PEI's Lennie Gallant Releases When We Get There
Ron Foley Macdonald

Lennie Gallant, the Prince Edward Island-born, Halifax-based troubador whose talent includes the uncanny ability to articulate--in song--the heart and soul or his home region, has a stunning new album. It's called When We Get There, and it continues the East Coast minstrel's string of extraordinary recordings.

While the fourteen-song album consists of some material that was cobbled together from several disparate sources--including Gallant's live disc of a few years ago and his recent, award-winning Francophone set Le Vent Boheme--there's a smooth and pleasing consistency to When We Get There.

The Islander's patented folk-pop style revels in the kind of craftsmanship and imagination that applies to only a handful of Canada's top singer/songwriters such as Bruce Cockburn, Gordon Lightfoot and Sarah MacLachlan.

Gallant's concise poetry and sense of hushed intimacy, however sets him apart from even those giants of the Great White North's pop pantheon. There are moments on When We Get There--particularly on songs like Seven Years, Eleven Roses andA Day With You In Paradise--where the singer/songwriter tosses off a couched observation or wry aside which manages to magnify and illuminate some already rich material.

A close analysis of a song like Pieces Of You, for example, reveals just how Lennie takes songwriting to a completely higher level. Beginning with nothing but a straightforward vocal accompanied by tartly strummed acoustic guitar, the Halifax-based recording artist delivers a seemingly simple series of conversational-style statements. Like stray parts of an alluring puzzle, the short melodies fit into a larger structure that lets the melodic lines slowly grow, setting up an uplifting, utterly liberating chorus. There's a natural sense of drama in the song that gives it an extra narrative quality; Pieces Of You doesn't just seem like an everyday love song. Instead, it's a quietly determined tour-de-force that adds longing and depth to an already resonant composition.

Meanwhile, the quiet attention to detail in the album's arrangements, musical textures and production approach makes When We Get There sound like a million-dollar recording. Building each song on a strong foundation of acoustic guitars, Gallant allows each melody and chorus plenty of room to breath. Using electric guitars sparingly to provide as much atmosphere as rhythmic drive, the Island-born singer concocts an austere, deliberate sound that supports and enhances his carefully crafted songs.

As on previous albums, Lennie Gallant has collected up a series of commentaries on contemporary Atlantic Canadian life along with more general musings about love and relationships. And while this new album contains little material that could be called directly traditional, there's definitely a number of songs that catch all the quiet irony of living on what some people consider the far-flung margins of North America.

47 Angels On Her Front Lawn provides a good idea of where Lennie Gallant has taken this kind of topical, regional-flavoured songwriting. Using the quirky folk art image of out-of-control lawn ornaments as a starting place, the singer/songwriter coyly details some of the events that might have led the owner of the ornaments into her current position. There's some suggestion that a former lover might just be buried in and amongst some of those deteriorating cement angels; Gallant avoids any kind of sensationalism or sentimentality to keep song tied to its central image of mystery, leaving the listener to fill in some of the blanks themselves.

One of the album's highlights has got to be the firm, determined statement of romantic ideals, This Perfect Kiss. Balancing images of earthly temporality against the transcendence of love itself, Gallant informs the song with a delicate passion that is deftly matched by some soaring lead guitar work by Gilles Tessier.

One of the most striking things about the songs on When We Get There is their sheer accessibility. A song such as If I Could Make Your Mind Up could have graced any number of high-charting Fleetwood Mac albums in the mid and late '70s; I'm Learning How is exactly the kind of song that we should be hearing pouring out of a thousand radio stations across North America right now.

That Lennie Gallant is one our most acclaimed singer/songwriters is something Atlantic Canadians should never take for granted. The release of each and every one of his albums gives us reason to pause, listen and appreciate, because when the native Prince Edward Islander releases a batch of new songs, he helps people on the East Coast discover another little piece of themselves.

Lennie Gallant launches his new album When We Get There with a performance at Casino Nova Scotia in Halifax on October 21th. He'll be at the Confederation Centre in Charlottetown October 27th. For more info, check out www.lenniegallant.com.