Jesse Marchant Looks Back on a Near-Fatal Childhood Incident on “An Accident (From 3 Perspectives)”

The latest record from the Canadian multi-instrumentalist formerly known as JBM arrives June 25.
Jesse Marchant Looks Back on a Near-Fatal Childhood Incident on “An Accident (From 3 Perspectives)”

The latest record from the Canadian multi-instrumentalist formerly known as JBM arrives June 25.

Words: Kim March

photo by Jen Steele

April 22, 2021

In case you didn’t get emotional enough remembering what it was like to travel the world while watching Jesse Marchant’s recent video for “Go Lightly,” the artist and producer formerly known as JBM is sharing another thematically heavy cut from his forthcoming LP Antelope Running, which arrives June 25. “An Accident (From 3 Perspectives)” replicates the delicate instrumentation the songwriter’s come to be known for, pairing bold piano with recollections of a certain formative childhood experience.

“‘An Accident’ recounts a serious accident I had in my teens while snowboarding with my younger brother from which I hemorrhaged and almost died,” he shares after noting that the song’s somewhat unique for him in that it deals with concrete memory rather than something for the listener to interpret. “It recalls the day, and the period immediately following, from his, my, and the perspective of my mother. Though I have told the story to close friends several times over the years, it never occurred to me to write about it. Then one morning the recollection came back to me vividly while I was playing the piano, along with the lyrics which came all at once, in a flood. I rarely experience such urgency in my writing, so I figured it best to let be what had transpired.

“With decades of hindsight,” he continues, “an understanding of what the experience might have meant to those around me surfaced, along with what I failed to notice about it at the time and throughout the years. The song seems to have ended up an homage of sorts to my mother. To her love and dedication in my time of great vulnerability.”

Hear the new single below.