NEW DELUXE SINGLE FEATURING LOUIE SHORT’S “WHAT CAN I DO”, ORIGINALLY WRITTEN BY HIS FATHER IN THE 70s, AND THE ORIGINAL 1979 RECORDING
LISTEN / SHARE “WHAT CAN I DO” HERE
BUY / STREAM “WHAT CAN I DO” HERE
LISTEN / SHARE “WHAT CAN I DO” (ORIGINAL 1979 DEMO VERSION)
BUY / STREAM “WHAT CAN I DO” (ORIGINAL 1979 DEMO VERSION)
Photo Credit : Pics by Vic // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
In the Fall of 2021, Louie Short released his sophomore album, Omw 4ev, on 444%. Louie was the sole architect of the project, showcasing his DIY instincts from songwriting through mix. The record conjures elements that range from Tobias Jessso Jr. to Gram Parsons. Warmth, charm and honesty.
The album’s opener and first single, a beautiful song called “What Can I Do”, is a song with a journey interesting enough to warrant a standalone release and connects a father and son’s career almost 40 years apart. The song was written by Louie’s father Michael Short and an artist named BJ Cook in late 70s Toronto. It was recorded with the intent of selling it - possibly through BJ’s ex-husband David Foster - but nothing came and the tape disappeared. 40 years later, in the process of clearing out the old studio, an engineer who had always liked the recording digitized and emailed it to the writers. His dad played it for him and Louie cut the record shortly thereafter.
Now we’re blessed to be releasing the original 1979 demo recording, the duet between Cook and Louie’s father. It’s a much different song, recorded through the lens of a very different time, but the interpretations a generation apart are both more than worth their time.
Michael Short had this to say: "I love what Louie did to it. It's amazing that he's kept this song alive after all these years."
Louie had some comments around the record that fit here: “Things in the middle of life tend to be neglected,” he said. “I think that this forgotten middle space is exciting and uncharted. It holds a certain poignancy because it doesn’t have the manipulative magnetism of creation and destruction, birth and death, to grab your attention. It just has itself existing.”
LISTEN / SHARE “WHAT CAN I DO” HERE
BUY / STREAM “WHAT CAN I DO” HERE
LISTEN / SHARE “WHAT CAN I DO” (ORIGINAL 1979 DEMO VERSION)
BUY / STREAM “WHAT CAN I DO” (ORIGINAL 1979 DEMO VERSION)
“What Can I Do” Deluxe Single Artwork // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
MORE ABOUT Omw 4ev
“The genre is songs,” is a direct quote from Louie Short. It does well to represent both his approach and his sense of humor. After all this is an artist whose previous bio stated: “He’s not not trying to be Carole King.” The point is, Louie’s a songwriter, and a real good one. He established that much with the release of 2019’s Cherry, Cherry.
His latest record, Omw 4ev, is about “real love that you work for,” Louie says. “We call a lot of songs love songs, but often they aren’t really love songs; they're infatuation songs.
They feature love that is obsessively beginning or tragically ending while claiming foreverness, but beginnings and endings don't last forever. Forever is in the middle of things. In those parts of life and love where you are just participating in a process. So in a world where you’re either coming or going, I wanted to celebrate the part where you are on your way… forever!”
