For Red Deer musician Damian La Grange, 2016 was none too shabby.
The singing, rapping piano player opened for Coleman Hell in September, released his Plot Holes EP, and built a recording studio with his uncle.
La Grange believes 2017 could be even better since he has a series of digital singles set to come out throughout the year, starting with Beautiful Distractions. The melodic rap single will be available Jan. 4 on SoundCloud, iTunes and Apple Music. An audio version will also be on YouTube until La Grange films the video.
The tune is about the difficulty of balancing a romantic relationship with a creative career. “I was in a relationship with somebody who didn’t understand,” said La Grange, who needs to be career-focused to be able to quit his day job and become a full-time musician.
While it hasn’t happened yet, the Notre Dame High School graduate feels he’s closer to this goal all the time
Once Beautiful Distractions is out, he will prepare to digitally release his next single, Life is Strange sometime in March.
This method of releasing songs, one at a time, online, started with Handouts on Nov. 1. La Grange said he got a lot of great listener feedback, especially after putting the video up on YouTube.
“People have been engaging with the song …
“Right now it’s tough to cut through the noise, there’s so much music out there,” the 23-year-old admitted. But La Grange feels that by maintaining consistent, quality content, people will notice.
The three singles that mix hip-hop with indie rock and R&B were professionally recorded at Dream House and Noble Street Studios in Toronto, where La Grange was soaking up information. He recently opened a local production studio with his uncle, Laurence La Grange, because “I’d like to take full control of production.”
One of the highlights of 2016 was opening for Hell at Bo’s, where he performed backed by his bassist best friend Jordy Bryce, trained singer Emily Vaillant, and others. La Grange looks forward to performing there again, and also branching out to play for audiences in Calgary and Edmonton in the new year.
lmichelin@bprda.wpengine.com
