Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Albertan folk/roots duo Flint & Feather is sharing its second single “We Belong Together,” the latest preview of the pair’s debut album due out via Sojourner Music in autumn 2024. “We Belong Together” is another glowing example of Flint & Feather’s “Rocky Mountain Folk-Pop” sound, built around the melodic inventiveness of Joal and Lauren Kamps, and channeled through their heart-tugging harmony vocals.
Lyrically, “We Belong Together” is a lighthearted love song all about how absence makes the heart grow fonder. It follows on the heels of the first Flint & Feather single, “The Very Thing I Fear,” which received notable CBC Radio airplay, and was described by Roots Music Canada as, “evok[ing] comparisons to Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, and The Civil Wars.”
With “We Belong Together,” Lauren says, “We had been invited to take part in a five-week artist residency at the Banff Centre and Joal spent the first week there alone. He told me that he was having the worst case of writer’s block and was really missing my companionship. I decided to surprise him and drove out early the next day and ‘We Belong Together’ quickly became one of many songs that were written throughout the remaining residency.”
Joal adds, “With our self-employed, multi-generational household, and three young children to rear while pursuing a career in music, our life is rather chaotic at times and we can both begin to take each other for granted. This song comes from a humorous—albeit genuine—desire to express just how much we belong together.”
Flint & Feather has grown out of Joal and Lauren’s free-spirited efforts to cultivate community through folk and roots music, storytelling and laughter. In their music, Joal—who served as Alberta’s Artist in Residence and Arts Ambassador from 2020-2021—and Lauren draw upon Western Canadian history, Rocky Mountain folklore, and their own colourful life journeys for inspiration, the result being original songs that convey stories with an uncommon charm.
“We Belong Together” was recorded at Refinery Record Room in Bragg Creek, Alberta, and co-produced by Joal and Jason Hofer, who also engineered, mixed, mastered and played mandolin on the track. The song’s supporting cast also includes Mitch Jay on electric guitar, Ray Banman on bass, and Chad Melchert on percussion.
Now based in Calgary, Joal and Lauren first began performing together while attending Canada’s Music Incubator’s Artist Entrepreneur Program in Toronto. Soon after, they performed across Canada with VIA Rail’s Artists Onboard program and played over 50 dates in the U.K. and western Europe. They have since performed hundreds of concerts in communities throughout Canada.
In pursuing a classic sound as Flint & Feather, the Kamps have found their true voices as singer-songwriters, allowing their engaging live performances to connect with audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
