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Jan 24, 2019 The Dears By Christopher Roberts

Murray A. Lightburn, frontman of Montréal’s The Dears, is releasing a new solo album, Hear Me Out, on February 22 via Dangerbird. Now he has shared another song from the album, “To the Top,” via a black & white video for the track. It sounds like vintage Dears in all the best ways (think No Cities Left era). Watch and listen below, followed by his upcoming tour dates and the cover art for the single.

Previously Lightburn shared Hear Me Out‘s first single, “Belleville Blues” (which we premiered and was one of our Songs of the Week), which was followed by another song from the album, “Changed My Ways.”

Lightburn had this to say about “To the Top” in a press release: “This track turned out to be a shout out to my family; an oath that I will never stop working to make our life together the best it can be. I wanted to make certain that it’s on record, that no matter what is hurled at me or at us, I’m gonna keep at it and that everything I do… (in a raspy voice) “I do it forrr yooouuu…” I hope that as personal as all of this sounds, that anyone can relate to what I’m saying here.

“I played the tubular bells myself and the string arrangement I wrote for this is probably my favourite on the album. At the outset, Howard [Bilerman] seemed a bit less enthused by this track but he made some really valuable contributions while I worked really hard to convince him that this was the track; if you can convince him, you just might be on to something. There were many pivotal moments along the way in the production of this song. In the end his mix down of my absolutely cracking backing band made all my dreams come true. The only thing that would surpass that, is people all over the world bopping and toe-tappin’ and singing along to this tune.”

Lightburn wrote and arranged all the songs on Hear Me Out, which was produced by Lightburn and Howard Bilerman (Leonard Cohen, Arcade Fire, Godspeed You Black Emperor!). It was recorded and mixed at Hotel2Tango in Montréal. Lightburn plays a lot of different instruments on the album: lead and background vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, organ, Mellotron, piano, tubular bells, vibraphone, tambourine, and maracas. The album also features guest vocals from Catherine McCandless of Young Galaxy and Ariel Engel of Broken Social Scene and La Force, as well as Hawksley Workman on bongos. Plus the album includes the following players: Jeff Luciani (drums), Rémi-Jean Leblanc (bass guitar), Steve Raegele (electric guitar and acoustic guitar), Gregory Burton (piano), and Liam O’Neil (piano and tenor saxophone).

Under the Radar and The Dears go way back. We first discovered the band as they were preparing to release their 2003 sophomore album, No Cities Left, which still remains one of our favorites and made the Top 20 in our Top 200 Albums of the Decade list in our Best of the Decade issue in 2009. We then put Lightburn on the cover of our print magazine in honor of The Dears’ 2006 album, Gang of Losers. The Dears’ last album was 2017’s Times Infinity Volume Two, which was the follow-up to 2015’s Times Infinity Volume One. Lightburn’s last solo album was 2013’s Mass: Light.

Murray A. Lightburn Tour Dates:

02/23 - New York, NY @ Rockwood Music Hall
02/28 - Toronto, ON @ The Burdock [early + late shows]
03/01 - Montreal, PQ @ Bar Le Ritz
03/07 - Vancouver, BC @ Fox Cabaret
03/08 - Los Angeles, CA @ Hotel Café
03/09 - Mexico City, MX @ Departamento
03/11-16 - Austin, TX @ SXSW Music Conference

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