Major Love

‘Live, Laugh, Major Love’, the long-awaited, semi-eponymous sophomore album from Major Love, comes to us like a cheeky valentine, pairing emotional vulnerability with light-heartedness and the kind of confidence that is synonymous with rock. Earnest without taking themselves too seriously on this record, Major Love’s lead singer-songwriter Colleen Brown playfully scorns romantic love even as she openly longs for it. 

“When love relationships go bad, there’s always some part of you that recoils at the next opportunity. You’re like the armadillo. You’re always wearing your armour. And then you attract more armadillos, both of you protecting yourselves, both of you only showing a small part of your tender self. All the while, wishing, at least in part, to relieve yourselves of your shells. To be naked in your need,” says Brown. “The older I get, the more plainly obvious it is to me that in order to survive, we need to learn to love each other, forgive each other, be emotionally vulnerable with one another, look for ways we can collaborate and compromise, and become totally and utterly truthful with ourselves and each other.” The eleven tracks that comprise ‘Live, Laugh, Major Love’ showcase Brown’s willingness to do just that, in partnership with her Major Love bandmates: Trevor Mann on guitar and vocals, Shea Connor on drums and vocals, and Murray Wood on bass (who also make up the trio Scenic Route To Alaska). 

This latest offering began with the creation of two demos, recorded at the secluded Moose Farm Studio in northern Alberta with producer/engineer Jesse Northey. ‘The More I Know’ and ‘Mountain Standard Time’ were originally tracked as a seven minute epic, and later edited into two individual songs. The intention was to create demos, but these two songs ended up being the starting point for the whole record after a serendipitous meeting with Grammy Award-winning producer Marcus Paquin, who would go on to complete the album with the band. “I met Marcus in early 2020, when the two of us were backing up Hawksley Workman and Sarah Slean on tour. I showed him a bunch of my music. He played me the new Weather Station album he had just completed and I was really blown away, obviously, so I really wanted to work together…and we hatched plans to complete the rest of [Major Love’s] album at the National Music Centre in Calgary.” 

There were some worldly delays to getting started on that - during which time Brown released two solo albums - 'Isolation Songs' in 2020 and 'Winging It' in 2022 - the latter of which features Paquin as mixing engineer on the track 'I Am Leaving (And It's Okay)'. 

The band finally convened in May 2022 to record Live, Laugh, Major Love, titled in homage to the very cheesy home decor of the rental house they stayed at while recording in Calgary, and in a nod to Brown’s self-help journey that colours a lot of the songwriting. “I'm kind of poking fun at myself while also earnestly repeating my daily affirmations… That's the thread that ties all the songs together - it's me wrestling with my shadows, succumbing at times, trying to pull myself back into the light.’ 

By the time we hear the album’s closing track ‘Better Excuse’ we do feel as though we are once again in the light. Brown brings us back, full circle, to her romantic optimism, but this time holding on to all the lessons gleaned from the preceding tracks, as she sings about living the life she wants without waiting for love, while also putting forth the offering: “I’ll make the time, I’ve always got space for two.”

“Live, Laugh, Major Love” - distributed via Slow Weather/The Orchard - came out May 17, 2024.

History:

Major Love’s 2018 debut on Cowboy Junkies’ imprint Latent Recordings (Warner) yielded two singles 'Tear It Down’ and ’So Good’ which were embraced at CBC Radio 2 and enjoyed some initial commercial radio crossover. The album debuted at #19 on the earshot National College Radio charts where it ranked for more than 13 weeks.