Acclaimed percussive folk-rock trio, The Rural Alberta Advantage (The RAA) is thrilled to announce, The Rise, a new EP set to arrive this Thursday, March 31 via Saddle Creek/Paper Bag Records. The six song collection of new material is further showcased by the single, “3 Sisters,” an elemental track that reminisces about life on the road. “We wanted the song to capture this feeling of speeding down the highway on the way to another show in another place, watching the world go by too fast and being unable or unwilling to slow down and live in the moment.” says keyboardist Amy Cole. The band will head out on a U.S. tour in May, followed by a hometown appearance at Field Trip festival in July. All dates below, with more to be announced in the weeks ahead.
The Rise is the first word in a conversation, the first step on a new, unkept trail. It’s the beginning of a new era for the Toronto trio, and the first of three pieces in a year-long puzzle, which will be constructed over three separate releases.
The Rise tells its own story through Paul Banwatt’s thundering drums, Amy Cole’s hammered keys and crystalline harmonies, and Nils Edenloff’s furious acoustics and soaring, wheaty tenor. At times, it’s literal and visceral, like the blowing dust of “Lifetime,” or the hardy, galloping roadtrip post-mortem of “3 Sisters,” or the slow, naked march of “Late September Snow.” At others it’s hallucinatory and surreal, like the vivid, crashing dreamscape of “10Ft Tall.”
Discussing this first installment of new music, and The RAA’s return, Edenloff notes, “We just go only based on heart and gut and try to let our minds get out of the way, because more often than not those just trip us up.” Cole adds, “We’re so intrigued by the idea of different perspectives and memories in these songs, and then this ultimate view of ‘Is any of it anything?”
That dichotomy—between what is assumed to be objective, real and tangible, and what is not is explored by Alberta photographer Leroy Schulz’s work that accompanies the EP and lead singles “CANDU” and “AB Bride.” Schulz flew drones over Alberta landscapes and took photos from above, looking down on rows of fir trees, barns, crops, and grass. From this perspective, the settings look unrecognizable, even unreal, like some alien planet. The shapes, shadows, lines, and textures are foreign, yet these are scenes of home.
The past two years have upended all that we thought to be concrete. The Rise, like this period, is a complication of what we assume to be familiar and true and unchanging. It’s the start of something new.
