North American Live Dates Continue With Canadian Date Next Month
The Rural Alberta Advantage (The RAA) share a new video for the song “FSHG”, in advance of their upcoming Winter North American tour, kicking off on February 9 in San Diego, and running in two parts, through March 31 in Boston. The tour includes 10 Canadian dates spanning from Vancouver to Toronto, Calgary is already SOLD OUT [all dates noted below]. “FSHG” is featured on the Canadian trio’s recently released fifth full-length, The Rise & The Fall, which arrived in October 2023 via Paper Bag Records/ Saddle Creek.
“’FSHG’ was the last song written for The Rise & The Fall, and a late addition, recorded live off the floor in their final visit to the studio for the record. Discussing how it all came together, Nils Edenloff (lead vocals, guitar, keyboard) noted, “I wanted us to record ‘FSHG’ live off the floor and feel like a counterpoint to the rest of the album. We laboured over so many minute details on ‘The Rise & The Fall’, and I wanted to record ‘FSHG’ while it still felt organic and raw. Lock it up before we had a chance to tinker with it too much. I also wanted people listening to the record to feel as though they’re peeking in on a brief and momentary event. So much of the album deals with events and snippets of time, and with ‘FSHG’, as the song progresses it starts to evaporate, pulling away from the listener and fading into nothing. Sort of reminding us that not everything lasts forever.”
The “FSHG” video was created using BTS footage of that recording session, filmed using each of the band members’ phones, set up around the studio while they played.
The Rise & The Fall is the first full-length album in six years, featuring the original lineup of Edenloff, Paul Banwatt (drums), and Amy Cole (bass, vocals, keyboard, percussion). Written over the course of two years, the band focused on writing and recording a few songs at a time, taking their tradition of road-testing new music to a whole new level of real-time collaboration with their fans, as they headed out on the road in 2022. Back home in Toronto, The RAA got into the studio with Gavin Gardiner (Born Ruffians, The Wooden Sky, Evening Hymns), and began experimenting sonically, reversing and looping sounds to add to the dreamlike, ethereal quality of the songs, while incorporating signature RAA elements like Cole’s harmonies and Banwatt’s bombastic percussion.
The RAA are thrilled to finally be heading back out on the road here in North America having already celebrated The Rise & The Fall across Europe upon the album’s release. Support will be provided from Mariel Buckley through the first run, followed by Julianna Riolino. Tickets for all dates are available via the band’s website – theraa.com/tour-dates.
“We’re really at our best as a band when we’re on the road,” notes Amy. “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 Paul, “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.”
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