Last Year’s Man is the pseudonym of Eugene, OR-based producer and songwriter, Tyler Fortier. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Fortier’s music has been featured on networks like CBS, Netflix, Showtime and the BBC. He has contributed music to libraries like Warner Chappell, BMG, and Marmoset. As a producer, Fortier’s passion is working with up-and-coming artists, including Jeffrey Martin, Anna Tivel, Beth Wood, and Jeff Crosby. In total, Fortier has been involved with over 40 projects as producer, mix engineer, or session player — and usually, all of the above.
Last Year’s Man new album Brave The Storm is due out November 13th and it captures this burgeoning artist in a mystical collage of musical colors that recall Iron & Wine and Gregory Alan Isakov.
Glide is thrilled to premiere Brave The Storm’s title track (below) featuring acclaimed Portland singer/songwriter Anna Tivel on backing vocals and violin, this short-story-of-a-song draws you in with gentle acoustic guitar and mournful string arrangements. “Brave the Storm” also features multi-instrumentalist Lex Price (Neko Case, Rodney Crowell, Peter Bradley Adams) on tenor guitar, and Fortier’s longtime collaborator Milo Fultz on upright bass. The track is a gorgeous landscaped folk winner that is graceful as it is introspective, where Fortier’s hush vocals make for a “there whenever you need it” musical companion.
“This was the second song I wrote for the album. I guess at the heart of it, it’s about living with your own demons and getting caught in a cycle of being your own worst enemy. I’m speaking to the protagonist throughout the song and trying to pull her through whatever it is she is going through. The lyrics are broad, but I think we all sometimes find ourselves “there” – the place where cliches are cliches for a reason,” says Fortier.
“Lex Price recorded tenor guitar at his home studio in Nashville. It really added a depth and emotion to the song that I love. I had Anna in to record back in February while she and Jeffrey Martin were in Eugene for a performance and to film a video series I host called Little Orange Room Sessions. She came up with this violin part that was transformative and brought out a whole other dimension. Her vocal is, of course, absolutely wonderful but her violin is what stands out to me for giving the song that extra little push. We kept joking around that the violin sounded like insects flying around the room. On the listen back we would swat at the air pretending to clear out the imaginary bugs in our faces.”
