About

Midnight Rose is nothing less than a homecoming for Carleton Stone. For the multi-award winning Cape Breton born songwriter’s latest album, he returns to the sonic palette that shaped his earliest releases, offering up driving country-rock tunes and sweeping, orchestral Americana epics that find him navigating complex and dramatic relationships, questioning the life he’s been living, and even investigating his relationship with The Man Upstairs (if he’s real or not, that is). But over more than 15 years of putting out records and hitting the road, Stone has picked up a hell of a lot of songwriting tricks, and his new collection reflects both his growth as a musician and the stylistic shifts and influences—like the sophisticated and soulful synth-pop of his former band Port Cities—that have contributed to creating his singular voice.

While many of the album’s songs were penned over the past couple years, some began their lives nearly a decade ago. Midnight Rose is, quite literally, lived-in. 

“It feels the most me a record has ever felt, for better or worse,” Stone says on a brief tour stop back home in Cape Breton. “This is who I am. I’m not trying to employ any smoke and mirrors to make anyone like me. This album is unabashedly me.”

Coming in near the very end of the album is the title track, where the desire that’s pushing—or perhaps, more accurately, haunting—Stone is laid bare. It’s a saga of a song, detailing the pains and fleeting glories of a life chasing an ungraspable dream. The midnight rose is a blue rose, the only colour of the flower that doesn’t appear in nature, and symbolizes creativity.

“The mystery of the Midnight Rose is that it’s unattainable,” Stone says. “You’re always going toward something, some creative ideal, but you never get there. It vanishes, or the goal posts keep moving. So you keep searching, because it’s worth it whether you ever really reach it or not.”

“The mystery of the Midnight Rose is that it’s unattainable,” Stone says. “You’re always going toward something, some creative ideal, but you never get there. It vanishes, or the goal posts keep moving. So you keep searching, because it’s worth it whether you ever really reach it or not.”

A seeker’s mindset is the album’s motivating element. The symphonic pop of the opener “Fences” sets the scene for a monumental romance that spans many years and multiple cities. Heartbreak propels the self-destructive twang-rock of “California Sober.” The rambling “Stone” finds the songwriter playing Sisyphus; on the soft “On My Knees” he begs forgiveness; and “Cigarettes With God” imagines an audience with the holy father that might offer some sort of clarity. On the wistful “Used To” and jagged “Already Gone,” Stone tackles the pain of being left, but on the swooning “Lights,” he’s lost in love. The bittersweet “Night Train” follows in the tradition of parting songs.

Co-produced by Stone and long-time collaborator, Howie Beck, the album features collaborations with the likes of Jason Collett, Brad Roberts, Gordie Sampson, Breagh Isabel, Dylan Guthro, and Kayleigh O’Connor (aka Baby Nova), Midnight Rose highlights many of the creative relationships Stone has forged during his career.

 “I think anyone who's ever opened themselves creatively to the world and to themselves will understand the struggle I sing about on this record,” Stone says. “I hope it’ll resonate, and reassure them they’re not alone on the journey.” 

Midnight Rose is a reminder that the road may go on “forever and ever,” but it’s the souls you meet along the way that give it meaning.