WATCH / SHARE “GAY BAR” HERE
ALL PROCEEDS FROM THE BANDCAMP PURCHASE OF “GAY BAR” TO BENEFIT QUEER ASTERISK, A COLORADO NPO
PURCHASE “GAY BAR” VIA BANDCAMP HERE
“Evangeline Gentle's self-titled album is a triumph” - Exclaim!
“Gentle's voice communicates an aching warmth that comes with knowing hardness and choosing softness instead… every time I listen to the record, I'm blown away anew by their songwriting and the space they're carving out across multiple genres — indie pop, alt-folk, singer-songwriter — in a way that feels effortless" - CBC Music
"Gentle's voice grabs you instantly with its purity and expressiveness" - FYI Music
“Gay Bar” Video Still
Today, Peterborough’s Evangeline Gentle is sharing the new single and video “Gay Bar”, a track which wasn’t supposed to be released until 2023, but in the wake of recent mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs which took the lives of 5 people and injured 19, “I feel called to meet this moment with its release,” says Gentle. Originally written in 2021 as an “expression of reverence for the sacredness of queer spaces,” Gentle wrote it “with gratitude for the sense of belonging my community has and continues to gift me. ‘Gay Bar’ seeks to embody unapologetic queer joy as an act of resistance. Our communion is divine and resilient; even in the face of violence we will do as our ancestors did, we will gather, we will dance, we will love, and we will resist.”
On the video and the terrible news itself, Gentle says “It has been challenging to write about the ‘Gay Bar’ video in the wake of the recent mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs. I can’t help but imagine the video’s cast of queer people – including my sister, my best friends, my peers, killed in a similar mass shooting. I feel righteous anger and profound grief, and it is because of these feelings that I want viewers who aren’t queer to imagine this: the beauty and joy of us dancing in this video, of celebrating our lives, destroyed by a gunman, like those who murdered 5 at Club Q in Colorado Springs and 49 at Pulse in Orlando.
“But this is not all that I feel. I also feel deep love and gratitude for my community, and eternal hope for our collective healing. This part of me wants viewers to see only the celebration of our lives, the warmth of our joy, and our resistance against acts of queer-phobic violence and terror.”
WATCH / SHARE “GAY BAR” HERE
In solidarity with queer people in Colorado, Gentle will be donating all Bandcamp sales of “Gay Bar” and a portion of subsequent streaming proceeds to Queer Asterisk – a Colorado based nonprofit organization providing counseling services, educational trainings, and therapeutic programs that center queer and trans experiences.
PURCHASE “GAY BAR” VIA BANDCAMP HERE
“Gay Bar” Single Artwork // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
MORE ABOUT EVANGELINE GENTLE
Evangeline Gentle is a Scottish-Canadian internationally acclaimed folk-pop songwriter, performer and vocalist based in Ontario, Canada. Contemplative and affecting, Evangeline’s lyrics evoke lush emotional landscapes within the listener and seek to unite audiences with a sense of “sameness”. A celebration of queerness and queer culture is woven throughout.
Produced by Jim Bryson (Kathleen Edwards), and mastered by Grammy-nominated engineer Philip Shaw Bova (Bahamas, Feist), her 2020 debut self-titled release earned international praise. Gentle was interviewed by legendary host Scott Simon on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday, appeared in Forbes, and received radio play on BBC, CBC, SiriusXM and more.
Evangeline supported headliner Donovan Woods at the 2021 Mariposa Folk Festival, with other standout performances including those at Maverick Festival (UK) and Static Roots Festival (Germany) in 2022. She has supported acts such as Kathleen Edwards, Tim Baker, Begonia, Basia Bulat, Craig Cardiff, Whitehorse and Sarah MacDougall.