Saskatoon folk punk drops Living and Dying in the Prairies
It is quite likely that my priorities are sorely misplaced, but I’ve always found acoustic folk songs about drinking weirdly inspiring.
Maybe it’s the feelings of solidarity. Maybe booze just makes for a good sing-along. Or maybe it’s just nice to know that there is some other freak out there who also likes beer.
It’s nice to know that there is some other freak out there who also likes beer.
Myles Ladouceur aka Myles and the Blanks is a local troubadour whose songs flow like the taps at Amigos on a Friday night, and are just as easy to swallow. Live he is instantly likeable, a hulking figure that rumbles like a slurry, purring kitten.
His songwriting, however, is even more charismatic than his delivery.
Ladouceur straddles the line between half-hearted jests and whole-hearted songwriting. Songs like “Muggle” dares you to take his lyrics as anything but a joke but the train-hopping-hobo-harmonica-playing is so classically spot on.
Clearly he has a knack for writing both the silly and the sublime, so why the split personality?
“I think it’s both intentional and the need to express the things that pop into my head,” says Ladouceur. “I try to keep songwriting honest to who I am. Sometimes I’m super depressed, sometimes I want to laugh. I also go back and forth in a way like ‘oh god I’m writing too many serious songs’ and write a lighthearted or funny one.”
Rumour has it that Myles is planning a CD release party on December 1, so you should probably just go ahead and book the next day off work and come get sing-along drunk with the rest of us.