Following the twelve minute epic ‘Bookends’ earlier this month, Toronto-based producer, film composer, and author Meg Remy shares new single ‘Like James Said’; an ELO-styled nugget of AM gold and nod to James Brown about the healing power of dancing alone.
+ Listen to ‘Like James Said’ here +
Remy’s own lyrical response to Brown’s ‘Get Up Offa That Thing’, the track showcases her great – and characteristically tragicomic – phrasing, notably on the exaggerated pause in the line, “I’m the queen of exercising […] pain.” It was written alongside Rich Morel, adding to his and Remy’s string of hits together (‘Rosebud’, ‘4 American Dollars’).
‘Like James Said’ also arrives alongside a single shot dance performance, directed by and starring comedian Tom Henry. Of the video, Henry says:
“When Meg talked to me about making some sort of video about this song that talks about dancing, I had a sudden bolt of inspiration – how about a video about dancing? I don’t know how these ideas come to me.”
“To me, this character has a story, but ultimately, I just think someone trying to do something well, who doesn’t fully have the faculties to do that, is funny and interesting, and possibly sad – the two and a half things I want to be as a comedian. That’s why I got my dancer friend, Gillian, to help put together this dance piece and attempted to perform it as best I could. I hope, above all else, everyone finds it breathtakingly beautiful, and that I win an award.”
Earlier this month, Remy introduced Scratch It with the release of an epic 12-minute lead single, ‘Bookends’ – a sprawling ballad that pays tribute to Remy’s late friend and former Power Trip frontman Riley Gale, through the lens of Remy’s reading of John Carey’s Eyewitness To History, a historical collection of 300+ eyewitness accounts of great world events spanning twenty-four centuries. The single arrived alongside a cinematic short directed by Caity Arthur.
+ Pre-order from the 4AD Store on black vinyl and CD here+
Limited signed prints available with LP orders whilst stocks last
+ Pre-order and pre-save from all stores and platforms here +
When an artist follows her instinct, rather than money or trends, she can find inspiration anywhere. When Remy was asked to play a festival in Hot Springs, Arkansas — over one thousand miles away from her Toronto home — it was instinct that led her to enlist guitarist friend Dillon Watson (D. Watusi, Savoy Motel, Jack Name) to assemble a one-time Nashville-based band for the occasion. The performance went so well that she decided to ride that energy right back to where the impromptu band had initially rehearsed, in Music City itself, kickstarting the journey toward Scratch It.
In just ten days, Remy and the band — Watson on guitar, Jack Lawrence (The Dead Weather, The Raconteurs, Loretta Lynn) on bass, Domo Donoho on drums, and both Jo Schornikow and Tina Norwood on keys, as well as harmonica legend Charlie McCoy (Elvis, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison) — recorded Scratch It live off the floor with minimal overdubs, mixed to tape. Closeness and ease emanate from this core band with Remy’s singular voice sparkling on top of every tune, the most relaxed it has ever been.
Scratch It weaves together country, gospel, garage rock, soul, disco, folk balladry, and more, with Remy’s masterful songwriting threaded throughout. Her choice to discard the computer-based production of previous albums in favor of two-inch tape serves the songs well, introducing an element of sonic shapeshifting expected from an artist nearly twenty years into making records. If instinct was an instrument, Remy would be a virtuoso. Scratch It and see.
In celebration of her new album, Meg Remy will take her Nashville U.S. Girls band on tour this Summer, with more dates to be added — the routing is listed below, and ticket information can be found here. In addition, Remy has also just played a special pop-up show at Soft Junk in Nashville, where she and the live band performed the new album for the first time.
