Lightburn plays a lot of different instruments on the album: lead and background vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, organ, Mellotron, piano, tubular bells, vibraphone, tambourine, and maracas. It was recorded and mixed at Hotel2Tango in Montréal. Lightburn wrote and arranged all the song on Hear Me Out, which was produced by Lightburn and Howard Bilerman (Leonard Cohen, Arcade Fire, Godspeed You Black Emperor!). In 2018, it’s not really pushed up front - so here I am, trying. And I don’t really see or hear a lot of that these days, especially from black men. I wanted something that was strong and confident without backing down or perceived as arrogant. Lightburn also had this to say to BlackBook: “I wanted this song and this album to convey my own version masculinity, but totally void of that bullshit.

I wanted it to be gentle and fragile yet strong - a tough balance that kind of encapsulates the album and its theme.” So I zoomed back in to the original way I sang and played it on the piano, which became the guide. The original demo was more muscular and I doubted it for awhile. That first melody you hear, doubled by the flute. Lightburn had this to say about the song to BlackBook: “I wrote this song on the piano. Now he has shared another song from the album, “Changed My Ways.” Listen below, via BlackBook (who premiered it).

Previously he shared its first single, “Belleville Blues” (which we premiered and was one of our Songs of the Week). Lightburn, frontman of Montréal’s The Dears, is releasing a new solo album, Hear Me Out, on Februvia Dangerbird.

Murray lightburn hear me out songs