DAVID Usher lives on the top floor of a typical Montreal triplex just a few streets east of Boulevard St-Laurent, the city’s artistic artery. In the comfortable yet modestly furnished apartment that he shares with his wife there are no tell-tale signs that the lead singer of Moist, one of Canada’s top-selling rock bands, resides here. No gold records adorn the walls, no awards sit on the mantel.
In the dinning room, a statuette of a golden Buddha sits atop a small table by the window-a reminder of Usher’s Thai heritage on his mother’s side.
Barefoot and dressed in black, the handsome vocalist leads the way to his kitchen. It is this white room, with its turquoise-and-gold, formica-topped table and humming refrigerator, that is of interest to the musically curious. This is the "studio" where Usher recorded his solo debut, Little Songs, with the help of producer Paul Northfield.
The album is an intimate collection of 10 songs that attempt to capture the world according to 31-year-old Usher. And while his vocals are immediately recognizable, Little Songs is decidedly not a Moist album. The stripped-down sound of voice and acoustic guitar, textured with keyboards, cello and drum loops is a far cry from Moist’s dramatic rock-driven sound. There are no obvious hits here, though the first single, Forestfire, is already getting radio play across the country.
Besides Forestfire, with its jazzy intro and breathy vocals, this eclectic collection features a folky St.Lawrence River tastefully flavored with trumpet and Hammond B3 organ, a Simon-and-Garfunkel-esque F Train, and the spacy Mood Song, full of feedback and distortion. The compositions are underscored by the simplicity, reflectiveness and charm.
After five years with Moist and two multiplatinum albums (silver and Creature), Usher said, he felt the need to pursue a solo project. "Moist is a collective and we write all our material together. When you bring new ideas to the collaborative space, they get pulled apart and then put back together again.
"Over the years, I had collected quite a few songs that weren’t right for the band. They were very personal and I wanted to keep them that way. But I needed to find an outlet for them before embarking on the next Moist record. I had to unclog myself."
Usher doesn’t balk at the suggestion that Little Songs can be described as lo-fi Moist. "Every person will interpret the album differently. Some Moist fans will be mortally disappointed that it’s not a rock record. But that’s what Moist does - and they’ll be getting another one next year."
Not that they’ve been starved for moist material, either. The band is coming off a particularly successful year, recently garnering three juno nominations, for best rock album and best album for Creature, as well as for best video for the song Gasoline. (The video won, though the album did not.)
"Little Songs is a personal record full of my private thoughts that are unscreened and uncensored - just like a journal. Conceptually, I like the idea of a mellower frame holding harder ideas."
Originally titled Little sons to F*** to, Usher abbreviated the name for obvious reasons. "It’s a take-off on Leonard Cohen and his titles of records like Songs of Love and Hate and Songs from a Room. But a lot of my women friends thought the title was a little too aggressive. Since I didn’t want to be perceived as sexist , I shortened it."
Recorded during tree separate sessions over a six-month period, Little Songs took shape in Usher’s Kitchen. The other Moist members. (keyboardist Kevin Young, guitarist Mark Makoway, bassist Jeff Pearce and drummer Paul Wilcox) encouraged Usher to pursue the project and participated on the album.
"Everyone came by and played on it," Usher recalled. "During takes, we’d unplug the fridge and the phone. Paul [Northfield] sat on the floor working the mixing board in the back room, Kevin played keyboards here on the kitchen table, the trumpet player stood in the doorway and I sat at that chair and sang. It was an incredibly relaxed experience. We drank a lot of coffee and lots of Jameson’s whisky."
Two years ago, Usher and fellow Moist members left Vancouver and moved to Montreal. He has a deep rooted connection to Montreal. His father, an economics professor at Queen’s university in Kingston, Ont., grew up in Westmount, and the family spent many summers here.
"I’ve always loved this city," Usher said. "It’s so dynamic and has so much to offer with its two languages and cultures. Plus, I find Quebec politically fascinating." Usher earned a BA in political science from Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University. Yet he avoids discussing politics until the formal interview is over and the tape recorder switch off.
The move to Montreal also turned out to be a wise business decision. It has solidified Moist’s fan base in Quebec and turned the province into one of the band’s strongest markets in Canada. "Since we don’t have real jobs, it doesn’t make any difference where we live. We can make music anywhere we want."
Just back from a 10-date tour of the northeastern United States, where Moist is relatively unknown, band members are already busy working on the next album.
"Creature was difficult second album," Usher explained. "After the success of Silver, there was a lot of pressure onus to do well. Fortunately we weathered that period and now we’re much more relaxed and are having a great time writing the new one. Not that it’s going to be a breeze, but now we know how we work together and we enjoy the process.