David Usher — Morning Orbit

While his first solo offering tended towards introspective and uninspiring noodling, Morning Orbit is much more straightforward and engaging. Infectious melodies abound and Usher’s lyric writing is much more focused and precise. Usher has learned to play skilfully with dynamics in his songs, altering their pace, groove and intensity to great effect — even managing to overcome other obvious weaknesses.

For example, “How Are You” borrows a little too liberally from the chord progression to “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds,” but is nonetheless winning in its effortless shifts and surges from verses to choruses. “Blinded” starts off somewhat complacently and almost becomes skippable until its powerful chorus punches through, justifying its more subdued stretches.

To assist him in the proceedings, Usher has invited a number of guest players including Gord Sinclair (The Tragically Hip), Jagori Tanna and Bruce Gordon (I Mother Earth) and perhaps most interestingly, Snow. With regards to the latter, the beats-heavy “Joy In Small Places” is the resulting collaboration, a track that ought to raise a few fans’ eyebrows.

However, the biggest (and most appealing) surprise is the gentle cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.” With a simple guitar line and quiet keyboards, Usher demonstrates that he’s just as good with subtle beauty as he is with big rock dramatics.