The Nora Kelly Band emerged this spring sharing two rip-roaring singles, “Hymn for the Agnostics” and “Change My Mind,” while destroying audiences at Canadian Music Week, NXNE, supporting Kiwi Jr., and this past Friday celebrating early with a headlining performance in their hometown of Montreal. Today, they share a new single “Right Now,” and announce their debut EP, Perfect Pig, out today – premiering a video for the track with the folks at Americana-UK. The record was mixed by Pietro Amato (The Luyas/Belle Orchestre).
Discussing “Right Now,” bandleader Nora Kelly stated, “’Right Now’ chronicles the rise and fall of a past relationship. The song was written when I was in the throes of the breakup woes, but it also has a sense of optimism about the future. It’s sort of a pep talk to myself that things will get better, while also being an honest encapsulation of what I was going through back then. I’m proud of the song for its vulnerability, and how it details my ever-shifting understanding of love. Like now when I sing it, I tell people it was once a sad song about my ex but now it’s a happy song about my dog.”
When DISHPIT imploded in the early stages of pandemic – a romantic and creative relationship gone sour, which even Kelly’s ‘screw-off, I’m tough’ nurtured punk persona was unprepared for, salvation came along in railroad adjacent acoustic country cover meet-ups with a group of friends and artists, in the earliest days of being able to meet up outside once again.
From these loose collaborative connections, the Nora Kelly Band emerged. “That’s where I first played the songs that make up ‘Perfect Pig’,” Kelly notes. “And it’s where I was so lucky to meet the majority of my band. Each member brings something special to the table: Vader Ryderwood, the 6ft 5in bass player and alien enthusiast, Ethan Soil, known as the smiliest drummer in Montreal, Rachel Silverstein, with the voice of an angel and piano skills to boot, and Dylan Keating, who plays pedal steel and has a PhD in Astro-Physics. This group of musicians have become my best friends and given back my passion for music.”
The songs on Perfect Pig are each confessions from Kelly’s personal growth during this time. In “Bisbee,” she muses on the pursuit of self-love in the line, “no I’m not happy, but I’m working on it baby, and I’m gonna if it kills me.” “Loving Comes Easily to Me,” is a reminder to keep things in perspective, as Kelly chants, “I’m gonna give all my possessiveness away, walk off my restlessness, give up on ambitiousness. Make enough serious time for play, loving just comes easily to me.”
We tend to grow most during difficult times, and Perfect Pig is a time capsule of Kelly’s growth in six entries. Kelly adds, “Going country has given me space to focus on being more sensitive without giving up on sass, humor and story-telling. The 18-year-old punk will always be a part of who I am, but I’m turning my biggest corner, towards my most liberated and exciting chapter yet, y’all.”
