‘Float Away’ is a great example of this, the modern synths and traditional strings creating a rich, human track stripped of references to times or dates, instead favouring a universal simplicity that carries calm and comfort within its mighty grasp.

“Started out at the riverbed where we lay
while the smoke curled overhead, there we lay
filled our lungs with all the stories we’d been told to get us through the day”

Thematically, RELAX explores isolation and connection in various forms. Not only focused on a simple personal level, the record also considers wider feminist, cultural and racial aspects too, opening with expansive questions and slowly honing in to smaller concerns. “Where do we go / oh when we die?” Burns asks on ‘New Moon Blues’. “Do we become / all of the black in the night sky?” Tracks such as ‘Signs’ and ‘Holding Steady’ are more upbeat in terms of arrangement, more fierce in terms of lyrics. Both tracks feel rooted in personal and social justice, the former talking of breaking cycles and watching the fall of walls and silences, the latter a call to arms for the beaten down, a signal of strength and determination.

“Now I’m kicking in the glass walls
learning how to stand tall
learning how to speak

I’ll hold my own now
lately I’ve been holding steady, I’ve been holding steady

and all the time we spend to forgive our choices
echoes all the time we need to collect our voices”

‘Wild Things’ feels like a renunciation of the complicated trappings of modern life, positing a return to some previous simplicity where today’s barriers and challenges are not yet formed, and closer ‘Reset’ takes this a step further. As the title suggests, the track proposes a fresh start, boiling down our existence to the basest elements as a way to reconnect to real life and the people around us, as though in recognising we are all skin and blood and bone, we might realise our common existence.

RELAX feels like Burns working through the issues of contemporary Canadian life, how we live positively and responsibly, challenging the privilege of others while questioning our own in the hope of healing history and creating a more just and harmonious future. The album is available now from the KASHKA Bandcamp page in a variety of formats, including a special edition that comes with a hand-sewn zine full of lyrics, drawings and photos, complete with risograph printed cover.

P.S. KASHKA recently visited the good folks at Southern Souls to record a live session, producing a series of great videos such as this for ‘signs’ below:

The post KASHKA – RELAX appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Because we still have a fair amount of tapes left, and obviously want to raise as much as possible for Worldreader, we have decided to run a special holiday offer. So, as suggested below in stylised sans serif, entering the code ‘HOHOHO’ at the checkout on Bandcamp will get you a handsome 40% off both digital and physical copies of the compilation. This will still cover the production cost of the cassette, but remember all profits go to charity, so every extra pound you give will be a pound well spent.To refresh your memory, here’s what you’ll be getting if you put some of your hard earned cash towards Quiet, Constant Friends:

Side A

Danielle Fricke – The Well
Lotte Kestner – Cattleya
Wes Tirey – Akhnilo Blues
Pasture Dog – Everything That Rises Must Converge
Old Earth – Pretty Steep
Salt Altars – Little Big Man
Henry Demos – Not Her
Beat Radio – Mexico City
Sondra Sun-Odeon – Hair

Side B

Nathan Amundson – Haruki Murakami
Windmill – Jim & The Rather Large Nectarine
ARMS – The Book of Love
Oh, Rose & Sawtooth – TV
Free Cake For Every Creature – Don’t Go Away (Ahumpf Acgroof)
John Ross – The Overlook Hotel
Kissing Fractures – I Drank Phosphorus With Aunt Lucy
Nice Legs – Past Lives
Ben Seretan – King of Crumbs
Trouble Books – Oak and Linden Tree Abridged
Lewtrakimou – I’m a Book on Tape
Nadia Reid – Runway

Grab a download or cassette now via our Bandcamp page, and be sure to remember to use the code ‘HOHOHO’ for your discount.

The post Quiet Constant Friends: A Christmas Sale (40% Off!) appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The art piece for this track is by the multi-talented Kat Burns, an artist, voice-over actor and musician (formerly Forest City Lovers, now KASHKA. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram.You can pre-order Quiet, Constant Friends now via the Wake The Deaf Bandcamp page, both digitally and on limited edition cassette.

The post Quiet, Constant Friends: Salt Altars – Little Big Man appeared first on Various Small Flames.