Under Your Shadow in Review • 05.10.12

“Living legend Al Tuck is on a prolific tear and there’s a superb quality to the quantity of his output, as evident on this gorgeous, unexpected record. After going years without easily accessible new albums, Tuck’s affairs have been in particularly great shape since 2010′s Food for the Moon, his most cohesive and brilliant release until now. His focus remains sharp on Under Your Shadow, another gorgeous collection from one of the keenest minds in all of songwriting. The musical accompaniment is sparse and tasteful, performed with the deepest sense of craft and innovation, yet steeped in folk and blues traditions, where its sophistication might easily be underestimated. The focus though is on Tuck’s cool, alluring voice and playfully dark, endearing lyrics, which help songs like “Slappin’ the Make on You” (produced by Joel Plaskett), “Every Day Winning,” and “Ducktown” charmingly cut a rug through your mind. One of a kind, Al Tuck’s genius is brightly exhibited on Under Your Shadow.” Vish Khanna, Exclaim!

“Al Tuck is a Canadian icon.”
Dave, Thick Specs

“Tuck gets us in the gut while softly rocking.”
Sarah Greene, Now Magazine

“More popular artists have long regarded Tuck as a legend among Canadian songwriters, and Under Your Shadow shows the unfamiliar why that is. The sparse, soft instruments force the listener to regard Tuck’s voice and brilliant lyrics first and foremost, which has long been the songwriter’s strongest quality.”
Josh Kolm, The Lance

“Canada’s unsung song-poet laureate Al Tuck – the greatly mystifying, sadly undiscovered by most and wickedly blessed – drops what may be the best album of his buried-meets-storied career, the hauntingly beautiful Under Your Shadow.”
5 stars Steve Guimond, Xpress / Hour

“Canada’s best songwriter graces us with an album of beauty, sadness, humour and hope.” Hour, Year in review: The Best Sounds of 2011

“As usual, he leaves you with a lot to chew on.”
Ben Rayner, Toronto Star

“The singer/songwriter clearly knows his way around a song and while most of his work here leans toward the reflective and even gloomy, his super laid back delivery and the uncluttered feel of the recording will keep you coming back for more.”
Jeff Monk, Uptown

“Each track reflects a sincerity and authenticity in Tuck’s writing and performance that has been lost by so many others; the soul of it all will hit you like your first drink in months.”
Hannah Rose, The Cadre

“Recorded in six locales, Under Your Shadow may be the definitive Al Tuck album.”
Doug Taylor, The Coast

“Under Your Shadow is a contemporary ode to Bob Dylan, a hipper reinvention of Sam Cooke, and occasionally, a slightly tamer version of Tom Waits; if Waits was crunchy peanut butter, Tuck would be smooth.”
Alex Kress, The Brunswickan

“Al Tuck, a national treasure unknown to most, offers an old-school sentimental ballad about the women who brought us into the world, rendered with a wit legible only between the lines of his elegant arrangement for steel guitar, soft-footed bass and his gently scuffed voice.”
Robert Everett-Green, The Globe and Mail

“Under Your Shadow may just be Tuck’s best release to date, shining and inspiring in all the right places.”
Andrew Sisk, Southern Souls

“Il n’y a pas de prétention dans les textes, dans la musique ou dans l’interprétation. C’est notre quotidien raconté avec sincérité.”
500khz

“Dreaminess pervades much of this album, and that’s certainly not a bad thing. Despite such minimal instrumentation, the songs never feel empty.”
Michael, Gray Owl Point

“Tuck’s fortunes might change for the better with his newest release Under Your Shadow. Touting a haunting, acoustic-based sound and baritone vocals, the lazy man would immediately compare Tuck to Bob Dylan. And though this might be the easy way out, tracks like No Need To Wonder and Saltwater Cowboy show Tuck might owe a musical debt to Dylan however holds an originality of his own that is worth hearing for yourself.”
Ken Kelly, Music Nerd

“All in all it’s another fine piece of work. Of course, from the quietly consistent Al Tuck that’s par for the course.”
Snobs Music

“And, as much as Al Tuck is from Canada’s East Coast (a few tunes on the album are identifiably set in the Maritimes), on Under Your Shadow he seems to be from both nowhere and anywhere – a songwriter for all times and many places.”
Henry Adam Svec, Pop Matters

Junnnk Tank Feature: “From the Shadows with Al Tuck”
by Alyssa Gallant

Listen: Live interview at East Coast Kitchen Party

Listen: CBC Radio 3 “Wrath of Khanna”

Listen: CBC Radio 3 Feature

Listen: CBC Radio’s Atlantic Airwaves

Campus and Community Radio Broadcast
Top chart position

CJAM (Windsor, ON) – #1
CAPR (Sydney, NS) – #8
CFBU (St. Catherine’s, ON) – #11
CHMA (Sackville, NB) – #4
CKDU (Halifax, NS) – #3
CFMH (Saint John, NB) – #2
CFRU (Guelph, ON) – #7
CHRY (North York, ON) – #22
CIVL (Abbotsford, BC) – #20
CJSR ( Edmonton, AB) – #14

Earshot’s National Top 50 charts, the album charted at #14 and ended up at the #2 spot on the weekly national folk charts.

Special thanks to Matt Charlton and Trevor Murphy.

• 03.17.12

Thanks to all who have made these Wednesdays at the Cameron a success.
One more to go and then back to PEI, with a stop in Quebec City on the way.
Homecoming show at Baba’s Lounge this Sunday.

CBC Atlantic Airwaves • 12.01.11

Visit the CBC Atlantic Airwaves webpage to listen to Glenn Meisner’s interview with Al Tuck.

Gray Owl Point Review • 12.01.11

By Michael

Considering Feist thinks him a living legend and Jason Collett thinks he’s the best songwriter of his generation, I’m surprised that it took me so long to finally hear of Al Tuck.

Earlier this month, Tuck released his seventh album, Under Your Shadow. Having no prior knowledge of Tuck or the music he makes, I was quite impressed by how much of an impact he makes with his music despite his soft demeanour.

Of course it also helps that his opening track “Slapping The Make On You” is one of the most instantly memorable songs I’ve heard in a long time. Tuck sings with soft and deep vocals and is for the most part supported by simple guitar picking (in fact, most of his album is simply this). Later on, a musical interlude will please the ears with pipes, and if you listen close enough you’ll hear Joel Plaskett providing backup vocals.

Other tracks on the album are similarly dreamy, such as “None But Your Mother.” In fact, this dreaminess pervades much of this album, and that’s certainly not a bad thing. Despite such minimal instrumentation, the songs never feel empty.

Tuck also has a seriously sharp wit. “Yawnsville” is a devilishly clever song that sounds like it should be an ode to a beautiful woman but instead mentions all of her worst qualities. At the end, Tuck sings about ending with a yawn while yawning. I of course immediately yawned after his yawn in the song, and as I write this paragraph I can’t stop yawning. It’s so contagious!

“Every Day Winning” is a very charming song, presumably about the father of a child who no longer gets to see his daughter as often. One line of the song mentions the girl hanging around “her mom and the boyfriend.”

“Hello, Prince Edward Island” is quite obviously a track recorded live (and in PEI, no doubt), and the audience laughs several times in response to some of Tuck’s lines in the song. It’s only just more proof that Tuck is a very clever songwriter.

The album “ends” on a strong note with the title track. Make sure not to miss the album’s hidden track, “O Come O Come Emmanuel” which is sung with a biblical intensity.

Now! Review • 12.01.11

By Sarah Greene

I’m not sure whose shadow PEI songwriter Al Tuck is labouring under on his seventh album; he seems to offer a cryptic nod to Bob Dylan in the liner notes, but you could add Nick Drake and Woody Guthrie to the list. Canadian musicians love Tuck for his eccentricities, and this album, gathered from disparate recording sessions in Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland, appears to have taken a small miracle to piece together.
Not as polished as 2009’s Food For The Moon, it’s mellow and intimate, with Tuck’s low, raspy voice supported by sparse arrangements. Bagpipes and bodhran give opener Slappin’ The Make On You a Celtic flavour, while live recording Hello, Prince Edward Island is crackly blues. On No Need To Wonder, Every Day Winning and Wishing Well, Tuck gets us in the gut while softly rocking. (NNNN/5)

The Cadre “Al Tuck Has Done It Again” • 11.25.11

By Hannah Rose

The Maritimes have a pleasant habit of supplying Canada with phenomenal musicians, and PEI is lucky enough to claim many as our own. Locals have mused that there must be something in the water here, something that blesses artists with the gift to create music that just… works. Whatever that ‘something’ is, Island music scene stalward Al Tuck has got it, and it’s evident that his upcoming release, Under Your Shadow, has it too.

Under Your Shadow is Tuck’s 8th release since his haunting voice began musing out of stereos in 1994. From beginning to end, its humbling, prophetic lyrics are matched with an eclectic, Canadiana sound, echoing sea shanties and bluegrass melodies alike. Fans of national treasure Leonard Cohen will appreciate Tuck’s poetic lyrics, which, like Cohen’s, tell captivating tales shrouded in mystery. To keep from being too comparative, I won’t bring up how reminiscent of Bob Dylan several of the tracks are — Tuck is an authentic artist all on his own.

Highlights of the record include the haunting “Saltwater Cowboy,” the driving “Ducktown,” the title track, and a live recording of the bluesy “Hello, Prince Edward Island.” Each track reflects a sincerity and authenticity in Tuck’s writing and performance that has been lost by so many others; the soul of it all will hit you like your first drink in months. It makes the perfect soundtrack to our Indian summer, and the sparse nature of the recording might leave you feeling like you’re sitting around the bonfire with an old friend. 

Toronto Star “A Reason To Live” • 11.19.11

By Ben Rayner

I woke up this morning with the sound of Al Tuck singing “How Much is that Doggie in the Window?” ringing in my ears, which is really weird for a lot of reasons but particularly so because, as far as I know, Al Tuck has never sung “How Much is that Doggie in the Window?”

If he has, anyway, he hasn’t recorded it. And regardless, the point I’m trying to make is that Tuck’s unmistakable rasp (which recently got the Hunter River, P.E.I. singer/songwriter a voice part in Spike Jonze’s Higglety Pigglety Pop) has, of late, invaded my dreams – an invasion that can be easily traced to his terrific new record, Under Your Shadow, just out on pal/fanboy Joel Plaskett’s New Scotland Records. Now, don’t fret if you’ve never heard of the somewhat willfully obscure Tuck before, since Under Your Shadow is actually one of the best places he’s given us to start in a brilliant, but sometimes baffling two-decade career. It’s still too spacey and subtly groovy and totally inside its own universe when it comes to things like pacing, song structure and vocal inflection to be a proper folk record, but that’s good shorthand to lure the unfamiliar in because folk is still basically the departure point from which Under Your Shadow’s eclectic, idiosyncratic adventures branch out. And branch out they do: the wry “Slappin’ the Make on You” and “Every Day Winning” are irresistibly snaky jazzbo-pop jams, “Saltwater Cowboy” is a raw, realistic evocation of life fishing for red snapper “south of the Singing Sands,” “Ducktown” is just about the swingin’-est ode to Sackville you’ll ever hear and reminds me a little bit of Randy Newman, and “Wishing Well” is an utterly singular and beautiful love song to a “beautiful Creole belle,” wherein Tuck declares “There are many wonders in this world / And my love, she is one of them” with believably starry-eyed admiration. Nevertheless, the whispery, spiritual-like “Tomorrow” bests everything else hear with nought but Tuck’s ragged wheeze and an acoustic guitar offering what might be a few choice words on the folly of war. As usual, he leaves you with a lot to chew on.

Terminally low-key, but rich in rewards.

Thick Specs Review • 11.15.11

By Dave

Al Tuck is a Canadian icon. When I first heard his music back in 1994 I thought…’man, this guy sounds pretty old to be signed to Murderecords’. Then I met him and thought….’why is this young punk singing like such an old guy?’. Well it is years later and he still sings like an old guy and it still sounds great!

The lead track “Slappin’ the Make on You” sounds like Nick Drake marooned on a tiny celtic island with nothing but a case of whiskey, some roll-your-own-smokes and a vintage acoustic guitar. This really is an instant classic.

Al’s sly sense of humour shines throughout this album and gets a real showcase with the live take on “Hello, Prince Edward Island”. The crowd hangs on his every word, and this track effectively seals the gold stamp of approval on Al’s reputation as an undiscovered East Coast gem that, once discovered, creates fans this crazy-serious about his music.

He really is an icon.

The Buzz Review • 11.15.11

Al Tuck releases his seventh album, Under Your Shadow (New Scotland Records), on November 8. He has also announced a series of dates he’s performing with Sudbury’s Ox as his backing band. He launches the new recording November 11 in Charlottetown at Hunter’s Ale House.

The album features eleven original songs recorded in various locations around Atlantic Canada. A session in St John’s, Newfoundland was produced by Juno-winning Don Ellis (Amelia Curran ) and jazz/folk guitar virtuoso Duane Andrews. This yielded one selection. Several more came from sessions in Halifax (Charles Austin) and Riverport, Nova Scotia (Diego Medina), where the setting was a former Oddfellows Hall known as Confidence Lodge. In Dartmouth, NS, New Scotland Records mogul Joel Plaskett produced and sang backups on a track featuring uilleann pipes and bodhran. One selection was recorded live in concert with Mike Dixon at the Lefurgey House in Summerside. Al then brought all tracks to Charlottetown’s Adam Gallant, who produced two more songs and helped see the entire project to completion. On much of the record, Al was accompanied by long-time collaborators Clive MacNutt (bass, piano, guitar) and Brock Caldwell (drums, thumb piano) of Halifax. Island musicians who contributed include Thomas Webb (pedal steel), Roger Carter (keyboard, drums) and Dean Dunsford (bass). Photographs for the CD package were taken by Melissa Morse of Clinton. An ink sketch co-drawn by Al and daughter Isabel is also featured in the design. Layout was by Milene Vallin. On this album, Al Tuck wrote the songs, sang and played guitar, organ and harmonica.

Themes of the new recording include bar-rooms, fishing, mother, ambition, patience, fatherhood, confederation, north american union, mind control, armageddon, and procrastination. Sparely backed by his colleagues, Al’s guitar and voice lament the loss of his Creole Beauty in “Wishing Well” and tip his hat with a weary smile to his outsider brethren in “Under Your Shadow.” Imagery abounds in every song, snaking its way around Tuck’s idiosyncratic, guitar lines, providing the meat for tunes ranging from Celtic-flavoured grooves (“Slapping the Make On You,” produced by Joel Plaskett) to the sweet country singalongs (“Tomorrow”) to barnyard acoustic blues that cast an echo back to the pre-war period (“Hello, Prince Edward Island”).

Tuck is a roving troubadour familiar with the inside of nearly every bar and club from coast to coast after performing for almost 20 years. His voice landed him a voice-acting role in a recent Spike Jonze production.

Southern Souls Review • 11.09.11

By Andrew Sisk

Audiences are usually taken aback at the lack of illusion and abundance of authenticity that takes the stage while Al Tuck is performing. Personifying so many characteristics songwriters aspire to emulate, Tuck tours and writes his songs because there is no other version of himself. His songs are undeniably his own while borrowing from familiar blues structures and Dylan-esque deliveries, and while those comparisons come to mind at first they lose validity with each listen.

Never has Tuck been captured onto tape so fittingly and accompanied so tastefully as on Under your Shadow. The rhythm sections on tracks like “Wishing Well” and “Ducktown” frame and freshen the album while tasteful golden guitars fill in the negative spaces. The songs feel cinematic as the album plays out with variations of instrumentation and emotion while maintaining a vision.

Al Tuck has always been that brilliant inspiring sunset you saw with your own eyes and tried to capture with your camera only to get the film back of a scene that fails to capture the colour and light. Under Your Shadow may just be Tuck’s best release to date, shining and inspiring in all the right places.