(PR) After ten years as the lead singer and songwriter for iconic Canadian rock band Our Lady Peace, Raine Maida's first solo album arrives in stores November 13th. A collection of 10 commanding songs that are poignant and lyrical, delivered in a style reminiscent of the 60's beat poets with hip hop influenced beats of today, The Hunter's Lullaby is a unique album that stands out in today's musical landscape.Developed over the last year during the late evening hours in his private studio, the album delivers a deeply personal picture of the man as an artist in the 21st century. Recorded using purely acoustic instruments, Raine gathered many of the musician's closest to him to help shape the record. His talented wife Chantal Kreviazuk plays piano and lends her unique vocals to several of the albums tracks. Victor Indrizzo (Beck, Gnarls Barkley) started the drum sessions with Raine back in the summer of 2006. Joseph Karnes (John Cale, My Brightest Diamond) contributed the stand up bass while Randy Cooke (Dave Stewart) laid down the majority of the drums and percussion.
Lyrics. Poetry. This is where it all started. Inspired by the greats of past and present - The Hunter's Lullaby explores a world alive with contradiction, hope and yearning for change. In Raine's own words: "The Hunter's Lullaby is a collection of poems put to music. It was written and recorded without the persuasive hand of a major record label. The significance of artists such as Patti Smith, Leonard Cohen, Allen Ginsberg and Saul Williams helped shape this collection of songs. The social conscious of activists such as Amy Goodman, Howard Zinn, Jared Paul and David Suzuki helped define it."
Lead single "Yellow Brick Road" captures the spirit of youth, when anything seems possible. "Earthless" is a striking song about courage from the eyes of a young girl struggling with being a young girl. "China Doll" a record inspired by Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth' contains the lyric "Sour like democracy" which ends up being a sub theme of the record and Raine's love hate relationship with politics. Raine tackles his own religious back ground and future on "The Less I Know".
"Spoken word is what gets me off these days, probably because it makes me feel so damn insecure. I get the same feeling from spoken word today as the first time I heard Nirvana's "smells like teen spirit." I'm not exactly sure where my record fits in today's musical landscape, but I take comfort in that. I have two very young children who will one day judge me by this work. Fear and courage are brothers."