CONCERT

Montréal producer Kee Avil combines guitar, voice, and electronic production to forge deconstructed songs informed by a distinctive amalgam of post-industrial, avant-pop, glitch, minimalist, and experimental folk sensibilities. Catching the ear of Montréal label Constellation, Kee Avil’s debut album Crease was released on the imprint in 2022, garnering widespread critical accolades and a Juno Award nomination: “A stunning debut” (The Quietus); “A debut of fiendish creativity” (Bandcamp Albums Of The Year). Kee Avil performed extensively in solo and duo configurations, playing at Ruhrtriennale, Le Guess Who?, and Vancouver Jazz Festival among many others. 

On Spine, her sophomore album, Kee Avil strips back her heavily textured compositions, opening up a much rawer sound. This is urgent music that reflects the precarity of modern life, as well as the jarring mixture of electronic and real-world interactions that have become the fabric of our day-to-day experiences. There’s a hypnotic somnambulance to it all, using the repetition and fracturing of melodic phrases interwoven with delicate electronics to create curious and persistent hooks. While not a concept album, themes of time’s passage, remembrance, and decay crop up across multiple tracks. Within a minimalist framework, the juxtaposition of beauty and discomfort that is key to the Kee Avil sound stands out in skin-prickling relief.