Geoff Berner’s Canadiana Grotesquica available now!

I’m very happy to be working with Geoff Berner, one of my favourite singer-songwriters, and of whom Billy Bragg has said, “cherish him, for there really is no one like him.” Geoff’s new album Canadiana Grotesquica is available now on Coax Records, and his autumn tour schedule kicks off soon.

Produced by Paul Rigby (Neko Case, Carolyn Mark), Canadiana Grotesquica is something of a departure for Berner. His previous five albums have been forays into the genre of klezmer/punk, which many credit him for originating. The new record is instead more of a country-tinged singer-songwriter affair, in the style of his first full-length We Shall Not Flag Or Fail, We Shall Go On To The End.

Songs like “The Ghost of Terry Fox” and “Rule of the Road” come with a melancholy twang, due in part to Rigby’s additional contributions on guitar and pedal steel. “Hustle Advisory” features Frazey Ford on guest vocals, while violin parts throughout the album are supplied by Diona Davies, formerly of Po Girl.

Furthermore, a video for the song “Gino Odjick,” a tribute to the former Vancouver Canucks fan favourite, has racked up over 6,000 YouTube views to date.

Canadiana Grotesquica is being released in conjunction with Berner’s second novel, The Fiddler Is a Good Woman, to be published Oct. 14 by Dundurn Press. Berner will be touring the world following the album’s official launch at the 10th annual Accordion Noir Festival at Vancouver’s Russian Hall.

Author: Jason Schneider

Jason Schneider is a publicist, author, music journalist and founder of Jason Schneider Media. View all posts by Jason Schneider