I first met Ira Lee, AKA Forest In His Heart over eighteen months ago. I was loitering around a tent at Liverpool Sound City on a cold day, waiting to be warmed by something, someone. He stepped on stage, and then stepped off stage, stripped to the waist. He performed a set of music that alternated between utterly heart-breaking and utterly hilarious.

Since then, we’ve corresponded by email between Berlin and Birkenhead. He’s a true Renaissance Man (musician/filmmaker/workshop leader), but it’s his music demands your attention in these times; where irony is just another word for history. Originally from Quebec, what was he like as a kid?

Continuous transition. My formatives were pretty roller coaster-y. I am black, white, and metis. As a youth, I bounced around. Weekends I would be in karate classes and piano lessons with grandmother. Weekdays, I would be slowly trolling Canadian highways for plastic bottles filled with trucker urine to get 25 cents from the recycling depot; to split with my half siblings and mother. Twice a month, I would go to The Rez; to watch family and cousins kill stray dogs for $10 a head. I was an angry, lonely, indignant boy. It has matured into a more practical woe, more decorative.

With that background, how does he feel after a performance?

Like crying because art is a whore. Desperate for another chance, like I owe so much of an apology. Like everything is only my fault, or else.

Berlin is now Ira’s home. The Wall went a long time ago, but it’s still a great European city, with artists creating beautiful things; in the shadow of The Wall’s debris. Hard Winters, long Summers. How has it changed him as a person, as an artist?

It is very humbling. Berlin is finished, in a way. So knowing that everyone is automatically better than you at everything, regardless, everything; is a kind of security. I keep explaining that being weird eventually breaks down to unique levels of originality and important forms of creativity, far as lost causes go. Nothing new. I have been consciously arguing with strangers about sports and room temperatures in public spaces; so I can learn more about life… It takes a minute to build trust as an outsider in Deutschland. I have a ways to go.

As a young man, Ira took inspiration from a wide variety of sources: Tears for Fears, Jacques Brel, Werner Herzog, Tom McCarthy novels. Although a long way from home, he still takes pride in being Canadian and what that means, plus the diversity and energy of music that comes out of the country.

Honesty, best indie rock and rap scene ever (historically and arguably) and diverse potential and respect of critical thought. When your prime minister is the best looking of all The Backstreet Boys, the energy belongs to everyone.

So, is Ira Lee a sad person?

Definitely, absolutely correct. Thank you. I come from a small town, skateboarding skate art, punk and hardcore culture mash. Lots of positivity, inclusiveness, social and moral cause to cheerlead; when I was a pup. My biggest issue is the obvious and crippling worry: I may never be boring enough for big groups of the wrong and right people. Pretending it does not hurt makes me sad and determined.

The common ground between me and Ira is that we’re both in long term relationships. I would have had him perform at my wedding; but it might have been slightly out of place. I had my friend read a John Cooper Clarke poem. What does true love feel like?

Imagine your heart’s going to explode. Always, just about to. Like you can taste metal in everything. 24/7. Reality is relaxed, fruitful, full, and solid, even growing around you. Yet every moment is painted and taunted by the absurdity that if you ever accidentally smile too deeply – your face may fall off. And you simply explode. Lovers own everything.

So, in conclusion what are Ira’s plans for 2017?

Travel! Tea with the McCready’s, new music with Thavius Beck; and potentially, hopefully (unconfirmed until labels pony up). Sucks being a grown up. So, more growing up and lots and lots of You Tube tutorials and weird short art films.

And tonight?

Attenborough’s Hunt, half of a Project Runway, cauliflower and cheddar soup and a baguette, maybe American Dad on a loop for static sleep.

So, at a time when true originators are in short supply, you should search for Forest In His Heart. Join the conversation.
@KevMcCready