KAIA KATER SHARES NEW SINGLE, “PARALLELS”

KAIA KATER SHARES FIRST NEW SINGLE SINCE THE RELEASE OF HER CELEBRATED ALBUM, GRENADES

WATCH AND SHARE “PARALLELS”  LYRIC VIDEO HERE

BUY / STREAM “PARALLELS” HERE

PHOTO CREDIT : Jess Sung  // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

It’s been a few years since the release of Kaia Kater’s Grenades, an album that was nominated for a 2019 JUNO Award, long-listed for the 2019 Polaris Music Prize, and received two nominations for the 2020 Canadian Folk Music Awards. Today, she is sharing the first new single since the release of Grenades. “Parallels” is “about destruction,” says Kater. “It’s about ripping out harmful beliefs that have grown and taken root inside many of us like weeds. I wanted to create a sense of sonic chaos—as if anything could happen—because mine and my friends’ experiences in the last few years have been to show up and care for each other amidst the chaos of job loss, financial instability, mental health crises, environmental disasters and more. I would like 'Parallels’ to be a welcoming for whatever folks feel—be it sadness, rage or whatever else.”

Co-produced by Kater and Andrew Ryan, “Parallels” features Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah on trumpet with Kevin Matthews on drums. 

WATCH AND SHARE “PARALLELS”  LYRIC VIDEO HERE

BUY / STREAM “PARALLELS” HERE

“Parallels” Single Artwork // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

MORE ABOUT KAIA KATER
Kaia draws on her diverse influences in Quebec, the Caribbean, and Appalachia, bringing them together to present an exciting musical direction. Known for her prowess as a songwriter and tradition bearer who performs with “the skill of a folk-circuit veteran” (Rolling Stone), Grenadian-Canadian artist took a decidedly different direction for Grenades. What started out as a search to discover the roots of her identity became a physical and emotional exploration of history, in particular her paternal ancestry, and has led to bold new heights of imagination and creative expression. 

She grew up between two worlds: one her family’s deep ties to the Canadian folk music scene; the other the years she spent soaking up Appalachian music in West Virginia. Her father grew up in Grenada, fleeing to Canada in 1986 as part of a youth speaker program, after the U.S. invasion. 

Starting her career early, Kaia released her first EP Old Soul (2013) when she was just out of high school. Since then, she’s gone on to release two more albums, Sorrow Bound (2015) and Nine Pin (2016). Her most recent album weaves between hard-hitting songs that touch on social issues like the Black Lives Matter movement and more personal narratives speaking to life and love in the digital age. Nine Pin won a Canadian Folk Music Award, a Stingray Rising Star Award, and sent Kaia on an 18-month touring journey from Ireland to Iowa, including stops at The Kennedy Center, Hillside Festival and London's O2 Shepherd's Bush. 

BUY / STREAM GRENADES HERE

PRAISE FOR GRENADES

“Kater’s album speaks to the tensions of being between so many places…being in between times.” - NOW Toronto

“...One of the most remarkable Canadian folk records in some time...Kater's music is somehow ancient and brand new at the same time.” -Tom Power, CBC Radio 

“mesmerizing...writes and performs with the skill of a folk-circuit veteran..." -Rolling Stone

"Where bluegrass meets Nina Simone" - The Guardian

"You want some authenticity in your folk music or bluegrass – I give you Kaia Kater." - No Depression

KAIA KATE TOUR DATES
Oct. 23 - Orillia, ON - Mariposa Folk Festival Satellite Concert | Tickets
Nov. 19 - Ottawa, ON - National Arts Centre | Tickets
Feb 2 - Hamilton, ON - The Bridgeworks

KAIA KATER ONLINE
WEBSITE
TWITTER
FACEBOOK

ABOUT ACRONYM RECORDS
Re-launched in 2017, acronym records is a Toronto-based full service Independent Record Label and is part of the MDM Recordings Inc. family of companies, founded by Mike Denney. It is run day to day by Head of Creative/Managing Partner Tony Tarleton and supported by the amazing team of MDM. Other artists on the acronym roster include Megan Nash, Christina Martin and Mikhail Laxton with more artists to be announced soon. Canadian distribution for acronym/MDM is via Universal Music Canada, ABC Music in Australia and rest of the world via FUGA.

GHOSTKEEPER SHARES NEW SINGLE “GRASSY PLAINS”


Photo Credit : Kaytlyn Turner, Justin Skrundz // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Shane Ghostkeeper and Sarah Houle pay witness to the Indigenous experience by channeling it through psychedelic rock. Since their 2007 debut album, Children of the Great Northern Muskeg, the couple from the Metis settlement of Paddle Prairie, Alberta (now based in Calgary) have combined high-energy instrumentation with evocative lyrics and soaring vocals. Sarah’s voice is tender and hypnotic, while Shane has the power to glide from gentle narration to an aching falsetto or a bluesy growl. 

They are now accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Ryan Bourne and powerhouse drummer Eric Hamelin, both longtime collaborators who make the band’s songs sparkle with melodic complexity and recently signed to Victory Pool. 

On their spellbinding new single, “Grassy Plains”, the quartet rushes forward with the smooth motion of a horse’s gait, moving in unison through tangled guitar riffs, tumbling drum fills, and squelching synths. While Houle sings of the ancient practices of gathering herbs and lighting sage, anyone can relate to the feelings she expresses of longing for a loved one to return home.

On the track, Ghostkeeper says: “Our protagonist - courageous, wise and savvy with the mystical passages of realms - returns to us with gifts of strong medicine, love, romance and rock n roll.”

WATCH AND SHARE “GRASSY PLAINS” HERE

BUY / STREAM “GRASSY PLAINS” HERE

GHK_S_GP_cover.jpg

“Grassy Plains” Single Art // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

MORE ABOUT GHOSTKEEPER

Ghostkeeper began when Shane met Sarah in their early 20s. Though he had already begun performing country covers in his home eight hours north of Edmonton, his introduction to an established visual artist and musician sent the duo on a new trajectory. As Sarah created images for the band’s record covers, t-shirts, and Indigenous masks, they released their earliest albums on Calgary-based labels Saved By Vinyl and Flemish Eye, home to acclaimed artists such as Chad VanGaalen, Yves Jarvis, and Preoccupations.

GHOSTKEEPER ONLINE
BANDCAMP
TWITTER
FACEBOOK
INSTAGRAM

FRAZEY FORD SHARES COSMICALLY CHARGED VIDEO FOR THE TITLE TRACK FROM U KIN B THE SUN


CANADIAN TOUR DATES BEGIN JANUARY 13, 2022

WATCH & SHARE “U KIN B THE SUN” HERE
BUY / STREAM U KIN B THE SUN HERE

“Magnetic enough to tilt the Earth's axis.” - Q Magazine 

“Dramatic and rather dazzling.” - Uncut

“ a perpetually bright light. ...an antidote to hopelessness." Exclaim!

“Ford's quest for transcendence comes out on top.” - Mojo

“A low-key delight.” - Guardian

“A blissed out psychedelic mantra” - Financial Times

Photo Credit : Lauren D Zbarsky // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Following huge acclaim for her 2020 album U kin B the Sun, Vancouver Soul-Americana artist Frazey Ford is set to take the album on tour for the first time since its release. At turns ecstatic and heavy-hearted, gloriously shambolic, and deeply purifying, the new album has been praised as “her best yet” (The Times) for its “dramatic and rather dazzling” (Uncut) blend of Ford’s mesmerizing vocals and percussion-soaked grooves. Having amassed a vast global fanbase over the course of her lustrous career, many have yet to experience the new album live.

To mark the occasion, today Frazey shares a stirring new music video for the title track, “U kin B the Sun”. Directed and conceived with Brian Lye – who co-created landmark videos for “Done” and “The Kids Are Having None of It” – and artist/bandmate Caroline Ballhorn, Frazey set out to visually represent the connections between the cosmos, the sun, the land, the sea, and humans. Shot using vintage film lenses and employing all analogue visual effects, the video feels like the album is having an out-of-body experience, taking on three dimensions and reflecting on the world around it. Frazey describes:

"’U Kin Be the Sun’ explores the vast and eternal within us, the reoccurring ancient mythology of the individual as the universal, as light, as the sun. Shot on location on Gabriola Island, British Columbia, traditional territory of the Snuneymuxw nation. The moonscape sandstone caves, lush rainforests and the ocean itself, serve as hypnotic and reverent imagery, the transcendent experience of communion with the natural world. Paper animation weaves between the dimensions of reality, of self, of the natural realm, and the cosmos."

The result is a hypnotic and earthy mediation on our place in the universe, and the temporal nature of existence. The protagonist in the cloud suit is played by Frazey’s son, Saul. Sequins supplied by Frazey. She has lots of them.

WATCH & SHARE “U KIN B THE SUN” HERE

MORE ABOUT U KIN B THE SUN 
On her masterful third album, Frazey Ford seamlessly inhabits an entire world of shapeshifting rhythm she refers to as “pagan disco,” elevating every beat and groove with the subtle magnetism of her mesmerizing voice as she examines pain and loss telegraphed through a prism of unfettered joy. Ford combats the toxic political climate that surrounds us with an irrefutably bold sense of assurance. With its graceful collision of soul and psychedelia combined with ’70s funk, U kin B the Sun is a body of work that invites both self-reflection and wildly joyful movement, and ultimately sparks a quiet transcendence.

Recorded at John Raham’s Afterlife Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, featuring her Vancouver musicians Darren Parris, Leon Power, Craig McCaul, and Caroline Ballhorn, Erilk Nielsen along with Phil Cook on keys, U kin B the Sun follows Ford’s 2014 release Indian Ocean, an album made with members of legendary Memphis soul band The Hi Rhythm Section

Revered for her singular voice, immersive lyrical storytelling and captivating live show, Frazey Ford now presents U kin B the Sun to audiences worldwide, with North American and UK/European touring planned. USA dates begin October 22 in Portland OR with her stellar band and Phil Cook along for the ride – see below for full itinerary.

BUY / STREAM U KIN B THE SUN HERE


FRAZEY FORD 2021 TOUR DATES
Oct 22 - Portland OR - Mississippi Studios [tix]
Oct 23 - Seattle WA - Chop Suey [tix]
Oct 25 - San Francisco CA - The Independent [tix]
Oct 26 - Los Angeles CA - Hotel Cafe [tix]
Oct 28 - New York NY - Baby’s All Right [tix]
Oct 29 - Philadelphia PA - World Cafe (Live Upstairs) [tix]
Oct 31 - Washington DC - Pearl Street Warehouse [tix]

2022
Jan 13 - Winnipeg, MB - Park Theatre [tix]
Jan 14 - Calgary, AB - Knox United Church [tix]
Jan 15 - Sherwood Park, AB - Festival Place [tix]
Jan 16 - Vernon, BC - Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre [tix]
Jan 19 - Nanaimo, BC - Port Theatre [tix]
Jan 20 - Victoria, BC - Capital Ballroom [tix]
Jan 27 - Toronto, ON - Danforth Music Hall [tix]
Jan 29 - Ottawa, ON - Fourth Stage at NAC [tix]
Jan 30 - Montreal, QC - L’Astral [tix]
Feb 4 - Vancouver, BC - The Commodore Ballroom [tix]

FRAZEY FORD ONLINE
WEBSITE
INSTAGRAM 
TWITTER
FACEBOOK
SPOTIFY
APPLE MUSIC