2024—Acclaimed singer, songwriter, and musician Kaïa Kater will release her anticipated new album, Strange Medicine, on May 17 via Free Dirt Records (pre-order/pre-save here). Ahead of the release, the new song “Fédon,” featuring Taj Mahal, is debuting today. Watch a new performance video for the song HERE.
Of the track, released in honor of Black History Month, Kater shares, “This song centers around a late 18th-century Grenadian revolutionary, Julien Fédon, who began an armed insurrection against the British colonists and plantation owners in Grenada. Inspired by the Haitian Revolution, Fédon’s army was composed of many enslaved Black Grenadians and mixed-race free Black people. Though the rebellion was ultimately unsuccessful, I wanted to channel the meticulous planning and electric energy that must have been traveling through the island on the night of the first attack,” and continues, “I was overjoyed that Taj Mahal agreed to sing on this, as he is an icon in folk music and has brought Caribbean influences to so many of his works. He’s also an incredible person and a personal hero of mine.”
Produced by Kater and Joe Grass (Elisapie, The Barr Brothers), Strange Medicine is Kater’s first new album in six years (following 2018’s Grenades) and her most personal record to date. Created during a period of deep self-reflection and reinvention, the new music finds Kater expanding her creative scope as she celebrates the power of women and oppressed people throughout history, while also sharing meditations on her own life. In addition to “Fédon,” Strange Medicine also features the previously released single “The Internet,” as well as collaborations with Aoife O’Donovan (“The Witch”) and Allison Russell (“In Montreal”).
Reflecting on the project, Kater shares, “The through line for me is just stories. It was the story of my dad on Grenades, and on Strange Medicine, it’s the story of people in history who might not have had their proper recognition. It’s also my chance to finally write about the times in my life when I didn’t feel like I had a voice, in order to give myself one now.”
Since her debut, Kater has released three full-length albums, including 2018’s Grenades, which was nominated for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year at that year’s JUNO Awards and longlisted for the Polaris Music Prize. Released to widespread critical attention, NPR Music praised, “vivid, sensory images and poetic language...We’re lucky that Kater has shared her fully formed vision with us,” while Rolling Stone declared, “plaintive, mesmerizing...[Kater] writes and performs with the skill of a folk-circuit veteran,” and No Depression proclaimed, “If you want some authenticity in your folk music or bluegrass – I give you Kaïa Kater.” Additionally, Kater has been featured as part of NPR Music’s “Tiny Desk Concert” series and toured extensively across North America, Europe, and the U.K.
Based in Canada with a foothold in Brooklyn, Kater’s music is influenced by the sounds of Canada, the Caribbean, and Appalachia, and reflects her unique Grenadian-Canadian roots. In addition to her own work as a singer and musician, Kater took part in the Slaight Music Residency at the Canadian Film Center and wrote original music for BET’s series, The Porter, for which she won Best Original Song in a Drama Series at the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards. She also wrote music for the new film, My Dead Friend Zoe, which is premiering next month at SXSW.
STRANGE MEDICINE TRACK LIST
The Witch (feat. Aoife O’Donovan)
Maker Taker
Mechanics of the Mind
In Montreal (feat. Allison Russell)
The Internet
Fédon (feat. Taj Mahal)
Floodlights
Often as the Autumn
History in Motion
Tigers
KAÏA KATER CONFIRMED TOUR DATES
March 28—Savannah, GA—Savannah Music Festival
April 9—Savannah, GA—Metal Building at Trustees’ Garden (5:00 PM show)
April 9—Savannah, GA—Metal Building at Trustees’ Garden (8:00 PM show)
