''44'' is the sixth solo album by Canadian

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

musician

Joel Plaskett William Joel MacDonald Plaskett (born April 18, 1975) is a Canadian rock musician and songwriter based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was a member of Halifax alternative rock band Thrush Hermit in the 1990s. Plaskett performs in a number of genres ...

, released on April 17, 2020.Thiessen, Brock (January 24, 2020)
Joel Plaskett Unveils Quadruple Album '44'
'

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

''. Retrieved on 2020-04-25. Dubbed the "spiritual successor"White, Adam (March 22, 2020)
Make A Sound'
'Some Party''. Retrieved on 2020-04-25. to Plaskett's prior triple album '' Three'', the 44-song, quadruple album was released the day before the artist's 45th birthday. (As a tie-in to that fact, the LP box set contains a bonus 45th track.O'Kane, Josh (April 21, 2020)
The audacity, and necessity, of Joel Plaskett’s pandemic quadruple-record
'

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

''. Retrieved on 2020-04-25.) Plaskett recorded the album across

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Dartmouth ( ) is an urban community and former city located in the Halifax Regional Municipality of Nova Scotia, Canada. Dartmouth is located on the eastern shore of Halifax Harbour. Dartmouth has been nicknamed the City of Lakes, after the larg ...

, Memphis, Nashville and Toronto, having worked with 33 other musicians over four years.

Background

Each of the four records in the album contains 11 songs, with their own title and theme. The first record (''41: Carried Away'') is centred around travelling, the second collection (''42: Just Passing Through'') turns to finding a homecoming unfamiliar, the third set (''43: If There's Another Road'') tackles transitioning from lost to found, and the last record (''44: The Window Inn'') deals with arriving at a personal destination. Collaborators include Plaskett's band the Emergency, as well as his former group from the nineties Thrush Hermit; members of Sloan and

Local Rabbits Local Rabbits were a Canadian alternative rock band based in Montreal, Quebec, active in the 1990s and early 2000s. The band consisted of vocalists and guitarists Peter Elkas and Ben Gunning, bassist Ryan Myshrall and drummer Jay Tustin. Backgro ...

; fellow Maritimer and mentee of Plaskett

Mo Kenney Mo Kenney (born 1990) is a Canadian singer/songwriter based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Catching the ear of noted Canadian rocker Joel Plaskett while still in school, Kenney released their first album in 2012, which Plaskett produced. Kenney is kn ...

; Dave Shouse of past bands

Grifters A grifter may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Grifters (band), a 1990s American indie rock band * ''The Grifters'' (novel), a 1963 American novel by Jim Thompson * ''The Grifters'' (film), a 1990 American adaptation of the novel * Grifter (ch ...

and Those Bastard Souls; Nashville-based Canadians Rob Crowell and Steve Dawson; the vocalist trio Reeny, Mahalia and Micah Smith; East Coast songwriters Al Tuck, Rose Cousins, and Erin Costelo; folk singer-songwriters

Charlotte Cornfield Charlotte Cornfield (born 1988 or 1989) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She has released four albums: ''Two Horses'' (2011), ''Future Snowbird'' (2016), ''The Shape of Your Name'' (2019) and ''Highs in the Minuses'' (2021). Early life Cornfiel ...

and

Ana Egge Ana G. Egge (born September 20, 1976, in Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada) is a Canadian/American musician and songwriter. Egge grew up the daughter of a teacher and a wheat farmer in Ambrose, North Dakota, and later moved to Silver City, New ...

; and Plaskett's son, Xianing. The cross-Canada album tour for ''44'' had been scheduled for April–May, 2020 but was pushed back to October–November, 2020 due to the 2019-2020 coronavirus pandemic.Cooke, Stephen (April 3, 2020)
Plaskett unveils box set 44 of new songs stretching from Dartmouth to Nashville
''

Chronicle Herald ''The Chronicle Herald'' is a broadsheet newspaper published in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada owned by SaltWire Network of Halifax. The paper's newsroom staff were locked out of work from January 2016 until August 2017. ''Herald'' management cont ...

''. Retrieved on 2020-04-25.

Critical reception

A hometown review in Halifax's ''

'' summed up the album as, "autobiographical, philosophical, psychoanalytical and spiritual." Another review called it a mix of everything, an eclectic collection from a prolific artist full of multitudes: "rock and pop, country and folk, loud and quiet, electric and acoustic, earthy and spacey, sincere and silly, gems and duds, studio and live, full-band productions and lo-fi solo fare."Sterdan, Darryl. (April 17, 2020)
Joel Plaskett 44
'Tinnitist''. Retrieved on 2020-04-26. One critic described the title single from the third record, ''If There's Another Road'' as "comfort food." The expansive album was said to be a "massive, eclectic" reflection on the depth and breadth of the artist's life journey; "an impressive retrospective."Boer, Sam (April 15, 2020)
Joel Plaskett's Quadruple Album '44' Is an Impressive Retrospective of His Life and Work
'

''. Retrieved on 2020-04-25. Also focusing on the reflective nature of the album, a '' Globe and Mail'' review noted how the album was a labour of love to Plaskett's family and friends, and the years-long effort displayed "the value of slowing down to enjoy the moment." The album was longlisted for the

2020 Polaris Music Prize The 2020 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on October 19, 2020. The longlist was announced on June 15, 2020, with the shortlist following on July 15, 2020 and the winner announced on October 19, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 ...

Track listing

References

External links

Joel Plaskett Unveils 44
at joelplaskett.com
Joel Plaskett profile
at Pheromone Recordings {{Authority control 2020 albums Joel Plaskett albums