Orillia-ON-based folk rock singer-songwriter, Shane Cloutier has released a video for his single, “Red Wagon”.
The title track from his sophomore album of the same name, the single and album as a whole embodies Cloutier’s emotive voice and unique folk approach, complete with his own heavy metal influence and collaborations with multi-award winning blues drummer Tom Bona, and legendary guitarist Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush.
“The album Red Wagon is very much a prequel and sequel to In Light,” Cloutier shares, referring to his debut release. “When I wrote In Light, it was very much a cathartic response to some traumatic events in my life, facing the death of my wife and mother of my children. It is very much an album of perseverance and strength, as well as surrendering to vulnerability.
When I wrote Red Wagon, I was in a much happier place, and I feel I had a much more enlightened perspective,” he continues. “Both albums helped me emotionally, physically, and spiritually move forward. They tethered me to real life, sort of, and didn’t allow me to sink — which was exactly where I felt like I was heading.”
Check out the video below and find out more about Shane via our Five Questions With segment.
Care to introduce yourself to our readers?
Hi, my name is Shane Cloutier, I am a musician/performer and singer/songwriter.
Tell us a bit about your music and writing style.
As of late, my passion has taken me in the direction of acoustic folk alternative which can be heard on my two current albums ‘In Light’ and ‘Red Wagon’. Although I do play a lot of electric guitar as well and do some session work. My writing can be a bit eclectic with a great emphasis on chord structure and melody. My lyrics, whether I like it or not, are very much a part of me and pieces of me.
Do you have any upcoming shows? For someone who has yet to see you live, how would you explain your live performance?
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, all live shows have come to a standstill, with the exception of some online shows that I have done. I am also planning to do some more very soon. You can stay up to date with all of these on my socials and official website, www.shanecloutiermusic.com
For someone who has not seen me live, they could expect an honest acoustic performance. I pride myself on being able to reproduce everything I put on a record live and I am always working harder to improve my craft and I take great pride in that. The audience may also have to put up with a few cheesy and terrible jokes in between songs… but I’m working on that!
If you were asked to suggest only one of your songs for someone to hear, which would it be?
I couldn’t just pick one song to suggest to someone to listen to, but I could pick two…. ‘Red Wagon’ and ‘Shape of Me’. I think both of these encompass some of my thought processes and are good examples of my writing style.
Canadian Beats is all about Canadian music, so who are your current favourite Canadian bands/artists?
I would say that currently my favourite Canadian bands/artists are Death From Above 1979, Skydiggers, Arcade Fire, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and of course Mahogany Rush which is my first and foremost favourite Canadian band. Frank Marino of Mahogany Rush is also my favourite guitar player in the universe!
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