Skip to main content

Maverick Ad

Home

Main navigation

  • Home
  • Cover Stories
  • Features
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Cashbox Legacy Awards
  • Past Covers
  • Weekly Archive
Might As Well Jump: Prog Rocker Martin Larose Scales New Heights On "Skyscraper Jumper"

Breadcrumb

  • Home
  • Might As Well Jump: Prog Rocker Martin Larose Scales New Heights On "Skyscraper Jumper"
Martin Larose
Fri Jul 05, 2024
Cashbox Canada

When an artist has been in the game for three and a half decades, there’s often nowhere to go but down. And then there’s Saguenay, Quebec’s Martin Larose, whose elevator has instead landed him on a brand new floor with his latest album, Songs from the Kite, and its appropriately upward-facing first single, “Skyscraper Jumper.

The album represents a self-admitted leap into the heavens of prog, folk and even pop for the Saguenay-based guitarist/songwriter, after years spent performing his fretboard gymnastics largely within the idioms of rock and blues. The evolution is especially apparent on “Skyscraper Jumper,” which has the airy, dizzying feel of climbing to the roof of the tallest building you can find and daring to look down.

Musically speaking, the track is a sight less guitar-oriented than one might expect of a player who was inspired by Michael Hedges and Eddie Van Halen and only recently released a solo acoustic rendition of “The Spirit of Radio” by Rush. This one is more of an equal blend of guitars, keys, atmospheric electronics, and ethereal vocals—a mix that perfectly matches the heady lyrics Larose has concocted with co-writer Qual Ix (the nom de plume of emerging Canadian artist Felix Dionne):
Fifty stories, then fifty more
Concrete tower as a sky door
Grasp the star light with your feet
Taking the clouds as a seat
If you were told you could fly
Would you jump from the skyscraper?
If you knew you couldn’t die
Would you jump from the skyscraper?
The acrophobics are going to have a field day.

“Songs from the Kite is the album I have always wanted to create,” LaRose says. “It represents everything I have developed over a career spanning 35 years, both in terms of my craft as a guitar player and as a songwriter.”

Listen on Spotify here: open.spotify.com/album/4OxKaqOdBu5sW8MDk95ZFL

To help him realize his vision, he’s pulled in collaborations from all over. Future single “I Laid Low” features the legendary British bassist Tony Franklin (who’s played with Jimmy Page both solo and in The Firm) and German singer Ben Jud (of The Martin Miller Band), hammering away at a number Larose co-wrote with Canadian lyricist Nath Farley. There are also compositional team-ups with British lyricist Roger Penkethman and a cover of “Accordingly” by the late Texas blues rocker Chris Whitley.

“Chris’s massive legacy has always been close to my heart, and this particular song has always stayed with me,” Larose says. “It’s my tribute from up North.”

Speaking of “up North,” the album’s title doesn’t refer to kite flying as an actual hobby, but rather to the Saguenay-Lake St. John area LaRose hails from, the geography of which makes it resemble an upside-down kite. The title is also a metaphor for “finally taking off and flying after years of struggling,” he reveals.

It’s interesting to hear him refer to the past as a struggle, when anyone else looking at his résumé might only see achievement. A musician since the age of 7, Larose studied classical guitar and double bass at the Chicoutimi Conservatory of Music. His skills were soon being hailed everywhere from the pages of Guitar World magazine to the International Guitar Show in Quebec, where he became a regular guest artist.

Over the years, he has been a warmly welcomed presence at jazz and blues festivals and shared stages with the likes of Richard d’Anjou (Too Many Cooks), Matt Starr and Fred St-Gelais. And he’s made eight studio albums, including the new one and its predecessor, 2021’s NORTH.

When he isn’t recording or performing his own material, Larose’s dedication to music education and production has epitomized the plaudit “works well with others.” He founded an arts-and-crafts program at a local school that became the talk of Quebec, and from his own Studio Septentrio—a state-of-the-art recording facility in Jonquière that he co-owns with his spouse— he continues to produce albums for artists from Canada and Europe. His mentorship work includes training and recording Jeanick Fournier, last year’s winner of Canada’s Got Talent.

Peer relationships are important to him too, as he showed when he collaborated with Glenn Lévesque of the Montreal Guitar Trio on "Boreal Ritual." And he’s done it all while hosting and performing on the show Studio Boréal on MAtv.

Right now, though, his focus is on Songs from the Kite and the stratospheric achievement it represents. “Throughout my career, I have explored guitar pyrotechnics, acoustic music, rock and blues,” Larose says, “but this album is the best representation of who I am as a musician, songwriter and producer.” In other words, onward and upward.

martinlarose.com

Reviews
Album
Martin Larose
Month: Oct 2023
Rusty Creek Rusty Creek Looks Back on the Past with a Mixture of Sunniness and Sadness on “…
Sue Foley Award-Winning Guitarist/Singer/Songwriter Sue Foley Set to Release Sue Foley…
XOCÔ XOCÔ Release 'Constança': A Vibrant Tribute to Afro Indigenous…
YA NO Musical Maverick YA NO Makes a Sensational Comeback with Mesearch: A Genre-…
Doug MacNaughton Singer-Songwriter Doug MacNaughton Releases "Energize" from Old…
Fuat Tuaç Unveils New Single "Chez Moi" with Kim Richardson Fuat Tuaç Unveils New Single "Chez Moi" with Kim Richardson
Kat Greta Melbourne's Rising Star Kat Greta Continues to Shine with New Single '…
Molly Johnson Photo Credit Chris Nicholls Legendary Canadian Jazz Artist Molly Johnson Releases Vinyl Edition Of It’s A…
Oliver Pigott Folk & Soul Artist Oliver Pigott Shares Heartfelt Reflections in '…
Month: Nov 2023
Centraal Toronto Rockers Centraal's New Single "Nobody To You" Celebrates…
Charlie PS Charlie PS Lights A 'Slow Burn' Against The Modern Music Industry In New…
Danny Lamb Danny Lamb's 'Powerful (Hold Space)' Is A Musical Testament to…
David Deacon David Deacon Unleashes Blues Brilliance with Good Day Good Night Album and…
First of the Last Stars Ottawa-Based First of the Last Stars Fuse the Dreamy with the Powerfully Raw on “Wrong…
Bill Brennan MusicNL Award Winner Bill Brennan Strikes a Harmonious Chord With Enchanting…

Pagination

  • First page « First
  • Previous page ‹ Previous
  • …
  • Page 108
  • Page 109
  • Page 110
  • Page 111
  • Current page 112
  • Page 113
  • Page 114
  • Page 115
  • Page 116
  • …
  • Next page Next ›
  • Last page Last »

CEO/PUBLISHER/EDITOR IN CHIEF
SANDY GRAHAM

email:sandygrahamemg@gmail.com 

Canadian Journalists:

Contributing Journalist - Canada and Global
Don Graham
email: dongrahamwriter@gmail.com

Contributing Journalist - Canada and Global
Lisa Hartt
email: lisahartt87@hotmail.com

Contributing Journalist - Canada 
Michael Williams
email: greydread@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

International Journalists:

Contributing Journalist - Sweden
Malin Osth
email: malin@musicdays.se

Contributing Journalist - Sweden
Jonas Tancred
email: jonas@musicdays.se

Contributing Journalist - USA
Rob Durkee 
email: rockster2746@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Web Developer/Technical Support
Chris Wardman

email: info@chriswardman.com
website: chriswardman.com

Cashbox Cover Design and Graphic Artist
Jain McMillan

email: jainmcmillan@gmail.com

Contributing Photographer 
Tracey Savein - South Paw Productions
southpawproductions@rogers.com

 

 

 

Footer menu

  • Home
  • Features
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Cashbox Archive
  • Issue Archive
  • Past Covers