Ezra Ben-Shalom’s Known and Unknown: The Overlooked Avant-Folk Masterpiece of 2025 Bridging Ancestral Grief and Hope
Released on August 5, 2025, Ezra Ben-Shalom’s Known and Unknown has emerged as a profound candidate for year-end “Best Of” lists, offering a courageous musical response to a world in conflict. A bold avant-folk record drenched in Jewish tradition, the album is ripe for this specific moment in a world longing to feel connected. Ben-Shalom, whose name translates to “helper son of peace,” views this music as an act of engaging with the oral tradition of his ancestors to address universal questions of suffering and transcendence.
While this is Ben-Shalom’s first solo album, he is a veteran of the Canadian music landscape with a rewarding career as a songwriter and producer. He is a Western Canadian Music Award winner and a JUNO Award nominee who has released seven albums with various ensembles and performed on stages across North America. His collaborative history includes co-writing and co-producing with Bif Naked and playing banjo with Tegan and Sara. Now based in Kelowna, BC, Ben-Shalom channels this extensive experience into Known and Unknown, which stands as the most deeply conjured work of his career to date.
The album’s centerpiece, “Lover in a Tower,” serves as a powerful bridge between Western collective trauma and the specific pain currently felt by Jewish artists. Ben-Shalom originally wrote the first draft of the song on September 11, 2001, at the age of 19. However, it was not until the events of October 7, 2023, that the “old tune came back to him,” allowing him to finally complete a song about serving a vision one cannot fully see.
“In Kabbalistic thought, there is a difference between wisdom, understanding, and knowledge,” Ben-Shalom explains regarding the song’s 22-year gestation. “Wisdom is bestowed on you. It’s a flash of light… Understanding is exploring that insight and developing it. And then knowledge is how it changes you once you integrate it on a deep level… The main difference is that now I’m ready to sing it”.
Musically, Known and Unknown bridges the gap between traditional folk and experimental soundscapes. The album was co-produced by Chris Carlson, best known as the bass player for Tegan & Sara and Kinnie Starr. Carlson played multiple instruments and helped capture the “raw states” of the songs, while the more experimental tracks emerged from studio improvisation. Ben-Shalom is currently preparing a new single, “Encompassing Place,” slated for early 2026.
Hi, Ezra! Good to meet you! Care to introduce yourself to the readers for those not familiar with your music?
Thank you. Good to meet you. I’m an artist based out of Okanagan Syilx territory. I’ve been in a handful of bands over the years and also produce and write music for other artists. I think I joined a rock band for the first time when I was maybe 14 years old – The Wax Babies – and have doing it ever since.
Known and Unknown carries so much ancestral weight. When you began shaping the album, what was the first moment you realized this project was going to reach into something larger than yourself?
Songs are amazing vessels. Listening to some lyrics today on the radio I feel like I’m scrolling social media. There are certain trends in songwriting that are very temporal, almost like listening to commentary or opinion writing. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s got its place. For me though I want a song to be able to live a long life as a cultural artifact. I want these songs to be imbued with my deepest personal experiences, feelings, and reflections. I want them to be able to resonate with any person on whatever level they approach it.
Your name translates to “helper son of peace.” How has that meaning influenced the way you approach music and the responsibility you feel as an artist in this moment?
I’ve felt a responsibility as an artist since I was 19 years old, when my brother Gabe and I signed our first record contract with Bif Naked’s Her Royal Majesty’s Records. We felt the importance of contributing to the culture in a good way. At the time, that was a burden that didn’t necessarily make us better artists. Art is of no value if it isn’t honest, and we just weren’t ready to bear that weight at that age. Maybe that’s why it’s taken me this long to release a solo album. I had to grow into the responsibility of the name I was born with.
“Lover in a Tower” began on September 11, 2001 and found its final form after October 7, 2023. What did the song teach you about waiting, timing, and what it means for art to grow alongside a life?
The symbols and ideas expressed in that song were too raw when it was first drafted. September 11 was a shocking day. I was 19 years old, living in East Vancouver in a dingy apartment. Writing poetry and music was a refuge from the horror of that day. I think I wanted to write something both mournful and hopeful. The tower of the title is not literal – or else it would have been two towers. No, it means something deeper. How did humanity get to this point? How do we get out of it? The song is quite minimalistic. I didn’t think anyone would get it and it was too raw. Then after the massacre of October 7, I remembered the song and dug out my old journal. I changed a few lines here and there, but not too much. The third verse mainly. Suddenly it wasn’t raw anymore. It was cooked and ready to be served.
Your next single, “Encompassing Place,” is coming in early 2026. How does it extend the themes of Known and Unknown, and what part of your journey does it explore next?
Encompassing Place slaps. I think the kids are gonna like it.