REUBEN AND THE DARK REVEAL NEW EP, SHARE FIRST SINGLE

Photo Credit : Carly Foulkes // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Today, Reuben and The Dark announce the Coming Like A Storm EP, which finds bandleader Reuben Bullock reflecting on the slow dissolution of a relationship. The three song collection captures some of Reuben's most vivid, reflexive songwriting, pairing anthemic melodies with emotive instrumental arrangements. ‘You said you want to go where nobody has been / And dance on the edge of oblivion / Well I was in a forest under your skin / And darling there’s a dark cloud coming in’ sings Bullock over driving percussion, fast-paced acoustic finger-picking, and dramatic swirling synths on the ominous title track. 

The new single from the EP, "Timelapse Clouds", is a resounding collaboration between Calgary-based folk-rock outfit Reuben and the Dark and the Kainai-Bloodtribe Bullhorn Singers. A song that began in experimentation coalesced into a harmonious hymn with Bullock lifted up by the power of Bullhorn Singer's mantra. A congruence of Reuben's English verses and Bullhorn's chorus in Blackfoot, "Timelapse Clouds" is a coming together, a song that belongs to no one and is shared by all.

WATCH / SHARE “TIMELAPSE CLOUDS” FT. THE BULLHORN SINGERS HERE
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“In our culture we have mellow, relaxing, and spiritual songs,” says Billy Wadsworth, lead singer of The Bullhorn Singers. “We sing these for purposes of courting and expressing the vibration or spirit of how we feel which is a very universal feeling. As human beings some of the human experience comes with happiness, sadness, joy and pain. This is life. We express the emotion in songs when we sing and when we hear Reuben and the Dark songs, we feel that same energy. We do not necessarily listen to the lyrics but rather feel the spirit and vibration of the song. This is what we try to replicate when we accompany Reuben in any of the songs we are included in. Emotion is universal and we hope to add this vibration when we sing.”

Before stepping on stage together for the first time at the Calgary Stampede in 2020, Reuben asked Billy, “How would you like me to introduce us, what should I say about our collaboration? How should I speak about reconciliation?” to which Billy replied, “Let’s let our music speak for us, people will feel it. We don’t always need words”. 

“It has been an honour to perform and collaborate with the Bullhorn Singers,” says Bullock. “They carry a power and spirit I have never experienced before. I had written the verses to ‘Timelapse Clouds’ a couple of years ago.. but could not find words for the chorus. I asked Billy and Troy Delaney to join us in a studio late one night in Calgary to just experiment really. After sitting with them for a couple of minutes, the lyrics came to me and the lyrics came to them too. A feeling of weightlessness was in the room when we sang together. In English and in Blackfoot…two worlds meeting on an emotional plane, transcending all of the things I know about music. It was truly a magical coming together. Full of spirit. We captured something so pure and powerful together, and effortlessly too. I really feel like this is the most beautiful song we have ever made.”

MORE ABOUT REUBEN AND THE DARK
Reuben and the Dark is the spirited folk-rock outfit led by singer-songwriter Reuben Bullock, whose music blends introspective lyrics with soaring instrumentals. Reuben and the Dark's music has been featured in Breaking Bad, Dolittle, The Class, Grey's Anatomy, and many more. The talented Calgary-born Joshua Tree-based singer-songwriter, skateboarder, carpenter, and preacher's son has released three full lengths on Arts & Crafts, and toured with Boy & Bear and Vance Joy. Reuben and the Dark's fourth full-length album is anticipated in fall 2022.

WATCH AND SHARE “YES” LYRIC VIDEO HERE
BUY / STREAM “YES” HERE

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COMING LIKE A STORM TRACKLIST
01 Coming Like A Storm
02 Timelapse Clouds
03 Yes

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GHOSTKEEPER CELEBRATES LP RELEASE WITH NEW VIDEO FOR “ROLLY”

WATCH / SHARE “ROLLY” HERE

MULTIDIMENSIONAL CULTURE OUT TOMORROW VIA VICTORY POOL

BUY / STREAM MULTIDIMENSIONAL CULTURE (TOMORROW) HERE

Photo Credit : Heather Saitz // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Tomorrow, Calgary-based band Ghostkeeper will release their new LP, Multidimensional Culture, via Victory Pool. In celebration, they are sharing the new video for album track “Rolly”. The song is “An homage to my Grandpa Rolly,” says songwriter Shane Ghostkeeper. “A grandfather with a fierce love and dedication to his family. This is a ‘sing a long’ for all who miss him as much as I do.”

WATCH / SHARE “ROLLY” HERE

BUY / STREAM MULTIDIMENSIONAL CULTURE (TOMORROW) HERE

MORE ABOUT MULTIDIMENSIONAL CULTURE

‘Let these bodies know / that they exist for one another,’ beckons Ghostkeeper above an angularly shifting progression. ‘This is a reckoning of truth and perception / a smooth redemption. Each phrase is echoed by a response from a ghostly choir, which blurs the line between the spirit world and the world of flesh and bone. These are the opening lines from Ghostkeeper's latest offering, Multidimensional Culture, an album which contains no shortage of dimensions, both sonically, and spiritually.

WATCH / SHARE “THIS IS HOW I KNOW YOU” HERE
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The duo of Ghostkeeper and Houle (originally from the Paddle Prairie Metis Settlement in Alberta) met in their early twenties, and began artistically collaborating soon after. Sarah, already a visual artist and musician, was integral to determining the imagery for the project from early on. She utilized her talents to design their album artwork, t-shirts, and masks, while Shane, who had only recently embarked on his musical journey, began laying the ground work for what would become their shared musical voice. Once their vision for the project had presented itself, the duo's trajectory and purpose became clear.

WATCH / SHARE “THE TREES” HERE
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Their early recordings were released through Calgary-based record labels Saved By Vinyl and Flemish Eye (home to acclaimed artists Chad Vangaalen, Yves Jarvis, and Preoccupations). The band have long collaborated with Calgary heavy-hitter musicians Ryan Bourne and Eric Hamelin, who are integral in forging the melodic complexity of the bands’ sonically expansive catalog. Multidimensional Culture is at once unpredictable, and easily digestible. 

The album blends the avant-garde instincts of Ghostkeeper's previous releases with a new found peacefulness that has presented itself since the couple became parents. Thematically, Multidimensional Culture tackles many of life’s big questions, from the fragility of human existence, to the innocence of love. Even the pain of their ancestral discrimination is approached with a tenderness and understanding that only a narrator with true empathy and wisdom could provide. The sonic range of this record traverses a wide spectrum of influences, including African psychedelia, traditional Metis music, 70’s freak-folk traditions, and proto-punk guitar based bands like Television. All of these influences blend seamlessly into a sound that is unique, yet familiar. 

WATCH AND SHARE “GRASSY PLAINS” HERE
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Each song holds its own weight as a pillar to which the greater sonic structure rests upon. Each story has been lived, and there is a penetrating honesty in both Shane and Sarah's delivery that is palpable. Ghostkeeper channels the spirit world in all of its pain, beauty and wonderment, and gifts it to anyone willing to accept.

LISTEN / SHARE “ANCESTRAL” HERE
BUY / STREAM “ANCESTRAL” HERE

PERFORMANCE DATES
Jun 22-26 - Calgary, AB - Sled Island
Jul 15-17 - Yellowknife, NT - Folk On The Rocks


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MULTIDIMENSIONAL CULTURE TRACKLIST
01 Doo Wop
02 Finn
03 Grassy Plains
04 Rolly
05 Summer Child
06 This Is How I Know You
07 Ancestral
08 The Trees
09 Ghost On A Rope
10 Tropical Metis

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EDWIN RAPHAEL REVEALS NEW TRACK, “CONTOURS OF SPRING”

WATCH / SHARE “CONTOURS OF SPRING” HERE
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PERFORMING AT OSHEAGA JULY 30

“Rare it is to find a writer who speaks so candidly about something that is far from straightforward. It’s deep, it’s provocative, and most importantly, it sounds gorgeous.” Indie Shuffle

“shows the Dubai-born, Montreal-based indie folk songwriter in a delicate light, mixing familiar acoustic melancholy with Eastern-style scales. The music video matches both the spiraling instrumentation of the song and Raphael’s lyrical vision, showing him navigating between two different worlds.” COMPLEX

"Raphael's languid instrumentals are all too easy to melt into." - Exclaim!

"Raphael indulges by opening up that affecting guitar-vocal pairing to a lush bridge with added horn, guitar and drums." - CBC Music

"Tranquil melodies flow over electronic and acoustic instrumentation." - American Songwriter

Photo Credit : Meliss Desmond // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Recently, Dubai-born, Montreal-based songwriter Edwin Raphael shared “Have You Been Told”, his first single and video of 2022. Today, he returns with “Contours Of Spring”, a track that has its origins with the phrase “to accept spring means accepting the risk of winter”, says Raphael. “Without absence there can be no presence. The simple sad rhythm emphasizes that the steps backwards in life may be sad, but it is part of the dance, and it is always beautiful. 

‘Contours Of Spring’ flirts with the cyclical nature of self realization. Life is not linear, we repeat the same lessons over and over again, unlearning and relearning, to arrive at deeper levels of understanding with each rotation.”

WATCH / SHARE “CONTOURS OF SPRING” HERE
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“Contours Of Spring” Single Artwork //  Credit: Vijay Sarathy // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

MORE ABOUT EDWIN RAPHAEL

How do you anchor yourself when occupying multiple geographic identities at once? For Edwin Raphael, it requires an intentional and intensive form of world-building. By developing an unmistakable style of folk that merges Eastern scales with the Western pop canon, Raphael reimagines his music as a exploratory tool that allows him to construct an interior and sacred home to retreat into. 

WATCH / SHARE “HAVE YOU BEEN TOLD” HERE
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Growing up in Dubai, as the son of parents who immigrated from the city of Cochin in India’s coastal Kerala state, Raphael studied classical guitar before deciding on the keys. As he developed an affinity for John Mayer and Ben Howard, he felt at odds with Dubai’s distinct sense of “placelessness” — and the bewildering feeling of being immersed in a culture where everyone claimed an alternate homeland. It wasn’t until he moved to Montreal to pursue a business degree that he felt a sense of stability, and became deeply entangled with the city’s indie bedroom pop scene.

His debut EP Ocean’s Walk (2015) paired stirring, melancholic instrumentals with a fierce self-reckoning. It would set the stage for a string of releases that would dive deeper into the psyche; like confronting the aftershocks following a significant heartbreak, or relearning your emotional baseline as you mature. Subsequent releases, Cold Nights (2017), his acclaimed debut Will You Think of Me Later? (2019), and its follow up Staring at Ceilings (2021), reveal an artist devoted to sharpening his ability to translate his experiences into ubiquitous statements, and saw him open for Hollow Coves, JP Saxe, Noah Kahan. 

Subscribe to Edwin Raphael’s Newsletter HERE.

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WATCH EDWIN RAPHAEL PERFORM LIVE ON CBC MUSIC’S ‘THE INTRO’ HERE

MORE PRAISE FOR STARING AT CEILINGS

“'Sea of Things' feels primal, mimicking the ocean with cyclical, crashing movements, patiently building itself up and washing itself back out." - FLAUNT

"Calming ambience and angelic vocals." - Lyrical Lemonade

"Chill pop with a touch of folk." - EARMILK

"Weightless and ethereal" - Indie Shuffle

"The instrumental and harmonic components provide the same floating-in-space feeling we love from Fleet Foxes." - Culture Collide

"Offers an escape from anxiety." - Kajal

"Incredibly raw and emotional." - C-Heads 

"A gently addictive soundscape, all wistful energy and patient." - Beats Per Minute

"Notes of Bon Iver and Frank Ocean come to a glorious head to create something moving, exciting and fresh." - The Rodeo

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