Today, Grenadian-Canadian musician Kaïa Kater is sharing another new single from her upcoming album, Strange Medicine, due out May 17. “Simply, this is a reflection on the gravitational pull of my hometown, Montreal” says Kater of the new single, “In Montreal”which features Allison Russell. “I’ve left and returned so many times that it now feels like ghosts of my former selves haunt the city. During the deep winter of 2021 with its short days and long nights, I wanted to write an upbeat song about a poet feeling lost and aimless, tectonic plates stacked in their sink—a nod to Leonard Cohen, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and all the other incredible songwriters of Montreal.”
MORE ABOUT STRANGE MEDICINE
Produced by Kater and Joe Grass (Elisapie, The Barr Brothers), Strange Medicine is Kater’s first new album in six years (following 2018’s Grenades) and her most personal record to date. Created during a period of deep self-reflection and reinvention, the new music finds Kater expanding her creative scope as she celebrates the power of women and oppressed people throughout history, while also sharing meditations on her own life. In addition to “Fédon”, Strange Medicine also features previously released single, “The Internet”, as well as collaborations with Aoife O’Donovan (“The Witch”) and Allison Russell (“In Montreal”).
Reflecting on the project, Kater shares, “The through line for me is just stories. It was the story of my dad on Grenades, and on Strange Medicine it’s the story of people in history who might not have had their proper shrift. It’s also my chance to finally write about the times in my life when I didn’t feel like I had a voice, in order to give myself one now.”
May 21 Hamilton, ON Mills Hardware
May 22 Toronto, ON TD Music Hall with Abigail Lapell
May 24 Kingston, ON The Broom Factory
May 26 Ottawa, ON Red Bird Live
