Steven Page has played in a few bands over the years — among them Barenaked Ladies, which he co-founded and left in 2009, and the all-star Trans-Canada Highwaymen.

But in recent years, he’s been enjoying smaller groups, too, such as the trio with which he opened arena shows for the Who in 2022 and, this spring, a duo with Highwaymen mate and songwriting collaborator Craig Northey — both of which have allowed Page to approach his hit-filled song catalog in different ways.

“I love it,” Page, 54, says from his studio in Syracuse, New York, where he resides. “A drum kit takes up a lot of sonic real estates. This is about filling the space with fewer elements. It makes you a little more vulnerable, but it also means everything you do and everything your colleagues do gets heard. That makes it feel really special.” And, he adds, it’s not just more of the music that’s being heard while he performs songs such as “Brian Wilson,” “The Old Apartment,” “It’s All Been Done” and “Jane.”

“I can hear the audience response, whether it’s singing along or clapping, so I can sense how dug into the songs they are,” Page explains. “And it’s allowed me an opportunity to really embrace the whole catalog. Being able to sit in these songs the way we’re able to do them now gives me more appreciation for what’s there.”Page is planning to add to that catalog, too. He’s working on the next two Highwaymen albums, a slow process given each of the members’ other commitments, and he has a stage musical, “Here’s What it Takes,” that’s still on the runway after being sidelined during the pandemic and is waiting to be jump-started.

But Page’s main project now is a follow-up to his 2005 solo debut “The Vanity Project,” on which he collaborated with British songwriter Stephen Duffy, who went on to become Robbie Williams’ chief collaborator. Page and Duffy, who also worked on the 2010 album “Page One,” stayed in touch, and resumed writing together a couple of years ago while Page was touring in England. They began recording in January with hopes for an early 2026 release.

“It’s so much fun to pick up where we left off … with a guy who’s been my kind of songwriting hero and mentor for so long,” Page says. “The biggest difference now is he defers to me in ways I didn’t expect he would, ’cause I still look at him for approval when I come up with an idea or a line. But he realizes that now I’ve got virtually as much experience as he has, so we’re just there to share ideas together and I don’t have to look for approval all the time.

“I think his point is that if I don’t know what I’m doing by now, then I’ve really pulled one over on people, right?”

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