Lightwork (CD, fra Devin Townsend

Jewelcase-Edition.

After an unusually long year full of personal changes and almost manic creative activity, Canadian musician Devin Townsend releases the successor to his highly acclaimed 2019 album 'Empath'. Compiled from a flood of material written during the pandemic, 'Lightwork' represents a new level and has become one of the most accessible and ambitious releases of his long career. A project that Devin has had in mind since his teenage years (and has flirted with throughout his entire career) is a more melodic and direct album with a great producer supporting him in his work. Enter Garth Richardson: a Vancouver-based producer with a long list of credits and a longtime friend of Devin. And the goal? To create something beautiful, cathartic, powerful, and clear. A feeling of optimism and strength in a time that can generally be described as 'depressing'. It's about strength, love, acceptance, fear, and overcoming together. Guests on the album include friends and acquaintances from his past (Anneke Van Giersbergen, Ché Aimee Dorval, Morgan Agren, Mike Keneally, Steve Vai, Elektra Women's Choir) as well as some newer friends and faces (Darby Todd, Diego Tejeida, Nathan Navarro, Federico Paulovich, Jonas Hellborg), and - hard to believe - also the legendary producer and guitarist Nile Rodger, who can be heard on the track 'HoneyBunch'.