Let it be known that Ken Presse cannot play the didgeridoo. It’s the only instrument, a gift from his mother after a trip to Australia, in his new home studio that he says he can’t play. He can, however, play guitar, piano,percussion, banjo and various other instruments, most of which make appearances on his debut album, out today, titled In My Mind.
Presse, who many will know as guitarist in Montreal band The Franklin Electric, moved to his new home 45 minutes from downtown at the end of 2021 and completed work on his home studio in July 2022. Having the new space, with high ceilings for better acoustics, means no more outsourcing work to other studios. “The only thing we’re missing, and unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll ever fit it in here, is a grand piano,” he says. But now he can invite other artists to record with him, and he recorded the entirety of his own album in just ten days.
“The songs were written ahead of time,” he explains, “so although there were some rewrites as I was producing it, but over ten days, all the production, all the recording, all the edits, all the mixing, which was actually I think a really cool way to work, which is not how I usually work. I like to take my time, you know. I’ve done pop productions where it takes me six days for one song, seven days, eight days. So because you have that freedom to overthink every idea – should that piano be there one day, turn it off the next day, turn it back on? But when you’ve got a limited amount of time, well, then decisions have to be made on the spot, and that’s what the record’s gonna be. So it was a really fun way to work.”
Ken has performed on the guitar, percussion, bass and keyboards for many events, such as opening for Mumford and Sons, the International Jazz Festival of Montreal, four sold-out Metropolis shows with The Franklin Electric and on the main stage at Osheaga. As a musician, in the past three years alone, he’s toured over 18 countries. His sound is a mix of folk, country, indie rock, pop and even R&B. With these elements, he’s created a sound that is his own.
In My Mind includes eight songs in English and two songs in French, which Presse considers “a new start” after the English part of the record.
“That’s the way I see it in my head. Here’s the first album, and here’s another side of me. Because I think maybe when I write in French, I express myself very differently. So lyrics that I write in French, I wouldn’t have written in English and vice versa. It’s just such a poet language that, I don’t know, I just struggle to express myself that way in English. I find that in English, I’m sometimes a bit more literal in what I’m saying.”
He also admits to being “a bit of an overthinker” and says the title track is about how he feels it would be his fault if his current relationship ended. “There’s a song, Holy Water, the first lines are “I’m the one to blame.” So it says that it ain’t holy water that’ll save my soul, it’s not this higher spirit that’s gonna save me. It’s not the sins of my father that made me lose control. So I can’t look at my past and blame what’s happened to me for what I feel today are, possibly maybe not my shortcomings, but things that, you know, I shouldn’t speak for everybody, but I think for me, there are things with my life that I would like to change. I think we do live in a society where it’s easy to poke the finger and say, well, I didn’t get that promotion because Tom over there did this, so people often point the finger, and I think we need to look inwards and say, well, it is essentially my fault for the things that I’m unhappy about. And that’s kind of the overarching theme of the album.”
The need to look inwards and handle self-criticism is never easy, especially for artists who are famously never satisfied with their art. Presse admits it’s part of the reason it took him so long even to make a solo record. “I think it’s like dealing with your own insecurities, you know, of like, hey, am I a good enough singer? Am I good enough at this? You know, it’s easy when I’m working with other artists or producing other artists or writing with them to say I think this is the right choice to make. Because sure, you have an emotional attachment to the music, and if you’ve written it with them and you want the best for them, but it’s not the same as putting out music that, you know, you kind of feel like you’re putting yourself out there in the world naked. And the worst part is, what if it doesn’t do well? But I think for a musician that it is tough because you had to overcome your securities to put that record out.”
Ken tells me he grew up in a very musical household. He was named after country music legend Kenny Rogers and his older brother was a gifted violinist. At home, he was introduced to Arabic music by his mother, who was born in Egypt and Quebec folk by his father. “I was surrounded with all these different styles of music, and I think that’s where my eclectic taste comes from,” he says.
That eclectic taste saw him embrace the world of heavy metal in his teens, “shredding” on guitar in local bands and seeing Metallica in concert five times. Metallica also helped him build his confidence as a musician. “I learned the solo to One by Metallica, and I was like, dude, I’m amazing at guitar. This is as good as it gets. Like you can’t get better than playing the solo to One. And then, obviously, I realized I wasn’t very good at all.” (laughs)
On November 17, Ken Presse will be playing an album release show at Petit Campus, surrounded by other talented musicians, and may drop in a couple of covers he’s been working on recently.
IN MY MIND is out now.
Watch the full interview below:
Portraits by Steve Gerrard
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