ENTERTAINMENT
From Issue #22
David Usher
By Sydnia Yu
David Usher normally welcomes the adventure that comes with change, which explains his departure from Toronto’s suburbs to the unknown streets of New York. But in terms of the political shifts taking place in North America, he fears the worst.
“The rise of the religious right is changing the way people relate to each other, and changing the underpinnings of how society functions,” he says. “Things like women’s rights, abortion rights, gay rights, just diversity in general — which is paramount to society — is being threatened.”
The title of David’s fourth album, If God Had Curves, suggests his concern with the growing inflexibility towards others’ views, especially regarding religion.
“The idea of God being male is such an obvious construct that I just like the idea that if God had more feminine qualities, we might be in a better place. We might be listening more, rather than screaming at each other all the time.”
He says society should consider a broader perspective, and doesn’t exclude himself or his music. David gets back to the essence of the songs, leaving in mistakes and the breathy quality of the voice, which is different from the rock anthems he wrote for Moist.
“Some people want you to do the same thing you’ve always been doing, and that’s the nature of the way the world is,” he says. “But my job as a singer and songwriter isn’t to please everybody all the time; it’s to do what I want to do, and do what I think is interesting, and make work that’s challenging for me.”
