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USHER ON PATH TO SELF-DISCOVERY

Author: Nick Krewen
Source: Kitchener-Waterloo Record
Date: November 18, 2003

Moist frontman-gone-solo searches for vision, tries more ambient sound on latest effort

After he finishes his Canadian tour, David Usher is planning to Thai one on.

Usher, the Kingston-born, Toronto-based vocalist who recently released Hallucinations, his third album, is one of the few solo artists who enjoys a healthy following beyond our borders.

"I've been lucky that it's gone well in parts of Europe and Asia, so I get to explore the rest of the world," said Usher last Friday while tooling around the streets of Vancouver prior to an appearance in Victoria. He was driving himself because, lest we forget, his band Moist broke out of the West Coast scene almost 10 years ago with a catchy little ditty called Push.

And what's become of Moist these days? Don't book the crematorium just yet.

"Moist isn't dead," states Usher. "We're not making records and there are no plans to make any records right now, but we're also very good friends. We write and work together all the time."

Usher isn't kidding. When he visits Elements this Friday, he'll have two Moist members backing him up, keyboardist Kevin Young and bass player Jeff Pearce. Guitarist Mark Makoway also produced about half the album, so there's obvious no acrimony between the principals.

But Usher says he's more interested in finding his own distinctive vision, albeit one that admittedly changes with each record. For example, Hallucinations seems to have a more ambient flavour than Morning Orbit, which contained the exotic hit Black, Black Heart, and both are a step up from Little Songs, released just before the latest Moist project Mercedes Five And Dime.

"I'm really focused on solo work, these songs and touring at the moment," assures Usher, who will also be joined at Elements by guitarists Gerry Finn and Tim Welch, drummer Troy Feener and My Brilliant Beast's Julie Gallos on harmony.

While musically veering all over the rock spectrum with his usual dramatic inclinations, Usher pulls a few surprises with a high falsetto and a few a capella breaks in Hallucinations.

Lyrically, songs such as the title track and Surfacing are a little more vague and impressionist.

"I write in collage," Usher chuckles. "Much of the songs I write contain pieces of my life experience that are woven together, so it's a little more abstract."

Cryptic, perhaps. But Usher is much more forthcoming about his recording techniques surrounding his albums, which he classifies as collaborative. Besides Makoway and his own production, Usher recruited David Gray producer Iestyn (pronounced Yet-sin) Polson and My Brilliant Beast mainstay Byron Wong to oversee a variety of tracks.

But when it comes to making compromises, there's no second-guessing as to who's the boss.

"The studio's usually a really collaborative place," says Usher. "I'm bringing in people who have great ideas and are really skilled at what they do. I like it when people have strong ideas and try to make strong choices. But at the same time because it's my record, I determine what goes on it in the end.

"But for every one that I bring in, whether it's my guys in the bands or others as well, I bring them in because they're great players and I want them to contribute. I want them to be in a free and open atmosphere where they can explore different ideas that are going to make the record more interesting. I want them to come in and push themselves as far as they can."

Usher's continuing quest for discovery may have been planted by his interesting upbringing. His mother Samphan is a Bangkok-born Buddhist Chinese watercolour painter while his father Dan is a Jewish Canadian economist and author, so you can bet there were some interesting discussions around the dinner table.

"I got a mix of cultures," says Usher, who became a first-time father himself earlier this year.

"Having two religions running around the household definitely opened up my perspective to how broad the world is."

But he credits his mother with helping him stay grounded.

"A lot of this record is focused on daily living, which I probably get more from my mom's side," Usher explains.

"I'm trying to stay wrapped up within the moment.

"It's really difficult when you're traveling all the time, and your family's at home sometimes, to stay focused and be happy where you are and not always be longing for something else.

"Being a Buddhist, my mother talks openly and honestly about things like death, including her own, without any of the ties of guilt or fear. That opens you up to try and look at things in a more relaxed way."

CONCERT
Who: David Usher
Where: Elements
When: Friday
Time: 8 p.m.
Cost: $15 in advance

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