Today, The Rural Alberta Advantage (The RAA) have released their fifth full-length album, The Rise & The Fall, today via Saddle Creek/Paper Bag Records, and announced a run of North American tour dates, kicking off February 9 in San Diego, and running thru March 31 in Boston [all dates below].
The RAA will perform live as a part of the 2023 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic, the outdoor game between the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames at Commonwealth Stadium on Sunday, October 29, at 5pm MT. This year’s NHL Heritage Classic will mark the 20-year anniversary of the first-ever NHL regular-season outdoor game. The Battle of Alberta game will be broadcast on TNT and Max in the U.S.
The Rise & The Fall is the first full-length album in six years, featuring the original lineup of Amy Cole (bass, vocals, keyboard, percussion) Paul Banwatt (drums), and Nils Edenloff (lead vocals, guitar, keyboard). Watch + share the visualizer for the album cut “Real Life.” Purchase The Rise & The Fall.
“‘Real Life’ started from an experience I had when I ran into an old high school friend who was kind of down on their luck,” says Edenloff. “At first, it felt like no time had passed and things were just like how they used to be. But through our conversation, reality slowly came creeping back in and it was obvious things weren’t the same and never really could be. I wanted to stay in the alternate universe we’d created for as long as possible, where life hadn’t changed us yet.”
Says Banwatt, “I think ‘Real Life’ is a good representation of ‘The Rise & The Fall’ as a whole. It feels melancholy, looking at time and life passing by, but then also energetic and sometimes maybe even desperate and frantic.”
The band experimented sonically in the studio with producer Gavin Gardiner (Born Ruffians, The Wooden Sky, Evening Hymns). reversing and looping sounds to add to the dreamlike, ethereal quality of the song, while incorporating signature RAA elements like Cole’s harmonies and Banwatt’s bombastic percussion.
To support The Rise & The Fall, the RAA is thrilled to finally be heading back out on the road for an extended run of tour dates in Europe through the end of 2023 and a just-announced North American tour in 2024 with support from Mariel Buckley and Julianna Riolino. Tickets for the European dates are available now and the new North American shows are on sale today at 10am local times – purchase here.
Says Cole, “We’re really at our best as a band when we’re on the road. We love when we get to play new songs in front of an audience for the first time, and the songs really do continue to grow and evolve even after we’ve recorded them. The live audience is always a part of our process, and really, a part of our band. And when we play a show we try to make sure they feel that way – they’re in it with us too, they’re part of the whole thing.”
Adds Edenloff, “All of our music is rooted in heart and honesty. The songs themselves come from a very earnest place and they are really extensions of who we are. Sometimes we hide those emotions with a lot of noise and sonic energy, while other times we leave them raw and bare. I see our albums as diary entries or snapshots in time and this one certainly fits that bill.”
