Patrick Watson's New Studio Album Set For Physical and Digital Release In Canada on April 28, 2009

(Toronto – February 26, 2009) - On April 28, 2009, Secret City Records and EMI Music Canada will release Wooden Arms - Patrick Watson’s highly anticipated follow-up to the critically acclaimed Close to Paradise, which vaulted the man and his band to international stardom in 2007, and sold over 100,000 copies.
 
The album, self-produced, comprises 11 brand new tracks recorded in a few short months at the end of 2008 in Montreal.  
 
The internationally praised Montreal band toured non-stop for two years following the initial Canadian release of Close to Paradise in 2006, and in many ways Wooden Arms is the story and sound of a band waking up in strange places all around the world.  
 
Whether it’s the bicycle-piano sound of “Beijing,” or the warmth of ‘a hole in the wall’ in ‘sweet New Orleans’ on “Big Bird in a Small Cage,” or the haunting European waltz of the title track, you can’t help but feel in listening to Wooden Arms like you’re on the road with the band. Sometimes it’s dirty, sometimes it’s wild, but it’s never, ever boring.

In 2007, Watson won Canada’s prestigious Polaris Prize, turning more than a few heads in beating out offerings from Arcade Fire and Feist, among many others.
By the time Close To Paradise was released in the United States, Europe and Japan, the band was flying all over the world, garnering critical applause for the album and their blistering live show alike.
 
When the dust finally settled the band had written enough songs on the road to lay down a new record. On the album’s opener, “Fireweed,” Watson sings, “So we dug ourselves a hole, and planted all our skin; like a seed in the ground, to grow again.”  
 
You can hear stripped down rejuvenation all over Wooden Arms; Watson’s voice and orchestrations shine brighter against a rhythmic percussive foundation that has been brought to the forefront.
 
But Wooden Arms isn’t just the sound of a band learning how to build a slicker wall of sound together.  The playful album closer “Machinery of the Heavens” is almost a full on swing-tune; “Big Bird in a Small Cage” proves they’re capable of producing a perfect country-pop song, and fans of “The Great Escape” from Close to Paradise will have a hard-time resisting the heart-wrenching just-voice-and-guitar of “Man of Like You.”
 
Wooden Arms showcases both Watson and his band mates as genuine composers, and the serious musicians they are—from the orchestral pull of “Tracy’s Waters,” to Simon Angell’s noise-twang on “Traveling Salesman” to drummer Robbie Kuster’s jaw-dropping performances and his string piece “Hommage,” to the anchor of Mishka Stein’s bass on the instrumental freak-out number, “Down at the Beach.”

Wooden Arms will be released April 28 in Canada on Secret City Records.  Canadian tour dates for Watson are expected to be announced shortly.

Copyright © 2009 EMI Music Canada