Canadian Folk-Rock Artist Mike Legere Releases Shimmering And Poignant New Single 'Kindness Heroic'
Photo Credit: Andrew McEnaney.
Canadian folk-rock artist Mike Legere has released a shimmering and poignant new single, “Kindness Heroic”. The track is an exquisite reflection on the heartache that envelops you when you lose someone, and serves as a stunning, heartfelt tribute to one of the most important people in his life. The song celebrates finding beauty in the ebb and flow of memories.
Traipsing through worn paths
Chartered only in your memory You cherished those warm days They brought you back into the comfort of youthful beauty
When asked about his inspiration to write the song, Legere says “I wrote “Kindness Heroic” in the months surrounding the death of one of the most important people in my life. We called Silvia May Ring our babysitter, but she became family, and we stayed close throughout the years until her death. The song is about the impact she had on my life, the absence she left behind, and the lifelong struggle of grasping with mortality in pieces, both in bigger dramatic moments, and in the quiet of a long goodbye.”
Fragments of grief, celebration and remembrance come in waves – sometimes when you least expect them. The intermingling expressions of our past interlace with prisms of our present. The pathways you walked together transform into a solitary retracing of steps to honour and remember.
With loss comes awareness The passing that makes now then
As Legere explains, the accompanying video retraces those pathways to healing. “Mrs. Ring spent a lot of her time walking around Dartmouth – she truly loved it – and she would strike up conversations with strangers on the street as she walked. She would walk from her place early every morning to our house, and then walk us to school and come get us at lunch and bring us home (largely so I could avoid being at school for the lunch hour as I had trouble making friends early on). When she died we didn’t have any information about where her ashes ended up, and there was no service to honor her (at her request), so my siblings, my Dad and I followed her footsteps along those old roads she loved. We sang the songs she loved, and we told stories about her. This video traces those paths to honour all the effort and care she put into enriching our lives for so long, and taking care of us.”
The colour of time, the spaces between lucidity and silence, are where we live and goodbye always comes too soon.
“Kindness Heroic” is the second single to be released from Legere’s aptly titled forthcoming album ‘Memory Forming Clouds’ which will follow in Fall 2022.
Mike Legere is a songwriter and producer based out of Toronto, Ontario, originally from Nova Scotia. He released his first solo record Ourselves in Public on June 8th 2018, followed by a music video for the single Love Songs (In Fear of Dying Penniless), and a second single, Billboard. His sophomore record Memory Forming Clouds, will be released in 2022. He’s also played with such acts as Century Thief, Places Erupt, and Omar Shabbar.
Playing with bands Places Erupt and Century Thief, Mike released multiple albums and EPs between 2012-2018. Through this process he developed an interest in production, witnessing the creative possibilities that open up in the recording and mixing process. After graduating from Recording Arts Canada Mike began to work as an engineer at The Root Down Studio, where he’d later become lead engineer. In May of 2018 he embarked on his first solo tour with Dante Matas, to support the release of his debut solo album Ourselves in Public, which was premiered by Aesthetic Magazine. The first single, Yourself, was premiered by Folk Radio UK. To support the record Mike booked a solo tour with Dante Matas and his band, who share members with Century Thief. Omar and Colin McNally joined him for a few songs throughout the tour, and later joined the project along with Greg O’Toole (Places Erupt). After the tour Mike decided to record two new songs live off the floor to capture the energy the band had developed. This became the single Love Songs (In Fear Of Dying Penniless), as well as it’s counterpart Billboard. He produced a video with Greg Francis (Century Thief) for Love Songs. Mike began work on his follow-up record while he was going through a particularly dark period. A close personal loss kickstarted a difficult year, which marked the end of his 10 year relationship, and the studio being destroyed in a flood. Feeling overwhelmed by anxiety and depression Mike set up a temporary studio at his family’s cottage in rural Nova Scotia. He borrowed instruments from friends and strangers and rented the rest, and began work writing and recording what would become Memory Forming Clouds (2022).
The first single, Dawson City, was released on June 15, 2022, and the second Kindness Heroic is out now.
Website: mikelegere.bandcamp.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mikelegeremusic
Instagram: www.instagram.com/mikelegeremusic