Jerry Leger – Donlands
Jerry Leger – Donlands
Format: CD
Label: Latent Recordings – V2 BeNeLux
Release: 2023
Release date: Oktober 27, 2023
As Toronto’s music scene has grown in stature on the world stage, singer/songwriter Jerry Leger has been making his own significant contributions. A favourite of Uncut Magazine and Rolling Stone Germany, Leger has also earned the praise of fellow artists Ron Sexsmith (“he’s the real deal”) and Doug Paisley, while maintaining a long relationship with Cowboy Junkies as part of their Latent Recordings roster, with their songwriter/guitarist Michael Timmins serving as producer.
On his new album ‘Donlands,’ Leger has taken a different approach, teaming up with legendary Canadian producer/engineer Mark Howard (Lucinda Williams, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Neil Young), whose trademark atmospheric sound adds an entirely new dimension to Leger’s approach. Named after the street in Toronto’s east end where it was recorded, in what once was the Donlands Theatre, Donlands presents Jerry Leger as he’s never been heard before.
“Not a lot of people make records like Mark Howard anymore,” Leger says. “After I got to tell him how much Tom Waits’s Real Gone meant to me, I fell right into the experience. Like all my albums, we recorded Donlands mostly live in the studio with my band The Situation (Dan Mock, Kyle Sullivan, Alan Zemaitis) in a circle—no headphones, just listening and existing, breathing as a whole. To me, it’s a record that lives in its own world. Since I was a little kid, I’ve loved how recordings like The Flamingos’ ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’ and ‘Pledging My Love’ by Johnny Ace sound so haunting. I knew Mark could get us that, with the right choice of material.”
Leger began by sending Howard 20 demos, and was pleasantly surprised when they basically agreed on which 10 should comprise the record. From there, he describes the process as treating each song like a blank canvas, building up arrangements with the help of engineer Aaron Goldstein, who also added pedal steel and guitar to several tracks. But overall, Leger says it all came down to the atmosphere Howard created. He says the experience felt almost like creating a film noir soundtrack, with something unknown always lurking in the shadows.
That certainly comes across on songs like “I Was Right To Doubt Her,” with its spooky organ and Spanish-style percussion recalling Howard’s work on Willie Nelson’s Teatro. But mostly, Leger wears his poetic heart firmly on his sleeve on “Three Hours Ahead Of Midnight” and “The Flower And The Dirt,” songs that underscore Leger’s uncommon ability to pen timeless music and lyrics. Further, as on the Roy Orbison-esque opening track “Sort Me Out,” and the heart-wrenching piano ballad “Wounded Wing,” Leger digs deep to express the strength and resolve we’ve all needed to get through the past few years. He says, “This record is a place I’ve known about and where I’ve always wanted to live, so it was a nice and rewarding visit. It’s another piece of me that floats in a dream. It’s surreal at times, just like writing can be surreal.”
Donlands comes to an appropriate close with “Slow Night In Nowhere Town,” in which the movie ends and we walk out of the theatre into a steady downpour, unsure of whether to go home or just keep moving. For Jerry Leger, the search for the elusive creative spark remains never-ending, but there are always new routes to explore in getting to it. With Donlands, he has made an album that stands as one of the peak moments in an already towering body of work.
Website: https://jerryleger.com/
Tracks:
01. Sort Me Out
02. I Was Right to Doubt Her
03. I’ll Stay
04. Three Hours Ahead of Midnight
05. The Flower and the Dirt
06. Wounded Wing
07. You Carry Me
08. I Need Love
09. Out There Like the Rain
10. Slow Night in Nowhere Town
Album Credits
All songs written by Jerry Leger, Leger Music (SOCAN)
Produced, recorded and engineered by Mark Howard (assistant engineer: Aaron Goldstein)
at Gold Standard Recorders, located in the old Donlands Theatre, Toronto, Ontario
Mixed by Mark Howard at Gold Standard Recorders and in Topanga, California
Mastered by Philip Shaw Bova, Ottawa, Ontario
Album design by Jonny Desilva
Photography by Laura Proctor (except Jerry at the piano, taken by Alan Zemaitis)
Jerry Leger – vocals/electric & acoustic guitar/piano
Dan Mock – electric & upright bass/vocals/moog synthesizer/electric guitar
Kyle Sullivan – drums/percussion/vocals
Alan Zemaitis – piano/electric piano/organ/vocals/acoustic guitar
Aaron Goldstein – pedal steel/electric guitar/vocals
Jerry Leger & The Situation binnenkort te zien!
10/21 Utrecht, Netherlands – Ramblin’ Roots Fest
10/24 Leiden, Netherlands – Q Bus
10/28 Breda, Netherlands – Rootzz Fest
10/29 Venlo, Netherlands – Grenswerk (supporting The Sadies)
11/03 Groningen, Netherlands – Take Root Fest