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À des lieues de la lignée folk montréalaise branchouille, Clayton MacDonald fait son chemin en prenant le temps qu'il lui faut. Sur ce deuxième effort réunissant des musiciens doués, il propose la somme de ses influences en une palette vaste et nuancée: les deux premières chansons sentent le sable et la canicule et laissent entrevoir une petite couleur bluesy qui lui va bien. Avec sa nonchalance reggae, If Only. ramène Sting à l'ordre du jour. Montreal Romance évoque les airs ensoleillés de Jack Johnson et Chris Martin ne renierait pas la ballade Look in My Eyes. Cet éclectisme a pour ancrage une base folk aux accents pop très facile à apprivoiser, malgré l'aspect introspectif des texte - Voir Montreal
Discography
"Dog Days of August", full-length CD released May 6, 2008 on Orange Music( www.orangemusic.net), distributed on Select.
Single "Plastik" currently in rotation on 20 radio stations in Quebec.
performed "La Colombe" on "Un Zoo", released on Orange Music.
"womb temperature" released independently in 2003.
Single "Lightly" chosen for Cafe Melies 2 compilation, over 15,000 units sold.
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Bio
Music is an old friend for Vancouver-born, Montreal-bred and Toronto-based (eh?) electric-folk singer Clayton MacDonald. He sang throughout his childhood in church choirs, and at the age of eleven he picked up the classical guitar. But it’s at fifteen that he discovered his favorite aspect of music: songwriting.
There was some kind of magic in the process of emotions and thoughts becoming words and chords, all coming alive to form a new song. The discovery and re-discovery of this familiar yet always new ground of songwriting is the driving force behind Clayton MacDonald’s music, pushing him to use whatever style he feels will fully illustrate his vision. Folk, Reggae, Appalachian Blues, Rock, Soul and R&B are all part of his musical palette. Meanwhile, Clayton’s irregular life narrative, marked by ski bumming, prolonged backpacking, tree planting, meditating in Leonard Cohen’s old house, inter provincial relationships and professional video-editing … well, let’s just say that the material for lyrical effusion has been readily available on a consistent basis.
After having studied jazz and electro-acoustics at Concordia University, where his summers were spent busking on Prince-Arthur street, Clayton released his first full-length album in 2003, "Womb Temperature”. Track two from that album, "Lightly", was chosen for the Café Méliès 2 compilation.
Last year, Clayton was featured on "Le Zoo", an homage in song to the poetry of legendary Quebec filmmaker Jean-Claude Lauzon. Also appearing on the release were Quebec luminaries Jean Leloup, Stefie Shock and Djelem Project.
On May 6th, Clayton MacDonald released his latest electric-folk opus on the Orange Music label, “Dog Days of August”. To record the album at the renowned MIXart Studios, Clayton teamed up with producer/sound engineer extraordinaire Nicolas Petrowski (Arcade Fire, Rufus Wainwright, The Stills, The Mars Volta). This was a collaboration that proved very fruitful: “Nick produced and wholly arranged the album; he was able to develop the pop potential of my acoustic compositions with creativity and downright aesthetical flair,” remarks Clayton nearly verbatim.
With regard to the motivation behind “Dog Days of August”, Clayton admits: “there is no secret: writing a song is like a confession and me interpreting it is inexpensive therapy. Ultimately, the listener should also be part of the process” (ideally, not for free). In his opinion, “emotion firstly leads to the intention which spawns the song. Then, the song provokes an impression upon the listener, hopefully an imprint of the original emotion”.
With a subtle mix of fluid songwriting, spontaneous hooks, literate-yet-catchy lyrics and clever production, all augmented by Clayton's distinctive and warm croon, “Dog Days of August” is bound for critical and popular acclaim: electric-folk for the masses.
The first radio single off “Dog Days of August” is “Plastik”, a jazzy chord progression drizzled with non-stop pop, the whole nestled against a disco backbeat to somehow folksy effect.
Publicist: Frédéric Leroux at 514.966.8089 or frederic.leroux@orangemusic.net
Web: www.claytonmacdonaldmusic.com or www.orangemusic.net
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