MAJOR LOVE’S NEW LP, LIVE, LAUGH, MAJOR LOVE, OUT MAY 17
‘In these times of trouble when I long to feel some comfort, well, I think of you.’ The opening line of Major Love’s fifth single “For The Long Run” – the lead track off their sophomore album Live, Laugh, Major Love – is a confession. At the centre of that confession is a universal longing. It asks the question – ‘if I’m totally honest, if I’m truly myself – will I still be loved and accepted?’
The first time the chorus comes around, it’s clear the question is personal, talking about a romantic connection. But as the song develops, it morphs into a more communal reflection on how uncertainty and insecurity changes people. How some people contract and become defensive in difficult circumstances, and others look for the opportunity inside the difficulty.
Lead singer-songwriter Colleen Brown explains:
“During lockdowns, I think we were all experiencing some form of longing. A lot of us felt really isolated – maybe we were single and hadn’t touched another human in a year. Some of us were in bubbles or family units, but felt totally alienated from them. It wasn’t just physical isolation – but also the sense that humanity was splintering, along with a shared sense of reality and belonging. Many of us were losing people to conspiracy theories, seeing people we love suddenly spouting hateful rhetoric. And then some of those people would try to turn it around on us, accusing us of the same thing… it can break your brain, if you don’t have deep moral conviction behind your beliefs.
To me this feels more relevant than ever, right now, at this moment. I truly believe we are at the flashpoint that will determine whether humanity survives in the long term. We have a couple of years to avoid irreversible ecological collapse, which we have been rushing headlong towards, and we also have students and protesters around the world being shut down, attacked, and arrested for protesting war crimes. These things are 100% related. Propping up a colonial empire is the same principle as spraying your garden with Roundup: as long as we insist on control and domination of ourselves and our environment, we are doomed as a species. This moment, right now, is our opportunity to change that, to change our trajectory. That’s what this song is really about, and that’s the feeling we are trying to capture in the music.”
Live, Laugh, Major Love, the long-awaited, Marcus Paquin-produced, semi-eponymous sophomore album from Major Love, comes to us like a cheeky valentine, pairing emotional vulnerability with light-heartedness and the kind of confidence that is synonymous with rock. Earnest without taking themselves too seriously on this record, Major Love’s lead singer-songwriter Colleen Brown playfully scorns romantic love even as she openly longs for it.
“When love relationships go bad, there’s always some part of you that recoils at the next opportunity. You’re like the armadillo. You’re always wearing your armour. And then you attract more armadillos, both of you protecting yourselves, both of you only showing a small part of your tender self. All the while, wishing, at least in part, to relieve yourselves of your shells. To be naked in your need,” says Brown. “The older I get, the more plainly obvious it is to me that in order to survive, we need to learn to love each other, forgive each other, be emotionally vulnerable with one another, look for ways we can collaborate and compromise, and become totally and utterly truthful with ourselves and each other.”
The eleven tracks that comprise Live, Laugh, Major Love showcase Brown’s willingness to do just that, in partnership with her Major Love bandmates: Trevor Mann, Shea Connor, and Murray Wood.