Writing intensely personal music is nothing new for Montreal’s Patrick Krief, either as a solo artist or as the long-time guitarist for The Dears, but even Krief himself was taken aback by how strongly the songs he had written for Hundred Thousand Pieces had affected him.

So much so that for nearly six months, the now 32-year-old had to step away from the project, and even began writing for another album altogether. Yet the pull of those 10 songs, which dealt so earnestly with his anxieties about growing older and continuing down the financially precarious road of a professional musician, was simply too powerful to cast aside. All the music had been recorded already – all that was left was for Krief to lay down the most heartfelt vocals of his life.

While most of Hundred Thousand Pieces was recorded at his Cote-des-Neiges apartment (his downstairs neighbours should consider themselves fortunate they were away at the time), bits and pieces of it were recorded on his laptop while touring with Black Diamond Bay, the drums were laid down at Mixart studios in N.D.G., and even a few old demo tracks he simply couldn’t re-create made the final mix. As for emerging from his dark period, completing Hundred Thousand Pieces has given Krief the resolve to continue on the unpredictable artistic path he’s been leading these past eight years, and to not fear telling his stories, his way.

Krief is appearing in Fernie Sept. 11 at 8 p.m. at The Arts Station.

The Arts Station

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