| 44 | |
| Type: | Studio |
| Artist: | Joel Plaskett |
| Cover: | Joel Plaskett - 44.png |
| Released: | April 17, 2020 |
| Recorded: | Dartmouth, Memphis, Nashville and Toronto |
| Studio: | Scotland Yard, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Memphis Magnetic Recording, Memphis |
| Genre: | Indie rock Rock Folk rock Folk |
| Length: | 158 minutes |
| Label: | Pheromone Recordings |
| Prev Title: | Solidarity |
| Prev Year: | 2017 |
44 is the sixth solo album by Canadian indie rock musician Joel Plaskett, released on April 17, 2020.[1] Dubbed the "spiritual successor"[2] to Plaskett's prior triple album Three, the 44-song, quadruple album was released the day before the artist's 45th birthday. (As a tie-in to that fact, the LP box set contains a bonus 45th track.[3]) Plaskett recorded the album across Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Memphis, Nashville and Toronto, having worked with 33 other musicians over four years.[1]
Each of the four records in the album contains 11 songs, with their own title and theme. The first record (41: Carried Away) is centred around travelling, the second collection (42: Just Passing Through) turns to finding a homecoming unfamiliar, the third set (43: If There's Another Road) tackles transitioning from lost to found, and the last record (44: The Window Inn) deals with arriving at a personal destination.[1]
Collaborators include Plaskett's band the Emergency, as well as his former group from the nineties Thrush Hermit; members of Sloan and Local Rabbits; fellow Maritimer and mentee of Plaskett Mo Kenney; Dave Shouse of past bands Grifters and Those Bastard Souls; Nashville-based Canadians Rob Crowell and Steve Dawson; the vocalist trio Reeny, Mahalia and Micah Smith; East Coast songwriters Al Tuck, Rose Cousins, and Erin Costelo; folk singer-songwriters Charlotte Cornfield and Ana Egge; and Plaskett's son, Xianing.[3]
The cross-Canada album tour for 44 had been scheduled for April–May, 2020 but was pushed back to October–November, 2020 due to the 2019-2020 coronavirus pandemic.[4] [5]
A hometown review in Halifax's Chronicle Herald summed up the album as, "autobiographical, philosophical, psychoanalytical and spiritual."[4] Another review called it a mix of everything, an eclectic collection from a prolific artist full of multitudes: "rock and pop, country and folk, loud and quiet, electric and acoustic, earthy and spacey, sincere and silly, gems and duds, studio and live, full-band productions and lo-fi solo fare."[6] One critic described the title single from the third record, If There's Another Road as "comfort food."[2] The expansive album was said to be a "massive, eclectic" reflection on the depth and breadth of the artist's life journey; "an impressive retrospective."[7] Also focusing on the reflective nature of the album, a Globe and Mail review noted how the album was a labour of love to Plaskett's family and friends, and the years-long effort displayed "the value of slowing down to enjoy the moment."[3]
The album was longlisted for the 2020 Polaris Music Prize.[8]