Alex MacNeil has his heart set on a Portuguese sweetie in his romantic and rootsy new single Pasteis De Nata — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
Despite its tempting handle, the latest release from the Yukon-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist isn’t just some trifle of empty calories — it’s a satisfying concoction of equal parts country-rock, psychedelia, power-pop and indie-rock. Atop a slowly swaggering, shape-shifting arrangement of thumpy drums, dreamy keyboards and searing guitars, MacNeil and his band of Revenants — guitarist Dave Casey, bassist Mackenzie Adams and drummer Jesse MacPherson, with Joel Plaskett guesting on tambourine — deliver a loose, laid-back performance that somehow splits the difference between Daniel Romano and Tom Petty. All the better for MacNeil’s reedy vocals to share a darkly desperate tale of unrequited Ibeian infatuation:
“In the empire of your affections
There’s never any half-light
For I can see you burning
Always yearning ever bright
Oh, won’t you tell me it’s enough
And I’ll love you just as much
As much as I can muster
As much as you can stand
Won’t you save me from this exile
Let me be your man
You know they murdered the royal family in cold blood
But I just can’t pull the trigger on your love.”
Not bad for a guy who’s been MIA from the studio since his 2019 album Super Turbo with his former combo The Great Ones. But then, his absence is no surprise; MacNeil has never been a guy who sits still for long. Beginning in what he describes as Nova Scotia’s industrial northern mainland, he went on to complete music school in Quebec before venturing on to South Africa and then New York City.
Eventually returning to Canada, he moved into a small cottage at the base of Signal Hill in St. John’s and led a variety of R&B and jazz groups around the city. That cozy little cabin was just the ticket for a few years, but soon heartbreak and wanderlust set in and he decamped for Dawson City with no more than a plywood guitar, a tent, and a leather jacket.
“My most restful state was a bit shattered, so I went careening westward,” he shares. “I was mourning a few losses, including my early academic musical prospects. I started bartending in a local hotel and I’d hammer away on the old piano that sat against its saloon walls. So I started to do something I hadn’t done since high school… I started putting words to music.”
Within a few weeks, MacNeil was playing gigs and sharing new music. Meanwhile, he had been corresponding with noted producer Dale Murray (The Guthries, Hayden, Matt Mays). “I sent Dale a slew of demo tapes made on that old saloon piano. They were all done on my iPhone. He encouraged me to keep writing and discussed the possibility of making a record together.”
That record would come to be Super Turbo, a coy and confessional concoction that lands as self-aware before toe-dipping into indulgent realm of camp. “I love theatrics and film and literature,” he muses. “They have a massive influence on my style.”
Now, with Pasteis De Nata, he’s more than made up for time lost to the pandemic, personal issues and professional setbacks. More importantly, he’s whetted our appetite for more. Listen to the song above, hear more from Alex MacNeil below, and follow him around the world on Facebook.
