Following the release of debut single ‘Let It Die’, Montréal based multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and producer Mitch Davis returns with his next single ‘My Life Life’, out on 10 March. The track is the next instalment from Mitch’s debut Arbutus Records album ‘The Haunt’, out everywhere on 29 April.
To accompany the track, Mitch has teamed up with director Phil Osborne to create a completely hand-built animated music video.
Speaking of the track, Mitch says, "My City Life" was kinda meant to be a melodramatic joke as-in: "my shitty life". I wrote the song in one sitting which is really rare for me; I wouldn't let myself leave that cold studio room until it was finished! It's a bit of an ode to using dating apps through a pandemic. Trying to find cracks of sunlight in state-enforced isolation. But then getting more realistic in the 2nd verse, it's about giving up the notion entirely before your "heart begins to freeze", as you start closing yourself off to others and building barriers which remain long beyond their initial purpose.”
Speaking of the creation of the video, Phil says, “As for my creative process, I can say that I much prefer practical effects over CGI. I recreated Mount Royal (a large intrusive rock hill or small mountain in the city of Montreal) using an aluminium structure covered with lots of ripped up cotton. I made a custom cross and antennae using little pieces of plastic and inserted tiny lights in them. Other scenes include a real window spinning on its axis, sexy clay lips, psychedelic shadow effects and animated painted dancers.”
Album centrepiece ‘My City Life’ is a soulful ballad about feeling lost in the big city for which Davis drew on his own experiences moving to Montréal from a town of 3,000. The song was written in a single sitting, which is unusual for the songwriter and speaks to the song’s intimacy and rawness. Though it begins as an intimate piano ballad, it soon shifts into smooth and catchy soft rock, becoming a lyrical tale of loneliness that musically reaches for the stars—a song emblematic of the kaleidoscopic talents of Mitch Davis that are on full display on ‘The Haunt’.
Dedicated to a DIY ethos throughout his music career, Mitch recorded the album in his home studio during the 2020 lockdown. Writing all the tracks, playing all the instruments and recording all the music on equipment that he built himself, the multi-faceted artist delivers a record that is brimming with colour and optimism even as it ponders universal themes of introspection and loneliness - a record that could only have been made by Mitch Davis.
In a similar vein to Tom Misch and Jordan Rakei, Mitch’s distinctive blend of jazz, funk, sunshine pop and rock is so seamlessly integrated it often feels like a full band effort. Yet everything you hear is a result of Davis hunkering down alone in his home studio in the garment manufacturing district of Montréal while the city was under a strict curfew - midnight to 5am were his working hours - funnelling all his creative energy into the music. ”
Davis is a mainstay of the vibrant Montréal music scene, with a musical background encompassing everything from rock bands (Faith Healer) to avant-garde (Elle Barbara's Black Space) to jazz and hip-hop (Cadence Weapon). The Haunt is a synthesis of his many musical interests, stretching back to his childhood when he played drums in the church band and saxophone in his school band (he plays both on The Haunt.)
Though he’s never had any formal musical training, Davis can not remember a time in which music wasn’t a part of his life. When it came time to make his own record, Davis says: “I was always hoping I could find a way to blend everything together and get away with doing a bunch of different genres all at once, because I don’t like dwelling on a certain sound.”
