Leif Vollebekk: Like A Rolling Stone

A name that’s been bandied about Montreal more and more in the last year is that of Leif Vollebekk; a young dude singer/songwriter think of the classic kind, à la Harry Nilsson or Van Dyke Parks variety, heavy on the quirky pop tricks and trash thanks in a large part to his excellent debut album: Inland.

Self-released the old fashioned way, the record was birthed at Breakglass Studios, the local digs run by Jace Lasek of The Besnard Lakes, and it bears the studio’s signature warm and fuzzy sound, not to mention country and folk influenced tunes with clever, mature, and complete arrangements. «I had heard a few records come out of Breakglass and I remember thinking, ‘Holy Crap! They’ve got it!’ Any instrument sounded full. In part, I was the first person to record on their brand new console. They were telling me that Led Zeppelin’s «Kashmir» was tracked on it,» says Vollebekk. «I wrote out the parts and I practiced with some jazz guys from Ottawa, and we came up and did the beds. It’s really hard to tell you how it worked because I don’t feel like I did very much on it. We just did the very simple bass, drums, and guitar when it needed it, or just guitar, and then a few violins and layers on it. I feel like the studio is what you hear, more than my arrangements.»

This country’s capital city is his birthplace and old stomping grounds, but the lure of our big city was too enticing for this self-professed Dylan junkie. «I’ve been in Montreal since August 2008. I needed to go somewhere where I could play music. I just needed to go where playing once a week was possible, which was not possible in Ottawa» he mentions.

A Year Like No other
The last year marked a huge left turn for Leif. On top of the new city and new stages, came attention from a growing legion of fans, as well as from the industry. He struck up a business relationship with the burgeoning Toronto label Nevado, whom have taken it upon themselves to re-unleash the able Inland on wider masses this past month.The fact that there are more people aware of what he does has changed his perspective about the way he approaches his craft. «It’s making me nervous! I used to be really cocky because nobody knew who I was and nobody knew the songs, so I could do a different version if I felt like it, or omit a verse here and there,» states Vollebekk. «There was a lot of freedom in that. I got a lot of my energy from that.

I think it’s a bit more nerve-racking, to have something expected, especially with this recording.» The recording in question is album two, already wrapped up but with no planned release date as of yet, with sessions overseen by Howard Bilerman at the infamous Hotel2Tango. A match made in heaven, non?