From a cross-country bike tour to a $60 homemade music video that garnered two million viewers, it’s clear there are few things musician Jeremy Fisher won’t do for his art.
Add an acoustic guitar, a consciousness writing style, a Dylan-esque quality (including a busking background) and you’ll begin to understand the grassroots-like charm of Fisher.
Recently nominated for two Junos, the Vancouver-based, Hamilton, Ont.-born singer is currently on tour with The Proclaimers promoting his third record, Goodbye Blue Monday.
Produced by fellow Canuck musician Hawksley Workman, the pop/folk-infused album offers a continuum of mostly upbeat guitar tracks featuring bursts of accordion, keyboard and harmonica.
It’s from this collection that the aforementioned YouTube Cigarette video comes from. Shot in Fisher’s apartment, the video features a “walking” cigarette made out of modelling clay as well as the artist’s trademark stop-animation filming.
As for the cancer stick, it’s used as a metaphor for addictive relationships — both the excitement and the heartbreak. “It (was) more about concept than budget,” says Fisher, explaining the impetus behind the project. “I just really wanted to make something that was a statement of my own.”
Equally playful is opener Scar That Never Heals — also examining heartbreak.
Yet, Fisher, 31, proves he isn’t afraid to tackle even weightier topics with songs like American Girls, which is about private Lynndie England, the Abu Ghraib soldier who took photos of Iraqi prisoners. Again, despite its grim lyrics, the song offers toe-tapping rhythm — equally imaginable as a fingerpicking busk tune.
“I don’t really see it as being political. It’s more of a personal reaction to how politics affect people,” says Fisher, referring to his songwriting. “I think in a democracy the most important and greatest thing about it is that we discuss issues that aren’t black or white, which most issues aren’t.”
