WOLFE ISLAND RECORDS

“…the album quickly captured my heart. Pacem warms you on cold winter days with music that feels like a warm fire. It is also music that overflows with feeling and talent.” (via Google Translate)

“As one of Canada’s consummate musicians over the past three decades, Hugh Christopher Brown (better known to many as Chris Brown through his partnership with vocalist Kate Fenner and their former band Bourbon Tabernacle Choir) has always tapped into the spiritual healing power of song…It’s the kind of soul music few artists outside of, say, Van Morrison, ever attempt…”

“Hugh Christopher “Chris” Brown has a tendency to find music — actually, he would say that it finds him — in the most unexpected places: while at a funeral, sitting in a Toronto lawyer’s kitchen, or even from behind bars.”

“This is Brown’s first proper solo recording in years, and to make it he drew extensively from the community he’s cultivated on Wolfe Island, where he moved from New York City in the last decade… It’s the most musically diverse collection Brown has ever put out, and it’s a welcome return from a songwriter who has a lot to give.” …

“Pacem is one of those albums that works on the listener from the inside out. The more I listen, the more I am astonished by its depth and intricacy. The album begins with a Chant of St. Ignatius extolling the divinity of all things and ends with a lyrical, plaintive folk song. Between these two pieces are masterfully constructed songs, …

“A cathartic, vulnerable piece of work, Pacem brings feelings of serenity and introspection to the listener.”

Ahead of its release, Brown is setting “Keeper of the Flame” loose into the world. The windswept love song features classic, longing Dobro set against rollicking percussion. The folk-pop artist describes the heartstring-tugging tune as “very simply about someone who makes me want to live and taught me how to love in a whole new way.”