Canadian Touring Bands: Laura Hickli (Art Pop) + Quiet Winter (Ambient Post-Rock)
Jul 5, 2024, 10:00 PM
Join Canadian bands Laura Hickli and Quiet Winter at Kirk's Grocery as they tour brand-new material across North America. After a major vehicle accident on route to Treefort Fest canceled their 6-month tour last year, Laura Hickli and Quiet Winter's lives and trajectories were changed. One year in recovery later, they return to the road; but this time with even more new music on recovery, grief, and human resilience. LAURA HICKLI (Art-Pop) Sounds like: Fionna Apple, Kate Bush, Weyes Blood Laura Hickli (Mohkínstsis/Calgary) is an internationally touring progressive art pop songstress known for her tightly arranged dreamy soundscapes, exquisite vocals, evocative lyrics, and emotionally powerful performances. The classically trained pianist was homeschooled in a conspiracy-laden religious household where she honed her ability to reflect deeply felt emotions through dynamic, textured, and technical songwriting and production. During the tour of her latest record ‘Both Feet In The World, At Least I Can Stand,' (North Pole Records) Laura and her band suffered a serious motor vehicle accident that left Laura with PTSD and a traumatic head injury. After nearly a year in recovery, she emerges with gripping and exceedingly personal new music birthed during her chaotic grieving process. Hickli has a knack for creating art out of life's ebbs and offering a small gift of resilience to the returning tides. A performer in several award-winning projects, Hickli’s personal works continue to receive radio play on CBC, BBC+, Top Album of the Year awards, and accolades from The Big Takeover, Cups N Cakes and more. Currently preparing to record her new album ‘stranger to myself’ at The National Music Centre and embark on a two-month international tour this summer, Hickli’s developing story offers a fresh and inviting look at what life can be, while carrying the foundations of her spellbindingly intimate, yet explosive brand of dark process-music. QUIET WINTER (Ambient Post-Rock) Sounds like: Planning for Burial, Jesu, The Angelic Process Quiet Winter is an internationally touring ambient post-rock band fronted by Canadian composer Brandon Garay. The project initially emerged after a workplace injury limited the use of their hands, but quickly revealed Garay’s unique ability to arrange ambient sounds into emotionally alive and dynamic creations. Escapism was the first of their five releases to have garnered attention, charting independent radio stations and receiving glowing accolades from Canadian press including Cups N Cakes Pod and Tome to the Weather Machine. Quiet Winter’s upcoming record ‘Action Painting’ promises to be their most explorative and personal release to date, featuring songs the band toured across North America last year before a traumatic motor vehicle accident halted their plans and left them questioning what it meant to be artists, and what it meant to be alive. ‘Action Painting’ will branch off from the dark ambiance of their latest release ‘Peppermint Tea ‘ into a cinematic cacophony of sound with a quiet bliss at its core; promising comfortable lavender-scented evenings spent stretching on the floor, heartbreaking self-reflection, and energetic anticipation of devouring a mosh pit for the first time. A member in both Western Canadian Music Award-winning art-rock band 36? and beloved progressive art pop songstress Laura Hickli, Garay is no stranger to fully embracing life’s versatile offerings, and returns to the road this June on a two-month summer tour; this time with new music and a new perspective.
