Before decamping to Greg Keelor’s farm to record Moonbath last December, Sunbear’s Kate Boothman rounded up a few of her closest friends.
Not a bad idea when a few of your closest friends are the likes of Julie Fader and Kathleen Edwards.
“It was just a matter of a couple phone calls and the promise of a wholesome dinner,” Boothman laughs. “People were available and we headed off to the farm to make some music.”
That music is the honey-soaked species of country-folk that’s been bubbling out of the Toronto music scene for years, but has been enjoying a recent resurgence of widespread popularity courtesy of the rise bands like Fleet Foxes. The popularity is also buoying Sunbear, who have garnered some regular airplay on CBC Radio 3.
What gives Sunbear an added AM flavour, however, is Boothman’s more subtle vocal delivery, reining in the big voices common to the genre while hanging on to the beautiful harmonies that bleed through the speakers. More Mazzy Star than Neko Case.
“We just finished an East Coast tour, playing gigs as we made our way to Halifax,” the singer says. “The crowds were all really nice and now we’re just trying to save our pennies to take the album out west.”
And as she says on Days Full of Knights, “Money always ends up in my pocket when I’m looking for a time.” So hopefully for the folks in the rest of the country, that money finds its way to her pocket again soon. Those crowds out west won’t have a problem finding a time with Sunbear, because it’s a safe bet the crew at Vancouver’s Railway Club will lap it up just as happily as the crew at Toronto’s Dakota Tavern.
