ushering in new era

SOLO HIT SENDS USHER INTO ORBIT

Author: John Kendle
Source: JAM!/Winnipeg Sun
URL: www.canoe.ca/JamMusic/sep5_usher-sun.html
Date: September 5, 2001

In 1994, when the song Push became a hit around the world for Vancouver band Moist, singer David Usher said he knew no feeling like it.

Now, some seven years later, Usher says he's feeling similar as he watches his new solo single, Alone in the Universe, climb into the Canadian Top 10.

"It feels new again. Right now it's a very good time," says the 35-year-old singer/songwriter.

"I've had to grow a thick skin over the years but I'm very happy with what's going on at the moment."

Usher released his second solo album, Morning Orbit, some five weeks ago and has quickly re-established himself as a Canadian pop icon. Featuring a fuller, more refined sound than his solo debut, 1998's Little Songs, the new album is a deliberate attempt to make a bigger impact, Usher says.

"I basically made Little Songs in my house," Usher explains. "With this album I wanted to create a more specific journey and let some things out -- so it took a lot more time."

The album was culled from a backlog of 40 to 50 songs -- some dating back almost two years.

"It was a cool thing to do, work through a lot of that material. I cut a lot of songs but I put a lot away as well," he says.

Whether some of these tunes end up as Moist cuts is something Usher is rather coy about when asked.

"To me, this album is a big deal. I want to tour the album and take it around the world. With Little Songs there were a lot of intense things going on for me at the time, so I didn't tour.

"With this album I want to take it places and go and play it in different places, so that's my focus at the moment."

While he worked with the likes of The Tea Party's Jeff Martin, I Mother Earth's Jagori Tanna and The Tragically Hip's Gord Sinclair on Morning Orbit, Usher is touring with two of his Moist bandmates, bassist Jeff Pearce and keyboardist Kevin Young. Kim Bingham (of Mudgirl and Me Mom and Morgentaler), Christiana Munroe and Jerry Finn round out the lineup.

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