Canadian indie-pop singer-songwriter Laurent Bourque is poised to announce a brand new track with the arrival of ‘Lightning Mood’ and will be accompanied by a live session visual pre-empting his anticipated new album ‘Blue Hour’ due 31st January.
Musically ‘Lightning Mood’ sits somewhere between Sufjan Stevens mixed with Radiohead and Frank Ocean. Laurent says: “’Lightning Mood’ is a song about morality in love. About the individual desires that co-exist between two people and how we can struggle to align them”.
It’s a song that was written in Paris by Laurent and French DJ/producer Nicolas Gueguen who mostly works in the electronic world and has collaborated with greats like Talib Kweli. The end goal is the same for everyone, we all want to make it through and see things to the end. This is what the chorus is about. The hope for everyone is that the day feels truly and authentically ours. Like it’s going to end in a magical way.
‘Blue Hour’ invites you into an exploration of loss and new beginnings through pensive, chic piano-driven pop. The Toronto singer-songwriter presents 11 titles drenched in poetic expression anchored by shining piano melodies, sweeping synthesizers and blissful orchestral arrangements.
After touring his 2014 debut album, Pieces of Your Past, which won him Canada’s Stingray Rising Star Award, Laurent decided to put the brakes on and rethink his approach to songwriting. During a lengthy creative ennui, Laurent was introduced to the idea of co-writing.
Collaboration would be the creative key to the material in Blue Hour. “When you write with other people, you can bounce things off each other and the best idea always wins,” he says. “Which always makes for better art.”
In 2018 after surpassing a personal goal to write 100 new songs, Laurent teamed up with producer Dan Ledwell (Jenn Grant, Fortunate Ones) and longtime collaborator and drummer Jamie Kronick to record the album. Together, they took their time and created an album full of self-analytical characterizations rooted in swaying grooves and melancholic yet sanguine memories.
‘Blue Hour’ is twilight’s shining moment of natural, unwrinkled radiance. A mellow and vibrant hue that casts itself atop of landscapes, skylines and people going about their lives. As portrayed in Laurent’s words and melodies, ‘Blue hour’ is an uninhibited reminder to stop and take in what’s beautiful as it happens.
‘Lightning Mood’ follows on from his previous two singles, ‘Matador’ and ‘Thinking of You’ which received support from Earmilk, Spotify’s New Music Friday, Indie All Stars, Fresh Finds: Index, SiriusXM’s Sunday Service and reached the top 20 chart on CBC Radio in Canada.