Gord Downie and Bob Rock's 'The Moment Is A Wild Place' Goes Online

Published 02-01-2023

Album art

(Big Hassle) A visualizer video has been released for "The Moment Is A Wild Place," the latest single from the long-fabled collaboration between Gord Downie, late frontman of legendary Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, and GRAMMY Award-winning producer/musician Bob Rock.

The epic ballad heralds the upcoming release of Lustre Parfait, the ninth album to bear Downie's name outside of The Tragically Hip, and the first to bear Rock's.

Arriving on Friday, May 5, 2LP, CD, and digital formats, The Moment Is A Wild Place EP - featuring the seven-and-a-half minute title track along with five additional album cuts - is available now at all DSPs and streaming services.

"I've always been a fan of long pieces of music," says Bob Rock. "Setting a mood and going someplace, just taking you somewhere. The music was based on that journey, this rising tide of chords, crescendos in the chorus. Somehow, I stumbled on this magic chord, a simple minor to a major progression, and it moved me. And Gord reacted to it. It's absolute perfection in terms of songwriting and in terms of what he did. It's special because of what he talks about. The lyric was written before he was diagnosed with the sickness that he had. They say you gotta live in the moment. It causes you to look back, and I get choked up every time I hear it, still. I think most people will be moved by it. It's one of his finest moments."

More than a decade in the making, Lustre Parfait sees Downie's peerless lyricism and incendiary heart given newfangled energy by his longtime friend and collaborator, famed producer/musician Bob Rock. Their partnership began in 2006 when Rock - known for his award-winning work with Metallica, Mötley Crüe, and Michael Bublé, to name but a few - produced The Tragically Hip's acclaimed 10th studio album, World Container, followed in 2009 by the chart-topping We Are The Same. It was after the second outing that Downie asked if Rock might have music he could write to, stirring both towards new points of expression and experimentalism. The sonic spaces that Rock would provide led Downie into the depths of his notebooks, resulting in Lustre Parfait, an unexpected gift from one of Canada's most cherished voices, a relentless 14-track collection charged by the unifying forces of poetry and power. With words by Downie and music by Rock - who also contributes guitars, keyboards, and percussion - Lustre Parfait is unabashedly inspiring and infectious, the gleaming sound of a vivid and vital rock band belting out transcendent new music unlike anything previously heard in the late frontman's celebrated canon. Rock rouses indelible performances from Downie, his vibrant musical imagination and deft production touch igniting songs like the rallying cry of "The Raven And The Red-Tailed Hawk," the reverberant "Is There Nowhere," and the spiritually charged "Lustre Parfait" with brash electric melodies and brassy rock n' roll grandeur.

"First and foremost Gord was my friend," continues Rock, "and having the opportunity to work with him on these songs was one of the biggest highlights of my professional life. I am grateful that I got to witness his genius in such close proximity."