WATCH “OUT OF MY HEAD” HERE VIA NPR MUSIC
SUMMER TOUR DATES CONTINUE THIS WEEK
“...searing and dignified” - NPR Music
“The woman has, you would say, presence to spare. When she opens her mouth to sing it's like, ‘What just happened?’” - Exclaim!
"an audacious adventure in modern soul, with gospel inspirations and updated takes on finger-snapping Motown pop and late 20th-century R&B." - Globe & Mail
“With her showstopping voice, Dirks blends acoustics and synths for her own
brand of gospel.” - CBC Music
PHOTO CREDIT : Adam Kelly // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
This summer, Begonia (aka Alexa Dirks) has been on the road stunning audiences across Canada with her latest release Lady In Mind, which CBC Music has dubbed “her own brand of gospel”. “The woman has, you would say, presence to spare,” says Exclaim!. “When she opens her mouth to sing it's like, ‘What just happened?’”. Last week, she wrapped a string of tour dates with Serena Ryder throughout Western Canada which was preceded by festival stops at Interstellar Rodeo, Vancouver Folk Festival, Winnipeg Folk Festival, and Hillside. This week she’s on her way to the Roy Thomson Hall Courtyard and WayHome followed by Regina Folk Fest. Tour details can be found below.
Today, she is revealing the new video for “Out Of My Head” from director and costume designer Rebecca Blackwood, who shot in an abandoned pillow factory in Winnipeg's North End with a company of dancers. Both the song and video find empowerment from dark moments.
The video premieres today courtesy of NPR Music who notes that “Sometimes it's possible to move forward in the ways you want. Sometimes it feels like you're desperately tumbling forward on a conveyor belt that has other plans. But in breath there is strength, and in Begonia's ‘Out of My Head’ there are both in abundance.”
WATCH “OUT OF MY HEAD” HERE VIA NPR MUSIC
"It was a very powerful and humbling experience for me to watch these badass women dance their hearts out to a song that I wrote at a time in my life when I was pretty desperate to separate from an emotionally abusive relationship and find myself again,” says Dirks. “The centre of the song, and what kind of became the centre of the video, is the fact that even in some of our darkest moments we have more power than we think. The video itself ended up showcasing a community of strong women embodying that power together."
“I had a very clear idea of the pain she was going through when she wrote it,” says Blackwood. “But the cool thing was that she was on the other side of that pain, both happy and successful, so we were able to really reference the darkness visually without it being too hard for her. We talked about the strong bands of women we have surrounding us and how we don't know how we would get through these hard times in life without them. That is why we wanted to have dancers in the video. We wanted to capture the combination of vulnerability and strength that women so often have, and dancing was a perfect medium to represent that.”
Recently, Begonia joined forces with frequent collaborators Royal Canoe for the track “Fussin’”. Shot in Winnipeg, the video for the track features several hundred cyclists riding in a ‘Bike Jam’ organized by the Rainbow Trout Music Festival. Noisey claimed the video is all “Phat and Funky Wheelies”.
WATCH AND SHARE “FUSSIN’” WITH ROYAL CANOE HERE
Known for her voice in the JUNO Award winning, harmony-driven group Chic Gamine, Dirks was recently featured on CBC’s National Canada 150 New Year’s Eve broadcast, performing live with The Bros. Landreth. Also, NPR listed her as one of the Ten Canadian Artists You Need To Know, CBC Music called Begonia one of the Best New Bands of 2016, Line Of Best Fit included her in their 50 Best Deep Cuts of 2016 list, and “Juniper” reached #1 on CBC Radio 2’s Top 20.
TOUR DATES
Jul 28 - Toronto, ON - Roy Thomson Hall Courtyard
Jul 30 - Oro Medonte, ON - WayHome Music & Arts Festival
Aug 11-13 - Regina, SK - Regina Folk Festival