contemplative mood

MORE CONTEMPLATIVE MOOD FOR USHER

Author: Emmet Matheson
Source: Global
URL: www.canada.com
Date: March 8, 2002

DAVID USHER - Tonight - The Pump (Regina) - $20

David Usher is a busy, busy man.

Since his band Moist's 1993 debut album, Silver, he has been one of the most ubiquitous figures on the Canadian music scene. He has released six albums (four with Moist and two solo), starred in over a dozen videos, and played a staggering number of concerts.

"I'm on an endless tour," Usher says with a chuckle. "I love it. There are very few things in life that let you travel around the world with your friends and make music."

Despite widespread rumours claiming otherwise, Usher insists that Moist has not given up the ghost, but is merely on a hiatus while band members work on other projects.

Guitarist Mark Makoway, for example, has been making a name for himself as a producer and recently published his first book, The Indie Band Bible. Usher meanwhile has been concentrating on his solo career, which he claims is quite different from his Moist life.

"The biggest thing is that the songs are different," he says matter-of-factly. "Different musicians, too. There's a whole different vibe."

Usher is so into having things be different that he made a concerted effort to make his second solo album, Morning Orbit, different from his first, Little Songs.

"My last solo record I recorded in between Moist albums, but this one was done after the last Moist album so I was in a very different mindframe.

"Every time I make a record I try to set up a different set of parameters. The first one was meant to be very intimate. You know, right out of the speakers. But this one I wanted to flow a bit better. I wanted to give it more depth and production."

One of the influences on Usher's new-found depth were his sleeping habits. In fact, the title, Morning Orbit, reflects Usher's tendency to enjoy the wee hours of the day. By waking up when most of his fellow rock stars are just turning in, Usher says he's found time to devote to introspection.

"I did a lot of thinking about how vast the universe is around us and how smaller lives are within that. How little things in your day can mean so much to you but then we're surrounded by such a larger picture."

Though he's not about to retract the sentiments of Morning Orbit's first single, Alone in the Universe, he says recent events have given his intellectual appetite more to chew on.

"I'm so not a sports person, but we all watched that game as we were sound-checking," he says, referring to last Sunday's men's hockey gold medal match between Canada and the USA. "It brought people together in an undeniable way.

"We're always talking about Canadian culture and what is Canadian culture, or if there even is one, and then it just sort of comes together. You still can't define it, but it's there."

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