Patrick Watson

Patrick Watson first broke through to audiences in 2006 with his album Close to Paradise. The album went gold in Canada and won numerous awards, including the Polaris Prize. It saw international release in September 2007 and has since sold over 100,000 copies worldwide. Watson also began to receive attention around the same time for his song “To Build a Home,” which he performs with Cinematic Orchestra on their 2007 album, Ma Fleur. Fittingly, the seeds of his own band were cinematic and collaborative in nature, having begun as a multi-media project entitled Waterproof9 with Quebec visual artist Brigitte Henry. His core four-piece band of Watson (vox, keys), Mishka Stein (bass), Simon Angell (guitar) and Robbie Kuster (drums) began to take shape in the wake of the self-released Just Another Ordinary Day in 2003, and before long buzz on their live show had lead to performances with an impressively diverse group of artists, from Phillip Glass and Steve Reich, to Feist. In the summer of 2006, they were invited on a European tour with the late James Brown, just before the release of Close to Paradise.

His 2009 album, Wooden Arms, saw the band expand in the live setting to include a string quartet—not surprisingly, considering the lush arrangements present on all the albums. Indeed by this time Watson himself had established a reputation as a producer and composer of film scores, in addition to role as, band-leader, piano-player and singer-songwriter. The Wooden Arms tour fittingly culminated in 2011 with a collaborative performance with Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, which saw the renowned symphony performing Watson’s songs alongside the band.

Watson’s latest offering, Adventures in Your Own Backyard, will be released in April 2012.

Adventures in Your Own Backyard - Sun Chain four star review

Watson’s haunting melodies and swooping falsetto coalesce with the quartet’s layered and cinematic orchpop into a work that inhabits its own world.

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La Blogothèque Concert Review

Patrick Watson, un garçon qui ne peut pas ne pas tout orchestrer, ne restera jamais bras ballants devant un micro, imaginera une mise en scène unique pour chacun de ses morceaux, des morceaux qui suivent les règles et la logique des rêves, parsemés de souvenirs d’enfance et d’aventures secrètes.

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Adventures in Your Own Backyard - Exclaim! Interview

Music's been my life and I guess I never looked back since then. It became the infrastructure of my life so it's not really a question of whether I want to do music anymore, it's about how I want to do music and how I want to adapt to music. I don't think I've even begun to question why I'm still doing music. For me it's so ingrained into what I do and who I am it's not even a question at this point

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"Patrick Watson Is Mad About Hats" - Spin feature

Cranial matters aside, Watson's beloved collection of headwear plays an important role shielding him from the vulnerability of performing. "When I play shows I'm a pretty generous performer. I talk to the audience. It's fun, easy going stuff like that. I definitely wouldn't do that if I wasn't wearing a good hat. It's like I have this space on stage when I need it. Without it, I feel naked."

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Adventures in Your Own Backyard - Consequence of Sound review

Watson’s trademark is lush, melodic, and charming tunes that sound playful and larger than life; the songs on Adventures are no exception. Opening track “Lighthouse” starts with a quiet piano melody and the singer’s reverbed high tenor ever so lightly floating over the top like a mist on the grass. It evokes a still morning scene fit for a Bon Iver autumn. The music then explodes with marching snares, mariachi trumpets, and diving strings while Watson’s voice blends with the ringing cymbals and piano. The outdoor feeling switches to summer with mid-album highlight “Into Giants”, a bouncy, playful, nearly Simon and Garfunkel-esque tune. A backing choir is brought into the mix to give the track a fullness that will overcome you like a warm breeze.

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Les Inrocks - Patrick Watson Marcheur de Lune

Vivement l’été, les nuits passées dehors, allongé sous un ciel sans nuages, à scruter l’obscurité en attendant une étoile filante ou l’arrivée des extraterrestres. On a déjà la bande-son : Adventures in Your Own Backyard, le quatrième album du Montréalais Patrick Watson. Il y a trois ans, au moment de la sortie de son album précédent, il nous expliquait qu’il avait rêvé d’une musique qui sonne comme du “folk de science-fiction”. La formule vaut encore pour Adventures in Your Own Backyard, magnifique album de chansons libérées, à la fois épiques et légères.

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Making of video for Into Giants

Patrick Watson just released this behind the scene video shot during the filming of the music video Into Giants. The new album was released in the US yesterday while the band is starting the tour with Andrew Bird tomorrow!

05/03/12 Philadelphia, PA || Union Transfer * [ Sold-out ]
05/04/12 New York, NY || Beacon Theatre *
05/06/12 Boston, MA || House of Blues *
05/08/12 Washington, DC || The 930 Club * [ Sold-out ]
05/09/12 Baltimore, MD || Ramshead Live *
* with Andrew Bird

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La Presse - Patrick Watson à Bourges

Le chanteur commence tout en douceur avec Light House. Un air classique qui semble venu d'ailleurs. Guitare et percussions viennent s'ajouter. Le ton est donné. L'artiste enchaîne avec Black Wind, puis Step Out for a while et Quiet Crow tandis que le public essaie de ne pas perdre une miette de la performance artistique qui se déroule devant ses yeux; des films en noir et blanc sont projetés sur deux toiles rondes dans le fond de la scène illustrant les envolées vocales puissantes mais tout en retenue de l'artiste.

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New Quebec tour dates for Patrick Watson + new music video for Into Giants!

Patrick Watson today premieres the official music video for “Into Giants", the first single off of his acclaimed new album Adventures in Your Own Backyard, which was released in Canada by Secret City on April 17th. The all-singing, all-dancing clip was directed by longtime collaborator Brigitte Henry.

Watson has also just announced a new tour dates in his native Quebec, including a performance in Quebec City at the Festival D’été on July 10th, and a string of shows throughout the province in the fall.

07/04/12 Montreal, QC || Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier (Festival de Jazz) &
07/10/12 Quebec City, QC || Le Pigeonnier (Festival d’été de QC)&*
09/20/12 New Richmond, QC || Salle New Richmond *
09/21/12 Rimouski, QC || Salle Desjardins-Telus *
09/22/12 Baie-Comeau, QC || Théâtre de Baie-Comeau *
09/23/12 Sept-Iles, QC || Salle Jean-Marc Dion *
09/26/12 Drummondville, QC || Salle Léo-Paul Therrien *
09/27/12 Sherbrooke, QC || Théâtre Granada *
09/28/12 Gatineau, QC || Théâtre du Musée Canadien des Civilisations *
09/29/12 Gatineau, QC || Théâtre du Musée Canadien des Civilisations *

& with Loney Dear
* with Thus:Owls

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NPR review for Adventures in Your Own Backyard

That said, 2012 feels like Patrick Watson's year. — he's a charismatic performer who put on the best show I saw at SXSW this year — Adventures in Your Own Backyard will find its way to the top of many year-end lists. If you could wear out an MP3, my copy of this record would already have scratches.

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