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How do you cope with the pain of losing friends and loved ones? It's not exactly the kind of question Ron Sexsmith enjoys talking about when he's just woken up.
But while speaking over the phone from his Toronto home on a sunny mid-May morning, he says that after his personal life took a couple of twists and turns, his latest record -- the beautifully elegiac "Time Being" -- ended up being a meditation on mortality.
"I'd grown accustomed to seeing my parents go to funerals, but as I entered my forties I was suddenly hit by the deaths of several friends who had passed on," he says.
"Mortality, that idea of our time on earth being short, those things worked its way into the songs."
So, instead of flipping the bird to the grim reaper in typical rock 'n' roll fashion, the 42-year-old reunited with producer Mitchell Froom, who helmed the singer-songwriter's first three solo albums, and ended up writing a record that uses tender McCartney-like reveries to ponder the passage of time.
"Over the years, I had kept in touch with Mitchell, and would run musical ideas by him," he recalls, "so he was always present as my career grew. But for this album, working with the concepts I wanted to explore, I felt like I was in good hands."
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More than other Sexsmith albums, "Time Being" (his 10th release) is a delicate blend of dark and light balladry. When he mourns growing old (on "Some Dusty Things" and the album's closing number "And Now The Day Is Done") his folk roots and tender vocals provide a one-two punch, building songs that are both heart-rending and empathetic.
With cascading harmonies and jangly choruses, "Hands Of Time" and "Ship Of Fools" end up as two of Sexsmith's best songs ever. While the folk-school melodies of "Cold Hearted Wind" and "Reason For Our Love" work their bittersweet narratives through the singer's warm falsetto.
With some of the album having been written on a beach in Mexico, Sexsmith says that though some of the songs meditate on death, "Time Being" is also a celebration of life. "I never had a message written in stone, but I'd like to think that somehow, by the end of it, people will be touched or moved."
Feverishly doted on by Canadian music lovers, Sexsmith's poignant songs have long caught the ear of rock 'n' pop luminaries like Elton John, Bono, Radiohead, Coldplay and Elvis Costello (whom he credits for helping him break overseas).
Not bad for a guy who has stuck to more or less the same musical formula since starting the bar circuit in the early '90s. "One of the things that has helped is I wasn't all over the place," he says, pondering his steady climb.
But it's not like he's sitting at home wondering if he could've done something more to capitalize on popularity gained after collaborations with Daniel Lanois (who co-produced Sexsmith's 1994 self-titled release) and Chris Martin (on 2002's "Gold In Them Hills").
"I suppose I could've played the game a little better," he allows, "but for the people who have followed my career, there's an attachment there. There's a personal connection between them and my songs."
Worth almost the same weight in gold was the singer's recent gig at Toronto's storied Massey Hall last month. "It'd been my dream to play that venue since I started out," he says animatedly. "I'd been offered the chance to open for some other artists there, but I wanted to save it.
"Hopefully, if all goes well, I can maybe make it a yearly thing. Like Gordon Lightfoot - except I'll just do one night."
Here are dates for Ron Sexsmith's upcoming Canadian tour:
August 10 London ON Grand Theatre
August 19 Ottawa ON Ottawa Folk Festival