After three years of relentless worldwide touring (cross-Canadian shows, European festivals, even a beach party in Madagascar – he’s done it and you were there up front), Rich Aucoin returns with his second album, Ephemeral. With this album, the ever-ruminating philosopher distills all his big ideas into 10 sharp dance-pop songs, creating one central message. We must gather all things that cause fear and division, and use them to bring us together.
Ephemeral will be released in Canada on September 9th via Bonsound. Stream the new single Want To Believe, as well as the previously released Are You Experiencing?.
Everything Aucoin does feeds into another thing. His whole life is an endlessly connected mass of roots, needing air and water and a light show to really be seen. Aucoin now custom orders his trademark parachute (as seen in his Are You Experiencing? video) since there are so many devoted and curious fans rushing to get under them at live shows. He’s already holding stadium-caliber, interactive live spectacles in the confines of clubs, marveled CBC Radio 3’s Grant Lawrence. Imagine what this Halifax electro-imagineer could do in a hockey arena!
In times like this/I wanna be a believer!, Aucoin shouts on the driving, dynamic Want to Believe, an exuberant anthem mixed by Grammy Award winner Mick Guzauski (Daft Punk). It’s not surprising that he means all times. I want to believe, he says, and am on a quest to try to have as many experiences as I can to elicit belief.
Despite his seemingly superhuman abilities, Aucoin has experienced the same loss and doubt as any other person. On the deceptively upbeat Four More Years, he lays out the toll an outsized life can take on the heart beneath it: I’m alone so much/what good are friends you cannot touch… I fuckin’ miss my friends.
Lastly and most importantly, Ephemeral was inspired by the story of The Little Prince (it runs in synchronization with the 1979 claymation film). This album was written to explore the same concepts and themes contained in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s densely filled children's novella; themes of the ephemerality of human existence, the absurdity of life, the values placed upon the pursuit of power, wealth and knowledge, says Aucoin. Isolation and relationships are a big focus in the book and the record and the realization that our relationships are the most important part of our short existence.
Tracklisting
01. Meaning In Life
02. Want To Believe
03. Are You Experiencing?
04. Yelling In Sleep
05. They Say Obey
06. City I Love
07. Four More Years
08. I Am Sorry
09. Let It Go
10. Always The Same
Tour Dates (more will be announced soon)
06/26 Waterloo, ON // Starlight
06/27 London, ON // Call the Office
06/28 St. Catherine's, ON // SCENEfest
06/29 Toronto, ON // World Pride
06/30 Saint John, NB // Market Square (Canada Day Countdown)
07/01 Fredericton, NB // Officer's Square
07/18 Pemberton, BC // Pemberton Music Festival
07/31 Edmonton, AB // Bermuda Festival
08/02 Halifax, NS (TBD)