WATCH / SHARE “BIGGER FLAME” HERE
BRADEN LAM’S DEBUT LP, THE CLOUDMAKER’S CRY, OUT NOW
BUY / STREAM THE CLOUDMAKER’S CRY HERE
“Welcoming Vancouver-based singer Michaela Slinger onto the track for an old-fashioned duet, the two sing about heartbreak and reconciliation while pushing through the toughest of times and coming out strong on the other end.The two soft-spoken vocalists prove to be a great match for each other, blending their tones together as they tentatively venture requests to start taking the slow steps to fully opening back up emotionally.” RANGE on “Wide Open”
“Wide Open" has a classic country feel reinforced by haunting pedal steel and the harmony singing of Vancouver’s Michaela Slinger, who co-wrote the tune with Lam in Nashville. Lyrically it digs deep, probing a challenging time in a relationship and the warm and poignant vocals of Lam deliver the message skillfully.” Billboard on “Wide Open”
"Braden Lam's inviting voice rings out over gentle guitar and vibraphone on ‘Beautiful Neighbourhoods’, a timeless single that vibrates with warmth and longing." - CBC MUSIC
"Crafts an expansive but intimate sonic world for us to lose ourselves in" - Earmilk
"Calling to mind the happiest takes by Ben Howard or Tim Baker" - The Coast Halifax
“Bigger Flame” Video Still
Earlier this year, Braden Lam released his new LP, The Cloudmaker’s Cry. Today, he shares the new video for “Bigger Flamer” from the record, a song which began when “my friend Jesse Thomas (aka Awolk) brought this idea to me shortly after my wife had a serious cancer scare and emergency surgery due to endometriosis,” says Lam. “I instantly resonated with the theme - embracing the pain and hoping we only grow closer through it. I spent some time expanding on the story and verses to tell my own story. One of my favourite co-writes on the album, it’s very much adjacent to ‘Wide Open (feat. Michaela Slinger)’. If ‘Wide Open’ is the invitation, then ‘Bigger Flame’ is the encouragement to keep going - ‘To make a bigger flame / You gotta fan it with the painful things / All these sparks are flying high / it’s just what we needed’.”
WATCH / SHARE “BIGGER FLAME” HERE
MORE ABOUT THE CLOUDMAKER’S CRY
The Cloudmaker’s Cry is Lam’s debut full-length album, and he means album in the classic sense: 10 considered and thoughtful folk songs, meticulously arranged and painstakingly sequenced, meant to be played on a turntable in a single sitting, whiskey optional. Though barely 27, he has lived the life of a much older man—with years of touring, entrepreneurship, and marriage already accounted for—and this collection of songs reflects lessons learned earlier than most, about time and love and the world.
WATCH / SHARE “THE HOLD” HERE
WATCH / SHARE “COWBOY BOOTS” HERE
WATCH / SHARE “BEAUTIFUL NEIGHBOURHOODS” (MUSIC VIDEO) HERE
WATCH / SHARE “OBSOLETE” HERE
It was produced in Toronto by Eli Browning, a new approach for Lam, who made his previous three EPs with a host of producers across Atlantic Canada. The pair’s touchstones as they worked through a city springtime in a converted church studio were George Harrison, Neil Young, and other sounds from the 1960s and 70s: music that is lyric-forward and performed with folk instrumentation in analogue tones, resulting in a timeless singer-songwriter record.
This vibe carries through the entire package, from the tintype photographs of Lam to the images wrought in 35mm in the liner notes, to his charming video collaborations with Griffin O’Toole that combine nostalgia, surrealism, and camp into a distinct style of film. Each particular piece fits perfectly into the primary vision, creating something grand in its authenticity and comforting in its warmth.
The album features singles, “Beautiful Neighbourhoods”, which climbed to #7 on the CBC Music Top 20, “Highway Jesus”, “Hurricane Season”, and “Wide Open”, a duet with Vancouver’s Michaela Slinger. Lam was also named as one of 8 semi-finalists in SiriusXM’s 2025 ‘Top of the Country’.