N.S. musician Ian Janes explores heartbreak in new album

In his new music video, Ian Janes’s head is superimposed over the faces of several Academy Award-nominated actors as they await to hear if they’ve won the big prize. It was a fun way to tie in the lyrics of his song with something to promote is newest album, “WeakNights.”

“There’s a line in the song where I say, ‘I can pretend like an Oscar winner, but my skin gets a little thinner on those weak nights,’” he said in an interview with CTV News Atlantic’s Katie Kelly on Thursday. “So we pirated a bit of footages from old Oscar ceremonies and made it look like I was the only nominee for being miserable.”

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Janes said his seventh album, which is a pun on “week nights,” takes an up tempo look at heartbreak.

“I took that word and I was like, ‘What would a weak night look like?’” he said. “Maybe the times when it’s hardest to get over a heartbreak are when you’re doing nothing.”

Janes, who has been making records since 1998 and has racked up several ECMA and Music Nova Scotia nominations, has dabbled in multiple genres over his career. Recently he stepped into the world of hip hop, thanks to the rapper Classified, who sampled two of his songs for his last album.

“It’s really fun to see how someone else reinterprets something you’ve already done,” he said. “You stated how you heard it and they hear it and they hear another way to use it.

“Collaboration is fun and it makes sense. It amplifies your message.”

“WeakNights” is available to stream online and Janes will be performing at The Carleton on May 22 and 23 to celebrate the release of the album.

The cover of “WeakNights" by Nova Scotia musician Ian Janes. (Source: Facebook/Ian Janes)

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