 17, 2020, the day before his 45th birthday, Joel Plaskett will release 44.
A conceptual follow-up to his JUNO-award winning triple record, Three, 44 is a visionary project comprised of four, 11-song records, packaged together and connected thematically. Four years in the making, the songs were recorded in Dartmouth, Memphis, Nashville and Toronto with 33 different musicians.
The first single from the first album, “Head Over Heels Into Heaven” was co-written by Joel and Mo Kenney and features The Emergency (Dave Marsh & Chris Pennell). You can catch all of them onstage together on the 44 Spring Tour (dates below).
Watch the official lyric video here: https://youtu.be/rCvS4zmJk6I
Musically, 44 showcases many of Joel’s talents, and the hallmarks that have established him as one of Canada’s best known contemporary songwriters. Catchy rock and roll, delicate acoustic ballads and sonic production experiments bounce around the albums, all held together by Joel’s unique and inimitable lyrical style. Varying themes run across the records, but at its heart, 44 is an imaginative, musical rumination on trying to slow down and grow up in a rapidly accelerating world.
The first album, 41: Carried Away, is a traveling record. It starts in Memphis with the song Collusion, old memories colliding with the present and the journey begins. The second album, 42: Just Passing Through, playfully evokes the feeling of returning home to an unfamiliar landscape, while, 43: If There’s Another Road, is an introspective, nighttime transition from lost to found. The fourth and final album, 44: The Window Inn, documents the arrival at a personal destination, summed up in the last song, “A Benefit 4 Dreamland.”
The artwork for 44 reflects the same creativity and attention to detail apparent in all of Joel’s music. The four individual album covers fit together to form a single photograph shot through a four-pane window, behind which lie two shelves of curated pictures, pottery, books and objects all relating to the songs. The cover photograph for the entire box set takes the window and shelves to the west coast of Cape Breton, and juxtaposes this interior world against the beauty and expanse of the night sky.
44 is Joel Plaskett’s most ambitious and imaginative endeavor to date. It is a project that will reveal itself over time, its scale and intention standing in sharp contrast to the fast paced, short-form digital world we navigate daily.
TOUR DATES
April 16 – Truro, NS @ Marigold Cultural Centre Get Tickets
April 23 – Campbell River, BC @ Tidemark Theatre Get Tickets
April 24 – Victoria, BC @ Capital Ballroom Get Tickets
April 25 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom Get Tickets
April 28 – Calgary, AB @Taylor Centre for the Performing Arts/The Bella Concert Hall
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April 30 – Edmonton, AB @ Myer Horowitz Theatre Get Tickets
May 1 – Saskatoon, SK @ Broadway Theatre Get Tickets
May 2 – Regina, SK @ The Exchange Get Tickets
May 4 – Winnipeg, MB @ Park Theatre Get Tickets
May 6 – Thunder Bay, ON @ Crocks Get Tickets
May 8 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall Get Tickets
May 9 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall Get Tickets
May 12 – London, ON @ Aeolian Hall Get Tickets
May 13 – London, ON @ Aeolian Hall Get Tickets
May 14 – Kingston, ON @ Grand Theatre Get Tickets
May 15 – Ottawa, ON @ National Arts Centre – Babs Asper Theatre Get Tickets
May 16 – Montreal, QC @ Petit Campus Get Tickets
May 24 – St. Johns, NL @ St. John’s Arts & Culture Centre Get Tickets
May 26 – Labrador City, NL @Labrador West Arts & Culture Centre
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May 28 – Grand Falls, Windsor, NL @ Gordon Pinsent Arts and Culture Centre
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May 29 – Gander, NL @ Joseph R Smallwood Arts & Culture Centre Get Tickets
May 30 – Stephenville, NL @ Stephenville Arts & Culture Centre Get Tickets
May 31 – Corner Brook, NL @ Corner Brook Arts & Culture Centre Get Tickets