KAÏA KATER ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM, STRANGE MEDICINE, OUT MAY 17
Acclaimed singer, songwriter, and Grenadian-Canadian musician Kaïa Kater will release her anticipated new album, Strange Medicine, on May 17. Ahead of the release, the new song, “Fédon” ft. Taj Mahal was released.
Of the track, released in honor of Black History Month, Kater shares,
“This song centers around a late 18th century Grenadian revolutionary, Julien Fédon, who began an armed insurrection against the British Colonists and plantation owners in Grenada. Inspired by the Haitian Revolution, Fédon’s army was composed of many enslaved Black Grenadians and mixed race free Black people. Though the rebellion was ultimately unsuccessful, I wanted to channel the meticulous planning and electric energy that must have been traveling through the island the night of the first attack,” and continues, “I was overjoyed that Taj Mahal agreed to sing on this, as he is an icon in folk music and has brought Caribbean influences to so many of his works. He’s also an incredible person and a personal hero of mine.”
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.”