Patrick Watson Adventures in your own backyard

When Adventures in your own backyard arrives, it will be the follow-up to 2009's Wooden Arms.

Adventures... was made at home after a gruelling five-year run that saw Patrick and his band (bassist Mishka Stein bass, guitarist Simon Angell and drummer Robbie Kuster) tour the world in support of two critically-acclaimed and successful albums, including the Polaris award-winning Close To Paradise. During this time, Patrick also contributed to Ma Fleur, the 2007 album from The Cinematic Orchestra, co-writing and singing on a sizeable portion of the record. In Patrick’s own words, Adventures... is an effort on the band’s part to “make the kind of music we would want to listen to at home.” The album’s title is a nod to this sentiment and to the fact that it was recorded almost entirely in Watson’s apartment in Montreal, unlike his previous efforts which were sprawling recordings in both geography and arrangements.

In spite of the relatively spartan settings in which to record, Adventures... is equally as ambitious as Watson’s previous efforts and a thing of dynamic beauty. The result is an album that is still ripe with the touchstones one has come to expect from Patrick Watson and his collaborators, but permeated with a greater sense of patience and confidence. Adventures In Your Own Backyard is an attempt by Watson and the band to simplify their sights—to make music a bit more close to home in every sense of the phrase.

Tracklist

01. Lighthouse

02. Blackwind

03. Step Out For A While

04. The Quiet Crowd

05. Into Giants

06. Morning Sheets

07. Words In The Fire

08. The Things You Do

09. Strange Crooked Road

10. Noisy Sunday

11. Adventures In Your Own Backyard

12. Swimming Pools