#335 Friendly Rich

One of my favourite episodes ever. Sometimes things just click! Friendly Rich, Canada’s legendary songsmith of dark and deranged folk songs, has just announced his highly anticipated new LP Man Out of Time (due out March 31st on We Are Busy Bodies) with an advance single and video for the song Le P’tit Bonheur. This latest single is sung in French and is an homage to one of Friendly Rich’s greatest inspirations. In explaining the single he had to say, “I hope you enjoy this release, this work means alot to me, I honour the great Quebecois songwriter Felix Leclerc, and I go to even darker places as a songwriter. I wanted to honour Felix Leclerc’s music, and was able to dive into it with Mike T Kerr and Drew Jurecka to help.”  What came out is a dark and unique interpretation that sets the tone for this record. With 4 Leclerc songs embedded throughout the recording, Man Out of Time shows the many sides of Friendly Rich as a composer and performer. Friendly Rich describes his latest studio recording as a “dark reflection of the pandemic”. But there’s more going on here – a punk sensibility with a folky delivery creates a unique sound that is as dark and hopeless as the pandemic that inspired it. Man Out of Time features a rolling cast of Canadian musicians and guest performances by Brian Poole (Renaldo & The Loaf), Kevin Breit (Nora Jones, Hugh Laurie), Christine Duncan (Tanya Tagaq), Michael Ward-Bergeman (Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble) and many more unique musicians.  The full length recording features unique interpretations of legendary Quebecois songwriter Felix Leclerc among Friendly Rich’s honed brand of deranged folk songs. The music can be described as high-energy, rhythmic and atmospheric, ranging from sullen stripped down ballads to frenetic folky foot-stompers. Friendly Rich’s music is theatrical and melodic and brings to mind early Bowie with hints of operatic rock in the vein of T-Rex and Roky Erickson. Photo credit: Michael Crusty / Crusty Media D I S C O V E R Website: http://www.friendlyrich.com Bandcamp: https://friendlyrich.bandcamp.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friendlyrich Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/friendlyrich Twitter: https://twitter.com/Friendly_Rich YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/friendlyrich Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1SWneDpUI2N0Bz46xl1cg5?si=zo59VzLcR9mAZr6F_m9ksg Brought to you by AIXdspShop now and get up to 50% off on all plugins.Website: HEREPledge monthly with Patreon https://www.patreon.com/apologueShop Apologue products at http://apologue.ca/shop