familiar style

USHER WRAPS NEW THEMES IN FAMILIAR STYLE

Author: CTV News Staff
Source: CTV
URL: www.ctv.ca/entertainment
Date: August 31, 2005

David Usher has found his style, and he's sticking with it.

Fans have long been able to rely on David Usher to keep giving them more of what they love about him -- and his latest album is no different.

In fact, with its sparse acoustic arrangements, If God Had Curves, truly evokes the sound he laid down on his first solo outing.

While his musical style may be familiar, the themes are definitely challenging and of-the-moment: ranging from dogma and faith to love and politics.

Usher left Montreal to live in New York City last year, and says the political climate there informed the writing on this, his fourth solo album.

The current single, Love Will Save The Day, is a deceptively upbeat take on a very serious subject. Listen carefully, and you'll hear Usher lashing out at America's powerful religious right.

The song is based on a New York Times article that dissected the debate over prisoner abuse at the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, Usher says, particularly the way conservative critics said the incident was the guards' failing, rather than those in command.

"All those people, they don't give a damn, they just stood around and stare," he sings. "Come on sell me more of your religion, 'cause it's sure to make a change."

Usher says the hypocrisy of those in power really struck him, and was compounded by the growing din of divisive red-state, blue-state rhetoric in the U.S.

"This record was written during the last election," he told eTalk Playlist host Tanya Kim. "There's so much going on in the world right now that's based out of New York."

But he doesn't plan on living there for the rest of his days.

"It seems like myself and my family we just tend to sort of relocate to get re-inspired every couple of years," he explained.

"We usually get the itch about four years in, then we start to feel like we need to move on."

For his fans, wherever the former Moist frontman calls home is fine, so long as it continues to inspire new hits.

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