Octoberman’s Marc Morrissette is back with a new album and is ready to tour.

Waiting in the Well was recorded between December and June 2011 and was co-produced with Juno-nominated rocker Jim Guthrie.

“I could tell from the start that we were on the exact same page,” says Morrissette, 35, from Vancouver where he’s prepping for the tour. “We both listen to a lot of old music. We’re not trying to be a part of any new trends. He’s just a really tasteful player because he listens a lot.”

Waiting in the Well, Octoberman’s sixth installment of bluesy folk rock, takes its title from a scene in Haruki Murakami’s novel The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.

Morrissette is heavily influenced by literature.

“I get tired of just writing about myself,” he says. “I think at least three or four songs on the record were directly influenced by different books I’ve read.”

“ I try to be brutally honest in my writing and I tend to not over-edit myself. I was going through a transitional time in my life and I think a lot of the questions I was asking myself are asked by most people. These 10 songs are what emerged out of that.

Marc Morrissette, Octoberman

Many artists appear on the album - something that is typical of Morrissette’s musical output.

Octoberman was initially a minimalist solo project but quickly evolved into a completely different animal.

“After my former band (Kids These Days) broke up I decided to go back to doing my own thing,” he says. “I missed having a band though, so Octoberman morphed into a band that’s constantly changing. Sometimes there are seven of us on stage or sometimes I’ll play a solo show for financial or logistical reasons.”

This particular tour will feature a four-piece version of the band.

Morrissette will be touring for the first time since vocal surgery to reverse a vocal polyp.

“A vocal polyp is essentially a blood blister on your vocal chords,” he says. “We had just gotten back from tour and went right into the studio when I realized something was wrong.”

Because of the timeliness of his surgery, Morrissette decided to continue recording where he left off. This means that the new record features vocals prior-to and following the surgery.

The album has been well received, with McGill Tribune reviewer Marie Stefenakis calling it a record that “brandishes an overall quality and likeability that can be expected to satisfy past fans and those of the indie-rock genre.”

Honest musical output is essential to any art form and is one of the hardest aspects to bring out on an album.

Morrissette agrees.

“I try to be brutally honest in my writing and I tend to not over-edit myself,” he says. “I was going through a transitional time in my life and I think a lot of the questions I was asking myself are asked by most people. These 10 songs are what emerged out of that.”

Published in Volume 66, Number 24 of The Uniter (March 21, 2012)