Michael C. Duguay Shares 'Staying Power'

Michael C. Duguay today shares the video, “Staying Power”, from the latest track to be released from his new album Saint Maybe. “Staying Power” is a powerful and moving tribute to his friend Chris Barry who was tragically murdered in a random stabbing in Kingston, ON, where the two met, in 2019. The video for the track features Barry’s own footage.

The song is a reflection on Chris’ life and legacy, the two artist’s friendship and shared passions, and Duguay’s experience of survivor’s guilt after his friend’s passing. “Staying Power” examines the impact of addiction and recovery on both those who enact violence and those who are victims of it and presents lyrics posing questions including:

“Is this providence? Is this pandemonic circumstance? Were you penitent as you philandered with that cash advance?” which examine the arbitrary and chance nature of both mortality and legacy, our responsibilities to ourselves and one another while on this earth, and our limited ability to fully honour the memory of our lost loved ones.

The video for “Staying Power” was compiled by Toronto-based filmmaker and director JR Reid using footage from 8 different films that Chris, a talented multidisciplinary artist, had filmed and directed in the early 2000’s.

Both close friends of Barry’s, Duguay and Reid met after his death at his memorial service and, once Duguay had produced this song, came together to honour his memory by using their friend’s film archives with the blessing of his family. Chris was a passionate lover of film and music, and he and Duguay had often discussed collaborating on audio-visual projects. Through Reid’s involvement, the two were ultimately able to do so.

“Keeping Chris’s art alive and relevant today is such a special way of honouring his memory and the impact he made on our lives,” explains Reid. “He was always there to support his friends in their artistic endeavours, so it’s very special that we can celebrate and share some of his films in this unique way.”

Inspired by recovery and recorded collaboratively in Whitehorse, Yukon, survival emerges as a central theme of Saint Maybe.  The weight of Duguay’s storytelling is bolstered by the musical strength of the record. Saint Maybe is by turns experimental, anthemic and poppy, Duguay’s songwriting personal, poetic, and heartfelt; his vocals sometimes punk rock and sometimes near-spoken, yet always clear and warm.

Duguay travelled to the Yukon in 2018 to tour and facilitate a songwriting workshop for youth in the fly-in-community Old Crow. On that visit he befriended Jeremy Parkin, a young artist/producer from the Kwanlin Dün First Nation, and composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Jordy Walker, both of whom would be instrumental in Duguay’s decision to return to the Yukon with his close collaborator, drummer Liam Cole, to record Saint Maybe at Walker’s studio in Whitehorse. The spectacular and serene beauty of the subarctic Yukon landscapes, as well as the resourcefulness of northern arts communities, were equally inspiring to the collaborators’ process.

Duguay began his music career in the mid-2000s as a multi-instrumentalist in a number of high profile touring indie bands, but his musical journey was interrupted by mental illness, homelessness and addiction for the better part of ten years. He recommenced his artistic practice in 2018, self producing and releasing his sophomore album The Winter Of Our Discotheque in 2020, which chronicled years of tumult and established him as one of Canada’s most enigmatic and honest emerging voices.

In between recording and releasing Discotheque Duguay relapsed and it became clear to him that he had to choose between using and making music. Duguay returned to rehab, got clean, and wrote half of the songs for Saint Maybe.

Michael C. Duguay’s Saint Maybe is available now.

Photo Credit: Bre Elbourn

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