Following huge acclaim for her 2020 album U kin B the Sun, Vancouver Soul-Americana artist Frazey Ford is set to take the album on tour for the first time since its release. At turns ecstatic and heavy-hearted, gloriously shambolic, and deeply purifying, the new album has been praised as “her best yet” (The Times) for its “dramatic and rather dazzling” (Uncut) blend of Ford’s mesmerizing vocals and percussion-soaked grooves. Having amassed a vast global fanbase over the course of her lustrous career, many have yet to experience the new album live.
To mark the occasion, today Frazey shares a stirring new music video for the title track, “U kin B the Sun.” Directed and conceived with Brian Lye – who co-created landmark videos for “Done” and “The Kids Are Having None of It” – and artist/bandmate Caroline Ballhorn, Frazey set out to visually represent the connections between the cosmos, the sun, the land, the sea, and humans. Shot using vintage film lenses and employing all analogue visual effects, the video feels like the album is having an out-of-body experience, taking on three dimensions and reflecting on the world around it. Frazey describes:
"’U Kin Be the Sun’ explores the vast and eternal within us, the reoccurring ancient mythology of the individual as the universal, as light, as the sun. Shot on location on Gabriola Island, British Columbia, traditional territory of the Snuneymuxw nation. The moonscape sandstone caves, lush rainforests and the ocean itself, serve as hypnotic and reverent imagery, the transcendent experience of communion with the natural world. Paper animation weaves between the dimensions of reality, of self, of the natural realm, and the cosmos."
The result is a hypnotic and earthy mediation on our place in the universe, and the temporal nature of existence. The protagonist in the cloud suit is played by Frazey’s son, Saul. Sequins supplied by Frazey. She has lots of them.
On her masterful third album, Frazey Ford seamlessly inhabits an entire world of shapeshifting rhythm she refers to as “pagan disco,” elevating every beat and groove with the subtle magnetism of her mesmerizing voice as she examines pain and loss telegraphed through a prism of unfettered joy. Ford combats the toxic political climate that surrounds us with an irrefutably bold sense of assurance. With its graceful collision of soul and psychedelia combined with ’70s funk, U kin B the Sun is a body of work that invites both self-reflection and wildly joyful movement, and ultimately sparks a quiet transcendence.
Recorded at John Raham’s Afterlife Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, featuring her Vancouver musicians Darren Parris, Leon Power, Craig McCaul, and Caroline Ballhorn, Erilk Nielsen along with Phil Cook on keys, U kin B the Sun follows Ford’s 2014 release Indian Ocean, an album made with members of legendary Memphis soul band The Hi Rhythm Section.
Revered for her singular voice, immersive lyrical storytelling and captivating live show, Frazey Ford now presents U kin B the Sun to audiences worldwide, with North American and UK/European tours. UK dates begin November 17 in Milton Keynes, see below for full itinerary.
Frazey Ford 2021 UK Tour Dates
17 Nov – Milton Keynes, The Stables 18 Nov – London, Union Chapel 19 Nov – London, Union Chapel 20 Nov – Coventry, Warwick University 22 Nov – Bristol, Fiddlers 23 Nov – Hassocks, Mid Sussex Music Hall at Hassocks Hotel 25 Nov – Manchester, Gorilla 26 Nov – Edinburgh, La Belle Angelle 27 Nov – Newcastle, Gosforth Civic Hall 28 Nov – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club 30 Nov – Nottingham, The Glee
