BRADEN LAM’S DEBUT LP, THE CLOUDMAKER’S CRY, OUT APRIL 11, 2025
WATCH / SHARE “WIDE OPEN FT. MICHAELA SLINGER” HERE
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“Welcoming Vancouver-based singer Michaela Slinger onto the track for an old-fashioned duet, the two sing about heartbreak and reconciliation while pushing through the toughest of times and coming out strong on the other end.The two soft-spoken vocalists prove to be a great match for each other, blending their tones together as they tentatively venture requests to start taking the slow steps to fully opening back up emotionally.” RANGE on “Wide Open”
"Braden Lam's inviting voice rings out over gentle guitar and vibraphone on ‘Beautiful Neighbourhoods’, a timeless single that vibrates with warmth and longing." - CBC MUSIC
"Crafts an expansive but intimate sonic world for us to lose ourselves in" - Earmilk
"Calling to mind the happiest takes by Ben Howard or Tim Baker" - The Coast Halifax
Photo Credit Paul Atwood: // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
Braden Lam meets the moment on The Cloudmaker’s Cry, an album that makes good on the promise of this indie-folk wunderkind, with music reminiscent of a bygone era set to lyrics pulsing with the urgency and anxiety of today. The titular Cry evokes many kinds—cries of joy, of sorrow, of protest, of rage, of grief—as Lam pushes his voice to new edges exploring these expressions, and then some. He hones in and drills down on the complexity of relationships, the mundanity of adulthood, and the lasting impact of history.
Having already released album singles “Beautiful Neighbourhoods”, which climbed to #7 on the CBC Music Top 20, and “Highway Jesus”, today Lam is also sharing a new track “Wide Open”, a duet with Vancouver’s Michaela Slinger. The track, perhaps most deeply indebted to classic country on the album, is a heartbreaker in the Plant & Krauss way, detailing a hard time in a relationship on which Braden Lam regrets, and repents: ‘If you wanna try to forgive / I’ll be your window in the morning / Crack me wide open.’ Written by Lam & Slinger in Nashville after a chance encounter, the pair delicately explore the one percent of magic that remains through adversity, drawing us in closer and out stronger on the other side.
“My wife, Lassie Fai… (who also duets on an upcoming album track called ‘Cowboy Boots’)... got rushed to the hospital in early 2023 due to severe endometriosis, a terribly painful and understudied disease,” says Lam. “The sudden cancer scare and full hysterectomy for a woman in her 20s rocked our relationship really hard for that entire year. It was super stressful, we almost lost our business through the process and I regretfully carried on with an album release and tour overseas shortly after her surgery. I wasn’t the best version of myself, or the best emotional support in all the ways I could have been. I wrote the chorus as I was thinking about her and this whirlwind experience. ’Wide Open’ is an apology, a humble invitation to keep trying, and a sign to get closer in a moment that is trying to drive you apart. ‘I still think of you when you’re not just looking my way / I still love you too like it’s not just something we say’.”
The single arrives with another video from Lam and director Griffin O’Toole. “The idea for the music video came to me originally as a joke,” says Lam. “I had just seen Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City and was riffing on this funny concept in my head of a gigantic cowboy hat on top of a vintage pickup. I mentioned it to my friend Cameron Roberts, who is a talented carpenter, and he agreed to give it a go and built us the hat of my dreams! Griffin was very inspired by Terrence Malik films for the video treatment, and featured artist Michaela Slinger was on tour nearby this past November with a couple days off so it all just came together at the right time, and I truly believe we captured something special in this video that we will be proud of long into our careers. I’m so grateful to everyone involved.”
WATCH / SHARE “WIDE OPEN FT. MICHAELA SLINGER” HERE
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Single Art // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
MORE ABOUT THE CLOUDMAKER’S CRY
The Cloudmaker’s Cry is Lam’s debut full-length album, and he means album in the classic sense: 10 considered and thoughtful folk songs, meticulously arranged and painstakingly sequenced, meant to be played on a turntable in a single sitting, whiskey optional. Though barely 27, he has lived the life of a much older man—with years of touring, entrepreneurship, and marriage already accounted for—and this collection of songs reflects lessons learned earlier than most, about time and love and the world.
WATCH / SHARE “BEAUTIFUL NEIGHBOURHOODS” (MUSIC VIDEO) HERE
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It was produced in Toronto by Eli Browning, a new approach for Lam, who made his previous three EPs with a host of producers across Atlantic Canada. The pair’s touchstones as they worked through a city springtime in a converted church studio were George Harrison, Neil Young, and other sounds from the 1960s and 70s: music that is lyric-forward and performed with folk instrumentation in analogue tones, resulting in a timeless singer-songwriter record.
This vibe carries through the entire package, from the tintype photographs of Lam to the images wrought in 35mm in the liner notes, to his charming video collaborations with Griffin O’Toole that combine nostalgia, surrealism, and camp into a distinct style of film. Each particular piece fits perfectly into the primary vision, creating something grand in its authenticity and comforting in its warmth.
