“I do believe certain songs can only be found in certain instruments,” says Canadian songwriter Doug Paisley; specifically of his new tune “Rewrite History.” You see, he wrote this song on a friend’s 100-year-old guitar, and in listening to the woody, softly-strummed chords underneath Paisley’s sweetly-sung verses, it’s not too difficult for one to buy into his theory. “Rewrite History” is one of eleven new songs from Paisley’s upcoming album, Say What You Like. Producer Afie Jurvanen—perhaps best known as recording artist BAHAMAS—brought in a wealth of new grooves, vibes, and tones for the whole of Say What You Like, but on “Rewrite History” in particular, his BAHAMAS bandmate and Toronto-based recording artist Felicity Williams brings Paisley’s musical fate full circle. “When I heard Felicity sing on the recording, I thought the idea and the story and the song might just have been made for her to sing her part,” he says. Williams’s soft layers of vocals do, in fact, meld with the song in a way that could be scientific proof of musical predestination.
Today, Magnet premiered “Rewrite History,” writing, “disarmingly conversational and underhandedly poignant, ‘Rewrite History’ is a bit of an anomaly.”
Due out on March 17th, Say What You Like is Paisley’s first release since 2018’s Starter Home which landed on The New Yorker’s Ten Best Albums of the Year and a step in a brand new direction as the first release with Paisley’s new record label Outside Music, a welcoming, Canada-based home for a Canadian artist who’s long been signed to U.S.-based labels.
Culled from 250 unrecorded songs spanning a decade of unregulated creativity, the Canadian songwriter’s Say What You Like is a snapshot of an artist functioning at his best and highest level—honest, exposed, searching, and yet comforting in his ability to communicate the universal in the struggles of the individual. And, with the help of Jervanen it manages to be groovy too. One gets the sense from these songs that Paisley simply must write. “As a songwriter these days,” he reflected earlier this year, “there’s very little to gain and very little to lose so I am working only from the heart, there’s no other motive.” And on Say What You Like, it shows.
Fans can stream or purchase “Rewrite History” now at this link, check out the previously-released tracks, “Say What You Like” and “Sometimes It’s So Easy,” and pre-save or pre-order Say What You Like ahead of its March 17th release right here.
Say What You Like Tracklist:
Say What You Like
Sometimes It’s So Easy
Wide Open Plain
Rewrite History
Almost
If I Wanted To
I Wanted It Too Much
Make It A Double
You Turn My Life Around
Holy Roller
Old Hometown
