Colin Munroe is the Unsung Hero.He spent his childhood immersed in music, teaching himself to play the drums, piano, guitar and record his compositions on his school's 8-track reel-to-reel, before moving from North Goer, Ontario to Toronto to attend university.
Colin Munroe cut his teeth in the music industry producing hip hop and R&B for Canada's urban music community. After logging studio time with Glenn Lewis and Carlos Morgan, he co-wrote and produced 10 songs on Ray Robinson's Juno-nominated album, What it Is, and has cuts on the new Brassmunk CD (including How 'Bout feat.
Moka Only) in addition to upcoming releases by Degrassi star Drake, Divine Brown, Saukrates and Frank n Dank among others. Recently several US artists have sought material from Colin including former Blackstreet member Chauncey Black (Universal/Motown), Sean Price and Brick and Lace (Geffen).
Before long, producing records for other artists left Colin itching to develop his own career as a singer/songwriter. Don't Think Less of Me is the result of that itch - an 11 song debut album written, performed, arranged and produced entirely by Colin himself.
Despite his background, Colin's solo music doesn't bear much resemblance to his urban production. Instead, the album features lots of block piano chords, jangly guitars and hooky melodies, owing more to Colin's love of early Van Morrison, The Beatles and Tin Pan Alley than Dr Dre.
Lyrically, the LP features songs about trying to figure things out: life, love, leaving home. There's even a song about writing songs. The first single, World of Pain, is emblematic of the disc; driving and insistent, it defies listeners to not tap their toes or hum along, while revealing a lyric which is both thoughtful and introspective.
When Colin sings: "A time for you and / A time for me." you get the sense that the lyric might be slightly prophetic. It's starting to look like Colin Munroe's time to shine.
