Kaia Kater announces new album

Kaia Kater 2
Photograph by Polina Mourzina

The new album from young African-Canadian roots phenom Kaia Kater couldn’t come at a better time. As a new generation takes the reins, American roots music is needed more than ever to remind us of the troubled pathways of our own history. Born of Afro-Caribbean descent in Québec, Kaia Kater grew up between two worlds: one her family’s deep ties to Canadian folk music in her Toronto home; the other the years she spent learning and studying Appalachian music in West Virginia. Her acclaimed debut album touched on this divide, but her new album, Nine Pin (set for release on September 2nd on Proper Records) delves even further, and casts an unflinching eye at the realities faced by people of colour in North America every day.

Her songs on the new album are fuelled by her rich low tenor vocals, jazz-influenced instrumentation, and beautifully understated banjo, and they’ve got as much in common with Kendrick Lamar right now as they do with Pete Seeger. True to her roots in Appalachia, the title of the album comes from a traditional square dance formation in which a woman stands alone in the middle of a circle of people turning around her. As a double meaning, it’s also one of the pins in bowling that keeps getting knocked down. Surrounded yet alone, constantly in the line of fire, this album speaks beautifully to the seasons of a young woman’s life.

As a new generation of artists like Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, and Dom Flemons are reclaiming the black roots of North American music, Kaia Kater steps into this dialogue with Nine Pin, bringing a powerful new voice to the conversation.

Artist’s website: http://www.kaiakater.com/

‘Saint Elizabeth’ live: