Canadian singer-songwriter Jerry Leger’s last studio album, Donlands – his fourteenth – was recorded in Toronto’s East End and produced by Mark Howard (Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Lucinda Williams).
It was one of Say It With Garage Flowers’ favourite albums of 2023 and we said it explored new territory with its ‘spooky and intimate, cinematic soul sound.’
The follow-up record, this year’s Waves Of Desire, sees Leger moving in a different direction yet again – it’s a warmer-sounding set of songs, and was influenced by acts including The Beatles, The Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison, and The Zombies, whose music first inspired Leger as a kid.
“I get a certain feeling from those songs and memories, and I wanted to try and get that same feeling with Waves Of Desire,” he says. “I’m not trying to copy or sound like those songs, but just getting close to the feeling they gave me.”
Made in Germany, during a short break from touring Europe, Waves Of Desire was recorded at Cologne’s historic Maarweg Studios, which began as an EMI studio in the 1950s and still has its main room virtually unchanged, with a mix of vintage and modern gear. Leger’s vocals were all recorded live with the band through an old German microphone.
Produced by Leger, the album features his longtime group, The Situation, (Dan Mock – bass/vocals), Kyle Sullivan – drums/vocals, and Alan Zemaitis (keys/vocals), as well as contributions from Suzan Köcher (harmony vocals) and Julian Müller (co-production / guitar).
It’s been 20 years since Leger’s first solo album – 2005’s Jerry Leger & the Situation. His latest, Waves Of Desire, sees the start of a new partnership with Hamburg-based label, DevilDuck Records, and next year he will be touring the UK to support the release.
In an exclusive interview, he tells us about the influences behind the new album and gives us an insight into the making of the record. Subjects covered include “pure pop”, vintage synth sounds and close harmonies.
Q&A
Congratulations on Waves Of Desire – it’s a great record. It feels like a natural progression from Donlands, which was your most sonically adventurous record yet. Do you see it that way too?
Jerry Leger: I feel it’s a perfect follow up to Donlands. It kind of expands on what I learned from working with Mark Howard on the last album but adding more textures and pop sensibility.
The new album often feels lighter in tone than Donlands, which had a spooky and intimate, cinematic soul feel, and a darkness to it. Waves Of Desire is a warmer record, despite having some emotional and very personal songs on it…
Jerry Leger: I wanted this album to be more comforting and inviting. I can think of certain records that I’ll put on when I feel like I need a hug, and I wanted to make one like that.
You’ve referred to this record as your ‘Pure Pop for Jerry People’ album, which is a nod to Nick Lowe’s Pure Pop For Now People – the US title of his Jesus of Cool album…
Jerry Leger: It was either that or ‘Jerry Of Cool’. I’m sure it’s more of a joke on Nick’s part, but it makes it sound like he was carrying the torch for classic pop songwriting – from the Everlys and Buddy Holly, to the girl groups, Del Shannon, the British Invasion… I think Nick Lowe got even better with age, but I love his first couple of albums as well. They’re fun-sounding – there’s attention to detail while still sounding alive.
‘I wanted this album to be comforting and inviting. I can think of certain records that I’ll put on when I feel like I need a hug, and I wanted to make one like that’
Have you seen the Born Fighters Rockpile doc? It’s amazing stuff. I love him talking about double-tracking vocals on choruses. Bands like The Beatles would do that so it would cut through better on radio. Hey BBC, play Alcatraz, the opening track on Waves Of Desire, will ya?
You were born in 1985, but when you were growing up, ‘pure pop’ to you meant The Everly Brothers, The Drifters, Roy Orbison, The Zombies, and your first obsession – The Beatles. When you hear their music now are you immediately taken back to your childhood?
Jerry Leger: The Beatles have been there all my life. My parents are first-generation fans, but they felt just as much my band as theirs. Certain songs like Yes It Is and Every Little Thing take me back to being a little kid in the car with my family or hearing them at home, when my dad would fire up his 8-track player. I can still hear the beginning of A Day In The Life bleeding into Penny Lane from another channel on the 8-track tape – side note, there will be a very limited run of Waves Of Desire on 8-track!
I get a certain feeling from those songs and memories, and I wanted to try and get that same feeling with Waves Of Desire. I’m not trying to copy or sound like those songs, but just getting close to the feeling they gave me.
Pop music today is almost a dirty word, isn’t it? It feels like a lot of modern pop is cheap, disposable and forgettable. Or am I just getting too old for it?
Jerry Leger: I completely agree – that’s why I think I keep using the “pure pop for…” reference. I mean, “pop” stands for popular, but at one point the best music being made was also the most popular. It wanted to be heard by millions and the competition was high. Song craft was a huge deal. You couldn’t get the song out of the door if it wasn’t good enough. Whether it was The Beatles wanting to top their previous single, or Gerry Goffin/Carole King pitching to The Shirelles, the quality control was high.
‘These days, a song is background on a playlist, or it’s turned off if it doesn’t hit the listener in the first 30 seconds’
I mean Lennon/McCartney wanted to be Goffin/King or Leiber/Stoller. These days, it doesn’t feel like the actual song matters as much as how it looks on social media. It doesn’t feel like a lot of people listen to an album from start to finish anymore. These days, a song is background on a playlist, or it’s turned off if it doesn’t hit the listener in the first 30 seconds.
My buddy, Julian Müller, who plays guitar on the new record and co-produced it, kept calling Waves Of Desire an album of all hits. I would laugh it off, but I did want to make an album where you would not want to skip a single track and it would become someone’s go-to record.
I think of Ann Peebles album I Can’t Stand The Rain – I absolutely adore that record from start to finish. It doesn’t overstay its welcome and I’m always excited for every song.
So, what were your starting points for Waves Of Desire? How did you want it to sound?
Jerry Leger: I wanted to have a brighter sound with nice textures. Those older records didn’t have the technology to layer and layer stuff on the recordings and I’ve always tried to make records that way. I guess one album I kept referencing was A Date With The Everly Brothers. It’s got a sweet clear sound that has energy and feels great. Another one that I just love the arrangements and production is the first Dwight Twilley Band album, Sincerely.
Why did you choose Maarweg Studios in Cologne as the place to make the record?
Jerry Leger: Julian told me about it. It opened as an EMI studio back in the ’50s and the live room is pretty much the same. It has a nice mixture of old and new gear. My vocals were all recorded live with the band through a ’40s (I think) German microphone.
Thomas Haumann, who recorded and mixed Waves Of Desire, also plays drums in a psych-rock band, Blackberries, with Julian. So, there was that connection too. Thomas was amazing to work with and we had a lot of fun. We recorded the whole album in three very long sessions – he was a real trooper.
‘It’s a modern-sounding album with a timeless aesthetic’
I wasn’t sure who was gonna mix the album, but Thomas had sent me a rough version of You Don’t Have To Stay Long, and I thought it just had a great, unique sound to it. I love it when an album’s overall sound really stands on its own. I think the combination of how he mixed the record and how I wanted it recorded was perfect. It’s a modern-sounding album with a timeless aesthetic.
You self-produced the album, with help from Julian Müller. How was that?
Jerry Leger: I knew how I wanted it to sound and I didn’t want to deal with any push back on my ideas or stray from where I wanted it to go. Julian was a great co-pilot and cheerleader, who also has a great classic pop sense.
He helped keep the sessions on track and organised too. I really enjoyed self-producing, ‘cos I had confidence in what I thought would work, or at least seeing if something worked for me. If it didn’t, then we’d try something else. It was just very easy and I think it came out great. I’m a big music nerd – I may not be very technical, but I think I know what sounds good, at least for my own music.
‘I knew how I wanted this record to sound and I didn’t want to deal with any push back on my ideas or stray from where I wanted it to go’
You’ve used some vintage keyboards on the album, including a Mellotron and a Moog, creating warm analogue sounds and textures. Tell me about that…
Jerry Leger: I love the texture of the string sound and the breathy flutes on a Mellotron. I had read about The Zombies using a Mellotron in place of a string section on Odessey and Oracle. For them, it was for budget reasons but for me, I just thought that was a great mindset. Not that I would have been able to afford a string section either!
For the Moog, I thought of it like a version of pedal steel with that dreamy/spacey sound. I think the synth additions add to Waves Of Desire being a natural follow-up to Donlands.
Alcatraz, which opens the album, is one of my favourite songs on the record. Despite its subject matter, which is about the end of a relationship, it’s an upbeat song musically, and it has a gorgeous, warm feel. I like how it opens with the Dylan-style organ and you sing about waking in the morning sun – it creates a nice, warm mood… The lyrics and the music are juxtaposed – a heavy subject matter but with a breezy, pop-style backing…
Jerry Leger: I was thinking of something like The Shangri-Las…
You’ve said that Let Me See How It Ends, from the new album, is one of the best songs you’ve ever written. It sounds like a ’50s standard… There’s an Everly Brothers feel to it – it’s the close harmonies – but with added Mellotron… Where did that song come from?
Jerry Leger: I told Suzan Köcher I wanted close harmonies, à la the Everlys, on the whole record. Those are my favourite harmonies on the planet. She matched my voice and inflections so well – it was incredible.
‘I wanted close harmonies, à la the Everlys, on the whole record. Those are my favourite harmonies on the planet’
We also sang it live together on the track, which I just think is the best and most emotional way to do it. It’s one of my personal favourites and the bridge section I’m particularly proud of. It does sound like one of those songs that has always been there. Where did the song come from? I just love heartbreak songs – they’re my favourites.
There’s some nice synth on Stranded and We’re Living In This World too…
Jerry Leger: Yeah – played by Alan Zemaitis. He had the solo on Stranded worked out from a demo we made of the song back in Toronto.
For the part on We’re Living In This World, I wanted the Moog to have a breathing effect, and I’d pictured the main character in the song floating in space. That’s one of my favourite parts of the album.
Willow Ave is a slightly autobiographical and nostalgic piece, and in the second verse you reminisce about walks with your dad along the back roads in Toronto’s East End. What can you remember about those times?
Jerry Leger: I always looked forward to those after-dinner walks with my dad. I was pretty young – probably 5 or 6. There was a house in particular that was big and a bit menacing-looking. He would point to the top window and say stuff like there was a ghost or witch up there. I’d be so fascinated, trying to spot it. I’ve always loved the paranormal and the unexplained. I grew up watching old horror movies and shows like Unsolved Mysteries.
Are you pleased with the new album? It’s the record you’ve been longing to make, isn’t it?
Jerry Leger: I love it! It has traces of everything that I’ve always loved about music and what I’ve learned along the way. I think it’s the perfect album to come out 20 years into my career. The music I loved as a little kid is the music I still love – it’s in my DNA. I wanted to channel that because it’s part of me as an artist. I don’t think it should come as a surprise that there’s a thread throughout my discography, no matter what kind of record I’m making.
‘The music I loved as a little kid is the music I still love – it’s in my DNA’
So, what’s next? Do you think you’ve got a fully-electronic album in you, or maybe you could do a record that’s part Nick Lowe and part Low by Bowie: How Lowe / Low can you go?
Jerry Leger: I was obsessed with Low when I was about 13 or 14, and I made my own experimental album at home called Level. It’s terrible but maybe one day it’ll be my Carnival Of Light – that’s a reference for all those fellow Beatles fanatics.
How Lowe Can You Go? is a great title – pitch that to Nick! I do have a copy of Nick’s Bowi 45 somewhere… Actually, I think Low has some “pure pop” on Side One, though I guess Nick didn’t feel that way at the time… It was definitely on my mind during the recording of songs like We’re Living In This World.
‘I was obsessed with Low when I was about 13 or 14, and I made my own experimental album at home called Level. It’s terrible!’
Are you looking forward to playing the new songs live? What can we expect?
Jerry Leger: I’m excited to play Europe this year as a duo, with Kyle Sullivan on drums/vocals. We’ve been playing together since the beginning, so this will be a very fun tour for Waves Of Desire. It’s also kind of a 20th anniversary tour as well, with a big full-band Toronto show when we return.
I haven’t announced anything yet, but I will be coming back to the UK in spring 2026 and the shows will definitely be focused around Waves Of Desire. I’m not sure what the setup will be – hopefully with a band or some configuration close to it, with those close harmonies…
Waves Of Desire is released on October 24 on DevilDuck Records. Please note – the vinyl version will be available in the UK from November 21.
Listen to a Spotify playlist of songs that influenced Waves Of Desire, plus some of Jerry Leger’s childhood favourites:
JERRY LEGER – EUROPEAN TOUR DATES – Get Tickets HERE.
Thurs Oct 30 – 674FM, Cologne, Germany*^
Sat Nov 1 – Rinkerode, Germany*
Tues Nov 4 – Medley, Malmö, Sweden*
Weds Nov 5 – Kulturhuset, Halden, Norway*
Thurs Nov 6 – Goldie, Oslo, Norway*
Fri Nov 7 – Moskus, Trondheim, Norway*
Sun Nov 9 – Jazzköket, Östersund, Sweden*
Weds Nov 12 – House Concert, Stanghelle, Norway*
Thurs Nov 13 – Torbjørns Konserthall, Bergen, Norway*
Fri Nov 14 – Odda Blues Club, Odda, Norway*
Sat Nov 15 – House Concert, Karmøy, Norway*
Weds Nov 19 – Nochtwache, Hamburg, Germany*
Mon Nov 24 – Maschinenhaus, Berlin, Germany*
Wed Dec 3 – The Great Hall, Hometown release show and 20 Years of Jerry Leger & The Situation celebration, Toronto, ON, Canada #
+ solo
* with Kyle Sullivan on drums/percussion/vocals
^ with Suzan Köcher on vocals & Julian Müller on guitar/vocals
# full band
https://jerryleger.bandcamp.com/merch
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