Peter Katz hopes people will slow down, relax and take a listen when he returns to Lethbridge, May 7 to play the Slice in support of his new CD “Still Mind Still.”
The Toronto based singer/ songwriter is very pleased with his mellowest CD yet. “Still Mind Still” was produced with friend and collaborator and some time touring mate Rob Szabo.
“ I recorded most of it in a cabin in a forest. I felt I wanted to achieve a certain level of intimacy on this album,” he said adding Szabo has been involved with most of his projects.
“It was mostly me standing playing guitar. It has a real performance, live feel,” he described.
“ I feel it is a very intimate album,” he said. He didn’t fix too much on the CD, preferring the songs to develop organically.
While the new CD is very mellow, it is not necessarily a sad CD.
“I don’t think it’s a sad CD. Still Mind Still is very peaceful. But there are some very uptempo tracks,” he said adding it is definitely his softest CD.
One of his favourites is the title track.
“ I wrote it for a fiend of mine who was having trouble sleeping,” he said adding a lot of the other songs reflect the theme of stillness.
“They are songs I want people to feel comfortable singing in front of other people. People are dealing with a lot of things today. People overly busy, I’d like to help them find that stillness” he added.
“Nothing is perfect, but it just feels right,” he continued adding he played most of the songs on the CD on his last tour.
His last CD, the live CD/ DVD Peter Katz and Friends Live at the Music Gallery received a Juno nomination. Unfortunately he lost to Feist.
“It surprised me. I was pretty shocked, but I went to the Junos two weeks ago,” he said.
“It was such a thrill to be part of it and to be recognized,” he continued.
Katz just returned from a tour of Europe and will be making his first tour of Asia later in the year.
“I’ll be going to Singapore. It will be my first time going to Asia. So it’s exciting. I don’t know what to anticipate. So I’m really looking forward to it,” he said.
His latest tour of Europe was successful.
“ I had good audiences. A lot of the shows were sell outs. I want to build on that. It helps me get better being in the right place at the right time,” he added.
He always looks forward to playing Lethbridge.
“Obviously I’ll be playing a lot of songs from the new record. Lethbridge was one of the first centres to really embrace my music,” he observed.
The show is Monday, May 7 at 9 p.m. at the Slice. Tickets are $10.
