Whitehorse Daily Star

Image title

Photo by Emily Blake

ALBUM LAUNCH - ‘It’s supposed to be both unsettling and then also perhaps liberating’ - Declan O’Donovan says of the theme behind his sophomore solo album Broken Sky.

O’Donovan releasing second album tonight at arts centre

It’s a dreary weekday morning as Declan O’Donovan drops by the Whitehorse Star offices to discuss his sophomore solo album.

By Emily Blake on June 22, 2017

It’s a dreary weekday morning as Declan O’Donovan drops by the Whitehorse Star offices to discuss his sophomore solo album.

Broken Sky dropped June 2nd and officially launches tonight with an album release show at the Yukon Arts Centre.

The 32-year-old born and raised Yukoner is relaxed sipping on a coffee from Baked Café as he reflects on the record.

“Musically there was a lot of different places I wanted to go in contrast to the last record,” he says.

“I’ve always listened to a lot of rock and roll or more modern and contemporary stuff, alternative music, and so with this record I really wanted to bring it into a place that was more in line with the stuff I listen to, stuff I really dig. So there’s a lot of guitar on the record, I pushed my voice to do a lot more with it, there’s some synthesizers on the record, there’s new stuff that I’d never really worked with.”

The album, recorded at Studio Masterkut in Montréal, was produced by Juno award-­­winning Jean Massicotte. It features Brad Barr of the Barr Brothers and Robbie Kuster, Mishka Stein and Joe Grass of the Patrick Watson band.

The sound of the album is difficult to describe. O’Donovan suggests “adult alternative” as a simple genre category.

“I think alternative is a great word,” he says. “Although it confuses people, sometimes people hear ‘alternative’ and they think grunge or something. To me alternative just means take whatever other words in that genre title and screw with it.”

And he says when it comes to the lyrics, he generally likes listeners to decide for themselves what the songs mean.

“This is a moment in time that you’ve tapped into and got to create a song out of it and it’s not necessarily up to the song writer to explain what that is, it’s up to the listener I think,” he says.

But he does reveal the record was predominantly inspired by a friend who has struggled with mental health issues. And he explains the broken sky theme that runs throughout the record.

“It’s this idea of a person seeing the world and noting that it is not the way that it should be or the way that they would expect it to be,” he says, gazing out the window up at the sky. “So something like the broken sky is this idea of something that is fundamental and reliable, like the sky, that in reality can be frail or unexpected or unreliable. It’s supposed to be both unsettling and then also perhaps liberating.”

The album’s first single “Down to the Bottom” is featured in a dreamy underwater video, which can be found on YouTube. In it, O’Donovan, donning a three piece suit, falls backwards through the water until he reaches a piano bar at the bottom. He explains it was directed by artist Dustyn Lucas who also created all the artwork for the record.

“It’s supposed to be sort of fantastical and a little bit dark,” he says of the video.

“I’m pretty proud of it, I think it’s awesome.”

O’Donavon and his band members from Toronto will be touring the album with dates in lower mainland B.C., Vancouver Island, and the Atlin Music Festival. They also toured Germany in the fall and will hit Japan later this summer. But he says it was important to have the album release show in his home town, where the community is supportive.

“It’s pretty hard anywhere in the world to be a musician but we get a lot of support here in the Yukon,” he says. “There’s not many places in the world where I can sell out a big soft seat theatre and have that kind of a night so that’s the best way to kick off the album launch.”

A few tickets are still available for the show on the Yukon Arts Centre website. Broken Sky can be found at Mac’s Fireweed Books, Triple Js and

Dean’s Strings, as well as on Spotify, Apple Music/iTunes and other digital retailers and streaming services.

Comments (1)

Up 6 Down 2

Music Bff on Jun 22, 2017 at 5:55 pm

Take some Dylan, add equal portions of Waits and Macgowan, bam!
Declans stuff is original, and damned, damned good.

Add your comments or reply via Twitter @whitehorsestar

In order to encourage thoughtful and responsible discussion, website comments will not be visible until a moderator approves them. Please add comments judiciously and refrain from maligning any individual or institution. Read about our user comment and privacy policies.

Your name and email address are required before your comment is posted. Otherwise, your comment will not be posted.