Michael Cloud Duguay - Succeeder [Watch That Ends The Night]

Set for release on August 23rd, 2k24 via the Canadian label that is Watch That Ends The Night is "Succeeder", the latest full length album effort by singer, composer and producer Michael Cloud Duguay. Over the course of eleven new pieces rolled out over 45 minutes the Canadian explores, after many struggles of various sorts throughout the past decades of his somewhat on and off career, the possibilities of working on his own terms and in his own pace rather than being forced into the framework of normal label deals, enabled through running his own record label alongside fellow musician Andrew McKelvie of New Hermitage-fame amongst other musical involvements. This newly found freedom enables Duguay to fully indulge in the creative process without borders or boundaries, bringing to life his musical vision alongside a widely varied set of collaborators from the Kingston / Wolfe Island, Ontario area, most prominently singer x vocalist Cormac Culkeen whose voice is present on most of the albums songs. The result of this multi-faceted musical collaboration ranges from highly dramatic Leftfield Pop songs featuring sustained slide guitars and echoes of grandiose landscapes to positive and somewhat uplifting Indie influences in "A Very Fine Start" which are paired with more large scale panoramic arrangements and heavily emphasized trombone sections in "Emancipation!" whereas the title piece "Succeeder" focuses on most beautiful piano lines contrasted by twisted off-harmonics and - like many pieces of the album - underlying Field Recordings of rather concerning nature before "Wonderwar Pt. I" pays homage to Exotica x Easy Listening vibes and "Sorcerority" explodes into cascading guitars, pianos and shimmering synth backings as one of the most fascinating Spoken Word we've come across in a while just to name a few. Probably one 2k24 album to be referred to as Contemporary AOR due to the lack of a better term even for those who rather despise AOR for being a non-genre and more of a conceptual description. Intredasting.