KURATED NO. 270
JUNO NOMINEE 2026
Uh Oh by Patrick Watson
Uh Oh is Watson’s 8th album
CONTENTS
- PLAYLIST
– The 11-song album Uh Oh on YouTube and Spotify - VIDEO SONGS
– The Wandering – featuring Patrick Watson and MARO and some
excellent choreography!
– Silencio
– Peter and the Wolf
– Ami Imaginaire - LYRICS
Kurated No. 270-B (to come)
Patrick Watson Canadian Press /Keystone via AP– Valentin Flauraud Photo
PATRICK WATSON’S UH OH
Masterful music and lyrics from a man who lost his voice
“When you record it should be a magical moment,” says Patrick Watson. “People hear you’re going through a real adventure and I feel that needs to be heard on tape,” he told CBC Radio-Canada around the release of his eighth album, Uh Oh, last fall.
Twenty years into a successful career, the California-born, longtime Montrealer Watson didn’t know if he’d sing again. He’d ruptured a blood vessel in his throat singing too hard on tour in 2023. Doctors said his voice was unlikely to recover.
So he started composing his next work with other singers in mind. Fortunately his voice healed in a year thanks to oxygen therapy in a hyperbaric chamber. Since he’d already decided on various artists he wanted to record for the album, Watson did duets on nine of the 11 tracks including Quebecers Charlotte Cardin, La Force and Martha Wainwright, Portugal’s MARO and French singers November Ultra and Solann.
With most of the compositions written he recorded in various locations beyond Montreal – a lakeside Quebec cabin, New Orleans, L.A., Mexico City and Paris. Going minimal on the adventure, he packed a lap top, a sound card and two microphones – his ground rules allowing each song to be recorded in one or two takes. The approach delivered the desired organic feel. Those unadorned tracks laid the base for Watson’s expertise – meticulous and intricately woven arrangements wherein lies the magic he aims for.
Shaping the sound
Noting that “the hook is in the sound design” rather than melody alone, Watson spent two months studying the work of rapper Cardi B (especially her 2021 hit Up). “I got really close to the mixes I wanted (for Uh Oh),” he told CBC Radio-Canada, “but the energy level was so sleepy so I just sat and I just learned from Cardi B.” The approach shows up in two of Uh Oh’s edgier tracks – the electronic and distorted Ami Imaginaire featuring Quebec’s Klô Pelgag as well as gently eerie solo track Peter and the Wolf with its auto-tuned vocals and background choir alongside dissonant clarinet and sax.
The album’s other songs are somewhat quieter but no less compelling. Featuring intimate and inventive arrangements starting with opener Silencio, Watson’s smart storytelling narratives beautifully augment his musical scores. November Ultra begins the song with a Spanish aria-style intro segueing into Watson’s opening line: “I lost my voice because I talk too loud / Like an old friend that ain’t hanging around”.
The ghostly bossa nova–adjacent of The Wandering is one of his favourites. Says Watson, “It’s inspired by the feeling I’ve had since I was 16 – touring and traveling the world playing music, and that unique sense of being a ghost, quietly watching the world go by … It’s a love song about the kind of company you keep with yourself, and how it can turn into this mysterious, guiding force that leads you on all kinds of adventures.”
Another standout track is the House on Fire duet with Martha Wainwright. Their voices have chemistry and they contrast – hers strong to his whispering – as their characters resolve domestic unrest from their respective corners. Watson offered praise to his collaborator: “House on Fire is a track that I’m very proud of because for years I had watched Martha Wainwright sing and was always in such a force and power. I’m such a soft singer that I was so inspired to be able to sing beside her and her strength.”
Uh Oh is a masterful work from beginning to end foregrounding the work of one of Canada’s top musical auteurs. Watson is nominated in the Adult Alternative Album of the Year category in this year’s JUNO Awards. The competition is strong featuring Bahamas, Begonia, The Barr Brothers and The Weather Station. They’re a worthy group of nominees. But I’ll put my money – and my vote – on Watson.
