Longtime guitarist for The Dears Patrick Krief has big plans for 2013 which include releasing a new album and hitting the road for a North American tour.Rock Ridge Music will be releasing Krief's new album, Hundred Thousand Pieces, in early 2013 in the United States and he will also be touring the U.S. in support of the album in 2013.
Says Krief of the partnership with Rock Ridge Music: "I'm super excited to have a partner in the U.S. for the first time as a solo artist. Rock Ridge is a no nonsense label, very artist friendly, and I am super excited to release this album with them."
Says Rock Ridge Music CEO Tom Derr of working with Krief: "When an opportunity to work with someone like Patrick comes along, you don't ask why, you ask when."
On the self-produced, self-mixed album, Krief played nearly all the instruments himself (with help from former Black Diamond Bay member Roberto Piccioni), and he also composed the complex, melodically independent string, brass and choir arrangements. Krief was committed to creating music that was strongly evocative, inspired by his work scoring films. The 10 songs on the album deal with his anxieties about growing older and continuing down the financially precarious road of a professional musician. Hundred Thousand Pieces follows his work with The Dears, his first solo release, 2007's Take It Or Leave EP, and 2009's Calm Awaits as part of the band Black Diamond Bay.
While most of Hundred Thousand Pieces was recorded at his Cote-des-Neiges apartment, bits and pieces of it were recorded on his laptop while touring with Black Diamond Bay, the drums were laid down at Mixart studios in the N.D.G. neighborhood of Montreal, and even a few old demo tracks he simply couldn't re-create made the final mix.
