Lights of Endangered Species is the fifth studio album by Matthew Good

Matthew Good

Matthew Frederick Robert Good is a Canadian rock musician. He was the lead singer for the Matthew Good Band, one of Canada's most successful alternative rock bands in the 1990s, before dissolving the band in 2002...

, released on May 31, 2011. The first single, "In a Place of Lesser Men

In a Place of Lesser Men

"In a Place of Lesser Men" is the lead single from Matthew Good's fifth solo album, Lights of Endangered Species. The song was first streamed via SoundCloud on March 21 and was officially released on March 29, 2011.-Charts:-Credits:...

", was released via SoundCloud

SoundCloud

SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform which allows collaboration, promotion and distribution of audio recordings.-History:SoundCloud was originally started in Stockholm, Sweden, but was established in Berlin, Germany in August, 2007 by sound designer Alex Ljung and artist Eric Wahlforss...

 two months prior on March 21, 2011. Subsequently, "Non Populus" was also released four days later. Five days ahead of the album release, the entire album was available to stream online via ExploreMusic

ExploreMusic

ExploreMusic is a Canadian multimedia rock music recommendation project run by Corus Interactive and Integrated Solutions, the online arm of Corus Radio...

. The album debuted at #5 on the Canadian Albums Chart

Canadian Albums Chart

The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS...

.

Produced by Warne Livesey, Lights marked the sixth album the two had worked together on (including Matthew Good Band

Matthew Good Band

Matthew Good Band was a Canadian alternative rock band formed by Matthew Good that existed from 1993 to 2002. The band consisted of Good , Dave Genn , Ian Browne and Geoff Lloyd from 1995 to 1999...

 discography). While Good's lyrics on Lights remain socio-political and personal in nature, the album marks a departure from Good's rock-driven style with layered arrangements and instrumentation featuring horns, strings, woodwinds and piano – a reflection of Good's musical upbringing and tastes, listening to big band

Big band

A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...

s from Glenn Miller

Glenn Miller

Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...

 to Basie, as well as modern jazz, such as Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...

 and Mingus

Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...

. He also singled out the horn section on Simon and Garfunkel

Simon and Garfunkel

Simon & Garfunkel are an American duo consisting of singer-songwriter Paul Simon and singer Art Garfunkel. They formed the group Tom & Jerry in 1957 and had their first success with the minor hit "Hey, Schoolgirl". As Simon & Garfunkel, the duo rose to fame in 1965, largely on the strength of the...

's "Keep the Customer Satisfied" as a particular influence for the album's fifth track, "Zero Orchestra". The musical style also marked an effort from Good and Livesey to create something that was not necessarily "commercially viable", an idea that the two first discussed when they were mixing 1997's Underdogs

Underdogs

Underdogs is the second full-length album released by the Matthew Good Band in 1997, as a follow-up to the 1995 album Last of the Ghetto Astronauts...

. Good has recalled writing what would be the eighth track on Lights, "Set Me on Fire", as having re-energized the concept.

Good and Livesey first experimented with a Vancouver-based group of musicians to play the horns on the album, but described the results as "horrifying". They subsequently contacted Nashville-based Terry Townsend, who they ultimately stuck with, on the advice of The Odds' Craig Northey

Craig Northey

Craig Northey is a Canadian musician and one of the founding members of the band Odds.After the breakup of Odds in 1999, Northey has embarked on several other ventures, including working with Colin James, Rosanne Cash, Glen Phillips, Bruce McCulloch and many others...

. Townsend, in turn, brought in other musicians to complete the recording. Lights also features Good's daughter singing in the background on "Shallow's Low".

Track listing

All tracks written by Matthew Good.

1. Extraordinary Fades - 2:54
2. How It Goes - 4:02
3. Shallow's Low - 5:06
4. What If I Can't See the Stars Mildred? - 5:11
5. Zero Orchestra - 4:46
6. Non Populus - 8:21
7. In a Place of Lesser Men
   In a Place of Lesser Men
   "In a Place of Lesser Men" is the lead single from Matthew Good's fifth solo album, Lights of Endangered Species. The song was first streamed via SoundCloud on March 21 and was officially released on March 29, 2011.-Charts:-Credits:...
   
   - 3:10
8. Set Me On Fire - 5:23
9. Lights of Endangered Species - 4:21

iTunes Exclusive

• Darling

Credits

• Matthew Good - piano, guitar, bass, claratron, vocals
• Stuart Cameron - guitar, lap steel
• Blake Manning - drums, percussion, glockenspiel, backing vocals
• David Harding - viola
• Andrew Brown - viola
• Mary Sokol Brown - violin
• David Brown - double bass
• Brenda Fedoruk - flute
• Fracois Houle - clarinet
• David Owen - cor anglais
• Ingrid Chiang - bassoon
• Warne Livesey - organ, mellotron
• Terry Townson - trumpet, flugelhorn
• Rod Murray - trombone
• Oliver De Clercq - french horn
• Bill Runge - baritone saxophone
• Jeremy Berkman - trombone
• Brad Muirhead - bass trombone
• Avery Grace - backing vocals
• Jennifer Zall - backing vocals

• Warne Livesey - producer, mixer, engineer
• Joel Livesey - second engineer
• Rob Sommerfeldt, Jennifer Zall, Paul Dutil - session assistants
• Tim Young - mastering at Metropolis, London, UK
• Bernie Breen - management
• Jenn Pressey and Sarah Osgoode - assistants
• Shawn Marino - A&R, Universal Music
• Matthew Good and Susan Michalek - art direction
• Susan Michalek - design
• Miriam Aroeste - cover artwork

Recorded and mixed at Vogville Recording, Port Coquitlam, Canada

Strings, brass, and woodwinds arranged by Matthew Good and Warne Livesey

External links

• Lights of Endangered Species Album Timeline
• In A Place of Lesser Men on SoundCloud