MAJOR LOVE is the moniker of Edmonton singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Colleen Brown, and a collaboration featuring Alberta rock darlings Scenic Route To Alaska; Trevor Mann, Shea Connor, and Murray Wood.
Today, they share the new single, “Making The Most Of It”, produced by Marcus Paquin. Born of pandemic-times, Brown reflects on the dissolution of a once vibrant existence, turned mundane; and the pressure to become a ‘productivity drone’ in place of a social life on the outside.
Opening with a cathartic wail, and settling into head-bopping riffs and hand claps, with gang vocals chanting ‘making the most of it, when I feel like it’, Major Love deliver a wry and rugged indie rock anthem for the collective ennui of our times.
The single arrives with a lyric video from director Dale Bailey. Creating the “Making The Most Of It” lyric video was a very meta experience. The team had booked a date at the Varscona Theatre in Edmonton and hired a set designer – Chantal Fortin – to create a Lawrence Welk influenced variety show stage in a dreamy, nostalgic style. Colleen had sewn scarves for herself and the band, and customized her dress to match the set. The rest of the band flew to Toronto to play some Scenic Route To Alaska shows and were due back the day before the shoot. However a huge storm hit Ontario and they were grounded for an extra 48 hours, missing the shoot and leaving Brown on her own in Edmonton.
With the stage already booked and decorated, Colleen decided to go ahead with the shoot. That meant Brown was digging around in her closet and thrift stores to dress herself as ‘the band’. “It was basically my recurring nightmare come to life,” says Brown. “I show up at the venue, I have spent too much time on my costume and makeup and don’t feel prepared. I’m rushed onstage and I don’t know how to play the instruments, but I have to go through with it anyways, haha. But as this was all playing out, we just had to laugh because we were making the most of it, as the song says.”
“This shoot was intended to just be one scene inside the Official Video for the single, but we loved it so much we had to release a full length version, and it seemed perfect as a lyric video.”
Forming after a chance meeting overseas, Major Love’s debut album was released in August 2018. The singles “Tear It Down” and “So Good” were embraced by CBC Music Top 20 and Sirius XM, and enjoyed some initial commercial radio crossover. The album spent thirteen weeks in the Top 50 earshot! National College Radio charts.
