Lasso Yo [LP]

Lasso Yo is the third full-length from Canon Blue, the alter ego of Nashville producer-songwriter, Daniel James. It's been over a half-decade since Canon Blue’s previous album, the Efterklang and Amiina-augmented orchestral pop opus, Rumspringa. Six years can feel like a lifetime, and James knows that all too well, and he tells the whole story on Lasso Yo. Conceived during increasingly long periods of isolation caused by increasingly intense bouts of anxiety and depression, Lasso Yo weaves those difficult personal struggles into a lyrically earnest and musically rich collection of songs. Produced, performed, and recorded by James at Taylor York's (Paramore) house, and mixed by John McEntire (Broken Social Scene, Yo La Tengo, The Sea and Cake), this is not only Canon Blue's most personal record, but also his most profound. For what was undoubtedly a challenging, cathartic record to make, Lasso Yo achieves a kind of weightlessness that betrays the heavy load it carries. It's this dichotomy that gives the album a curious magic, an unlikely transcendence spawned by an uncomfortable confrontation between James' past and present, and the new shape it gives his future.