Music Review: Gord Downie - Introduce Yerself

Last summer, Canada tuned in to watch the Tragically Hip’s last concert and bid adieu to its charismatic poetic frontman. Now Gord says goodbye with this poignant collection of 23 deeply personal songs. Like David Bowie’s and Leonard Cohen’s final recordings, the album is almost unbearably sad and made more powerful because the artist knew the end was coming. “Each song is about a person,” Gord explained before his death from brain cancer on Oct. 17. Some numbers are love letters to childhood buddies, former girlfriends and his bandmates in the Hip. “Bedtime,” a tender piano lullaby, describes the nightly ritual of putting one of his four children to sleep. “You and Me and the B’s,” with percussion provided by hockey sticks on a driveway, tells of his and his younger brother Patrick’s lifelong obsession with the Boston Bruins. “The Lake” and “The North” pay tribute to Lake Ontario and Indigenous children who survived residential schools, reflecting his commitment to water protection and social justice. Passionate and touching, the album is a beloved rocker’s moving farewell.