Ada Lea with Sam Lynch and Runner (solo)

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Cost: $22.50
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Ada Lea
The hand knows best,” the painter Margaux Williamson says. “A shape produces itself, where I go toward what is intuitive, rather than logical.” The shapely, intuitive songs that comprise Ada Lea’s third album, when i paint my masterpiece, are surprising, imagistic, tactile. They stand before us and we feel their brushstrokes. Alexandra Levy holds her guitar against the backdrop of a sea of her paintings on the album cover and it’s tempting to ask: is painting a metaphor here, for music or life? No! As ever, she resists tidy metaphors. She’s a master of this kind of thorny lowercase title that germinates and grows with time. In a real, profound way, music and painting go hand-in-hand as she unveils a new style of subversion and surrealism inspired by her transdisciplinarity.

Levy is a Renaissance woman, and Ada Lea’s albums have been swelling in scope alongside the evolution of her artistic life. Her recent turn toward pedagogy—teaching a songwriting course at Concordia University and co-facilitating a community-based group called The Songwriting Method—weaves another vivid thread into her multifaceted practice. Her debut LP, what we say in private, blurred the lines between interior and performative worlds. Her sophomore record, one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden, featured vignettes centered on Montreal. On this sprawling and ambitious album, written over three years and whittled down from over 200 songs, she asks: what happens when you… pause? How can a life be held suspended in song? The album is a kaleidoscopic exploration of the transformations art can bring: the vision of an uncompromising artist dancing bravely and freely between registers and across mediums.

Sam Lynch:
Sam Lynch is a Vancouver based singer-songwriter and producer who makes music that will stare you down and slow your breathing. Sam’s highly anticipated sophomore album, Outline, was released November 2024 on Birthday Cake Records, and explores existence, isolation, and introspection with striking clarity. Sam has performed at some of the country’s biggest venues and festival stages—appearing in headlining roles and in support of artists such as Men I Trust, Andy Shauf, and Faye Webster, and earned numerous accolades, including the 2022 Western Canadian Music Award for “Songwriter of the Year”.

Runner (solo)
Kira Cuthbertson is a Vancouver-based songwriter and the front person of the indie folk-rock band runner. Originally from Calgary, she got her start working in recording studios, where she developed a deep understanding of both the technical and creative sides of production. Her solo material highlights the heart of her songwriting—melody-driven, lyrically rich, and emotionally grounded. While she’s best known for leading runner, who’ve been gaining momentum in Vancouver’s music scene with their upcoming debut EP, Kira’s solo sets offer a more intimate take on her work—bringing the songwriting into sharper focus and creating space for new interpretations.
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