Michael Cormier-O'Leary - Anything Can Be Left Behind (2023) [Hi-Res]

The idea of a persistent identity was percolating through Michael Cormier-O’Leary’s brain as he began writing his fourth full length album Anything Can Be Left Behind. As conditions change, relationships evolve, and surroundings adjust, what parts of identity are preserved and what parts aren't? The multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and member of Friendship and Hour didn’t have the answer, but these reflections propelled him into a kind of experiment: how much of a persistent self remains when we improvise, react purely in the present moment and contort our expectations? The result is a collection of songs that stretch across fact and fiction, coating the world in cartoonish color to offer a new perspective, away from the constraints of who we think we are.

Cormier-O’Leary founded Dear Life Records, where he released his debut solo albums Days Like Pearls and M-F in 2019 and More Light!! In 2021. They presented an artist steeped in textural dexterity, where unexpected melodic arrangements and clashing chords dance alongside stories of anxiety, apathy and existential thought. While these previous releases relied upon a more diaristic outlook, where Cormier-O’Leary searched through the pages to form some sort of self actuality, Anything Can Be Left Behind is steeped in exaggerated... more

Personnel:
Michael Cormier-O’Leary - vox, guitar, percussion
Lucas Knapp - mix, synth, organ, bass, vox
Bradford Krieger - engineer, drums, lead guitar, vox
Frank Meadows - vox, bass (electric and upright), rhodes, organ
Erika Nininger - vox, rhodes, synth
Sam Sonnega - guitar solo on ‘The Door’
Courtney Swain - vox, organ, synth

Tracklist:
1 01. Michael Cormier-O'Leary - Here Comes Spring (05:08)
1 02. Michael Cormier-O'Leary - The Tyranny of Our Beating Hearts (04:13)
1 03. Michael Cormier-O'Leary - Impossible as a Postcard (02:35)
1 04. Michael Cormier-O'Leary - Letter From Alan (01:59)
1 05. Michael Cormier-O'Leary - Anything Can Be Left Behind (04:54)
1 06. Michael Cormier-O'Leary - Obtain (04:00)
1 07. Michael Cormier-O'Leary - Hurricane Valentine (02:07)
1 08. Michael Cormier-O'Leary - Newest Oldest Punk (03:31)
1 09. Michael Cormier-O'Leary - The Door (02:37)
1 10. Michael Cormier-O'Leary - Old Mike (02:26)