October 15, 2024 — Patrick Watson - the singer/songwriter, film composer and pianist based in Montreal, Canada - has returned with a new single called “Silencio,” featuring the rising French singer-songwriter November Ultra. The song was inspired by an experience had by Watson - an Award-winning artist that has released several beloved albums of explorative cinematic pop over the past two decades - in which he couldn’t speak or sing for nearly three months. “Silencio” explores some of the impressions that came to him during this time: does he talk too much?; the anxiety that comes with reliving a conversation, learning to be a better listener and the power of silence.  

The song is out today, and will be part of a larger album project that Watson has been finishing, inspired by his missing voice, with more details to be announced soon.  

Listen to “Silencio” here: https://found.ee/silencio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go7bEkkgFMk

“I think you like me better since I lost my voice,” Watson sings, over a mysterious and ethereal orchestration of arpeggiating guitars, softly touched drums, piano and burbling synths. He wrote the song with longtime collaborator, co-writer and bandmate Mishka Stein and November Ultra. Watson and November Ultra first met while taping a radio show at France Inter together in Paris, where they were booked on the same day (they will return to the same radio show - Côté Club - together for the release of “Silencio”). The song was recorded in a painter’s studio in Paris (Studio Alterio of artist Ruben Alterio), overlooking Montmartre. “With an enormous window and so much old Parisian charm and ghosts,” he says. The loft called for a classical guitar, so Stein ran to a nearby music shop and in one of several examples of kismet around this recording, found a beautiful instrument to feature on the recording. 

“Silencio” is sung in both Spanish and English, with November Ultra starting the song with her otherworldly and delicate vocals. Watson describes the process of making it as “magical.” “Her wonderful wit and beautifully soft caring tone was very inspiring. The song just kind of wrote itself, AS THOUGH IT WAS A CONVERSATION WE HAD BEEN HAVING OUR WHOLE LIVES. It was lovely,” he says.   

Says Watson:

The lyrics are made up of two different stories. Nova was having a tricky moment and so was I. As for her part of the story, well, she'll tell you all about it.

My part of the story was about how I couldn't talk for two and a half or three months. Since I talk too much in general, it was kind of good for me. The song is built on a bunch of impressions I had during this period.

I realized a lot of the things I wanted to say to people, but couldn’t, were probably not that interesting to them anyhow. It made me wonder, maybe I was talking to myself, and not other people a lot of the time.

I noticed my interactions with people were so different when I left them the space and they filled the void left by my silence. I realized that you're much more vulnerable when you're the one talking, versus the one that just listens.

I do have my voice back 100%. I think I talk 7% less which is still a win.

Says November Ultra:

When I met Patrick, we talked about our voices, our fears of losing them... what would we do if it happened?

What would we learn in this forced silence?

It happened to Patrick, and then it happened to me as my body shut down after my first tour - I could hardly breathe and had to relearn. 

I realized the silence humbled me and also made me listen more carefully, to my surroundings,to others... What do we answer when someone asks us how life's going? How many times should we ask until the other person feels like they can gift us with honesty?

That's what this song "Silencio" felt to me, honesty through silence.Read the full transcript of Patrick Watson and November Ultra’s thoughts on the song below.

Watson’s most recent full length album is 2022’s Better in the Shade, which draws on literary inspirations and released after his decade-old single “Je te laisserai des mots” went viral on social media (the song has gone Platinum in several territories and has crossed 1 billion streams).  Watson’s recent collaborators include Charlotte Cardin, Georgio and Hania Rani, and early this year released “Perfect Day (Piano Komorebi Version),” which he recorded for Wim Wenders’ Oscar-nominated film Perfect Days.

About: 

Patrick Watson composes, performs, and records his albums with his long-time bandmate and collaborator Mishka Stein. The recipients of Canada’s Polaris Music Prize, in addition to multiple JUNO and Polaris nominations, and gold and platinum records in Canada, Watson and his band have toured on all continents, on occasion playing with full orchestras to bring their rich music to life. Their latest tours saw the band playing some of their largest venues to date, including the Barbican (London), L’Olympia (Paris), Coliseu (Lisbon), El Plaza Condesa (Mexico City), and more. Raised and still living in Montreal, Watson has composed several scores for both film and television, including a trailer for The Walking Dead.

https://patrickwatson.net/