Listen To “Strange Paradise” By Branden Lam

Blending authentic songwriting with modern indie flare, Braden Lam is forging the path to a new 21st-century folk. The young artist from Halifax, Nova Scotia sounds like The Lumineers and Phoebe Bridgers met at a campfire in Canada. He’s described as “Nova Scotia’s emerging songwriting sensation” by Grid City Magazine. Freshly nominated for two East Coast Music Awards, including Song of The Year, Braden Lam’s new EP Strange Paradise explores a relationship in its entirety, takes his lived experience and expands it into a fictional narrative. Lam pulls many collaborators into a cohesive album that keeps his lyrical prowess, honey vocals, and catchy melodies as its centre, while nudging out toward the margins with lush arrangements and surprising darkness.

On Strange Paradise, Halifax indie-folk upstart Braden Lam explores an independent redemption story that traces the early blush of infatuation to the hard-won moment of acceptance that it’s over. After multiple singles with Colin Buchanan, on this project, Lam has added producers Daniel Ledwell and Joshua Van Tassel, and co-writers Adelle Elwood (Keeper E.), Blanche Israël (Jeremy Dutcher), and Jordan Coaker (of Quote the Raven) to the team. Much like the record’s theme, this approach strikes a unique balance between experimental naivete and the ever-familiar comfort sounds of Canadian folk and rock.

‘Second Wind’, the single following the EP release, considers how this could be a new start, Lam repeating “I’m ready / I’m ready” until it stretches his voice out high and furtive.The two main characters that we follow throughout the tracks on this EP anticipate a new love taking them by surprise on this song.. Lam describes his inspiration for the EP, “To find oneself in a strange paradise means to explore the depth of feelings between wild abandon and poignant despair—you might call them peaks and valleys, or ups and downs, or ebb and flow. Another word for it? Love.” 

He’s been nominated for multiple East Coast Music and Music Nova Scotia Awards, endorsed by RBCxMusic and Harmony Guitars, and awarded a SOCAN Foundation Award for Young Canadian Songwriters. Lam has showcased and toured around the world including at FOCUS Wales and Germany’s Reeperbahn Festival, in Ireland and across Canada. After his Strange Paradise release shows in April, he’ll showcase at the ECMAs, The Great Escape festival in England, and tour Europe with Pillow Fite.

LIVE DATES

May 10 / London, UK / The Finsbury

May 11 to 13 / Brighton, UK / The Great Escape Festival

May 14 / Sheffield, UK / Dorothy Pax

May 16 / Manchester, UK / The Eagle Inn

May 17 / Glasgow, SCOT / Bloc+

May 18 / Edinburgh, SCOT /  Leith Depot

May 19 / Dunfermline, SCOT / PJ Molloys

May 21 / London, UK / Servant Jazz Quarters

June 9 / Crosshaven, IRE / Harbour Lights

June 10 / Cork, IRE / Sunflour

June 11 / Dublin, IRE / Workman’s Cellar

Source: thoughtswordsaction.com