Infused with warm analogue sounds, mending elements of new wave, funk and soul, and evoking emotive themes like authenticity and love, Montreal songwriter Kristian North‘s sophomore full-length, Passion Play, travels from a bedroom window, all the way to the pyramids.

Some goals I had when making this record; I wanted to write a short set of pop songs. I wanted the songs to stand alone, and put more effort into their unique complexity, lyrically and sonically. If this group of songs don’t always sound consistent, it was a deliberate choice. I didn’t want to make a concept record, or anything sprawling. I thought of it as a collection of short stories rather than a novel. At some point we put up a gate for ourselves, and decided to record all the songs on one reel, which gave us a limit of about half an hour.
– Kristian North on Passion Play

One of a few almost love songs on the album, the latest single, “Halfway To Heaven” is romance and realism. Written in Portugal at the end of a tour, the song plays with fairytale cliches while wrapping its listener in a feeling of warmth.