THE NEW SONG FOLLOWS RECENT SINGLES “CATACLYSMIC END” AND “MY LOVE FOR YOU IS A STRAIGHT LINE”
FEBRUARY AND MARCH TOUR DATES WITH KATHLEEN EDWARDS CONTINUE THIS WEEK
WATCH / SHARE “PERENNIALS” LYRIC VIDEO HERE
BUY / STREAM “PERENNIALS” HERE
Photo Credit : Noah Altshuler // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
In January, Ken Yates shared two new singles, “Cataclysmic End” and “My Love For You Is A Straight Line”, his first new music since his highly acclaimed 2022 LP, Cerulean. Today, he shares “Perennials”, “a song for [his] late mother who passed in 2021,” says Yates. “I wanted so desperately to write this song for my last album Cerulean, but for some reason it was just never right. I think I had to live the past three years in order to finally write it. Some songs force you to live a bit more life before you can write them.”
A standout, stripped-back track, "Perennials" is a rare kind of song: so honest and specific, you can't help but hear your own stories of grief within it. Yates writes movingly of his mother, speaking directly to her at times, as he reflects on her legacy and the ways he is learning to live life without her by his side, but with a presence still keenly felt. As Yates writes in the song, "When you become a memory you can never lose a fight / Empty out your closet but keep all the clothes you like / Salt still in the wound / Still I always think of you / Every time the perennials bloom."
WATCH / SHARE “PERENNIALS” LYRIC VIDEO HERE
BUY / STREAM “PERENNIALS” HERE
MORE ABOUT KEN YATES
Over the last decade, Ken Yates has solidified himself as a prolific musician, combining heartfelt lyricism, genuine authenticity and hypnotic guitar licks. After studying at the Berklee College of Music, Yates released The Backseat EP in 2011, followed by his full-length debut Twenty-Three in 2013. He won the Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award in 2014 for his song "The One That Got Away" and released his second album, Huntsville, in 2016, produced by Jim Bryson. By 2017, Yates was making waves in folk with his poignant songwriting, winning the awards for Canadian Folk Music Award for both Songwriter of the Year and New Artist of the Year.
In 2022 Yates released his most realized set of songs yet with his acclaimed fourth full length album Cerulean. Channeling pain into beauty, the Jim Bryson produced album is a breathtaking triumph of the human spirit. The cool-hued Cerulean captured the artist’s intimate reckoning as he grieved his dying mother, giving listeners a vivid window into the rollercoaster of intense thoughts and emotions that accompany such a personal, yet universal experience resulting in a transcendent record that surges with tightly held energy and intimate moments.
LISTEN / SHARE “CATACLYSMIC END” HERE
LISTEN / SHARE “MY LOVE FOR YOU IS A STRAIGHT LINE” HERE
TOUR DATES WITH KATHLEEN EDWARDS
Feb 27 - Austin, TX - 04 Center
Mar 1 - San Antonio, TX - Tobin Center
PRAISE FOR CERULEAN
"It’s another lyrical vessel of yearning and emotional reckoning matched up with strummed acoustic guitar, further setting the scene for what Cerulean has in store." - FLOOD
"Cerulean is more astral than backroads, a soundscape that gives Yates room to ruminate, approaching the concert hall atmospherics of The War on Drugs, Andy Shauf, and Big Thief." - The Creek 100.9
“Yates has now asserted himself as one of Canada’s most unique folk artists with a true knack for effective songwriting.” - Canadian Beats
"An enchanting song of acceptance and resolve, Ken Yates’ “The Big One” is a soothing and stirring apocalyptic lullaby that finds refuge in the face of life’s fragility." - Atwood Magazine
"Ken has earned a strong reputation as a bona-fide composer who combines his emotionally charged storytelling with some incredible and unforgettable melodies.” - Great Dark Wonder
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