Steven Page Preps New Solo Album

Former Barenaked Ladies singer Steven Page says his first solo album is "nearing completion" and will be out sometime in 2010.

Page plans to launch a tour to support the record around the same time.

Page says he's worked on the album in Ontario, Los Angeles and in the basement of his central New York home the last few months. He's also been working with producer John Fields (Paul Westerberg, Jonas Brothers).

"Before I started recording, people would ask me what kind of record it was going to be, and I really couldn't answer," Page wrote in a blog post entitled "The Album Is Dead! Long Live The Album!" on Monday (Nov. 9).

"I never know what an album will sound like until I'm making it. Maybe it was going to be an album of downtempo folk songs reflecting on the inner and outer tumult in my life the last few years. Or a cabaret-style album of perverse art songs. Or some kind of screaming noise catharsis.

"Turns out, it sounds a lot like Steven Page: Power-pop, gay disco, big band swing, acoustic ballads. It seems as eclectic as the best BNL albums were, but I guess I'm biased that way."

Page wrote the album with Stephen Duffy (who he worked with on The Vanity Project) and Odds singer/guitarist Craig Northey. Meanwhile, The Imposters/The Attractions drummer Pete Thomas plays on most of the tracks. Esthero and Toad The Wet Sprocket's Glen Phillips also make guest appearances, and Kevin Fox plays cello.

"Will the album be truly dead by then?" Page wrote. "Will this collection of songs seem like a quaint relic of a simpler time? Or the out-of-step ramblings of a crazy man? Perhaps once this album's out of my system, like the baby in Alien, I'll move on to a more rapid succession of singles and EPs, or maybe I'll still do both."

Page will appear at It's Always Something, a benefit concert with proceeds going to Gilda's Club Toronto, named after the late comic Gilda Radner. The show takes place Nov. 23 at Toronto's Princess Of Wales Theatre.