Pat LePoidevin’s latest release, American Fiction, plays as a lyrical “mapping of the stars” – connecting the dots of small town America to nostalgic accounts of love, lust, identity and wanderlust. This is LePoidevin’s fourth full-length album, and asserts his voice as a gentle and aching singer-songwriter with a keen ear for meta-philosophical meanderings. The album was written along the Nova Scotia coast one winter with LePoidevin’s childhood mate Lewis Smith – all songs on the album are fictional tales but the inspiration is true in its rural Canadian origins.
A misty-eyed romantic fantasy that’s often so tender, I’m pretty sure my stereo let out a sigh. The opening track “Winter Park, CO” is warm, teasing, and flirtatious with the sound of ringing strings and the feeling of open air. This album is lovely and lush, reimagining small-town existence and rural coquetry, with plots of missed glances at county fairs and high school football games. LePoidevin’s vocals have the scratchy underbelly that fans of Dave Matthews will so appreciate – more than that, this is a greatly cohesive album and pairs perfectly with tea and sunsets. (Pigeon Row, patlepoidevin.com/) Victoria King