The 2024 season of the Music in the Forest series at Sir Winston Churchill Provincial Park kicks off March 7 with a performance by Edmonton musician Eric Kane.
The indie musician describes the lyrics of his songs as being “emotionally-driven.” He hopes the stories in the songs, and the music itself will help others to feel love, pain and to be inspired. Kane named such acts as City and Colour, Vance Joy, Dermot Kennedy as some of his biggest influences.
“Genre-wise, I'm in the indie folk pop range, but my music is written from a very vulnerable, emotional driven place,” he told Lakeland This Week.
Kane, who will soon be flying to Vancouver to start working on his second solo EP, released three albums previously with his band Kane Incognito.
But it was after the pandemic, says the indie artist, that going solo made sense for him both from a creative and business standpoint.
While he had always been musically inclined, it was the loss of a loved one that prompted Kane to get into music as a career.
“My family is very musically driven, but it was the loss of my brother and bandmate at the time, January 15. 2015, that really got me focused on pursuing music at this level,” said Kane, who had formerly been a drummer in his brother’s band, No Heat Tomorrow.
While he doesn’t have a studio in his home, Kane has worked with such Edmonton-based producers as Josh Sahunta, Greg Wright, as well as Brandon Unis and Bradley Simons from Velveteen Audio.
Some of his songs have also received airplay. This includes ‘Eyes Wide Open’, one of the top songs from his previous project that made it across Canada on radio. This song, he says, was inspired from the lessons learnt after losing his brother and is about “being more present in the beautiful moments given to us each day.”
“From my current project, "Destiny" & "Sunsets & Silhouettes" are my top streamed songs,” Kane stated.
‘Destiny’, Kane explained, is inspired by the loss of another close friend to suicide and was written to bring awareness to mental health in the hopes of dropping the stigma society still has of this issue.
'Sunsets and Silhouettes’ is inspired by a trip the singer made through the Rocky Mountains.
Recently, Kane did a performance on CBC Gem, something he describes as a very genuine experience.
“The universe works in mysterious ways,” he said with a laugh. “Opportunity came knocking and I answered. I was asked to perform a birthday party for a friend of a friend. Next thing you know I'm on national television. The whole crew and team on the show PUSH were all incredible to work with.”
Kane is excited to be playing in and being a part of the Music in the Forest series for the first time. The concert is one of several gigs he will be playing in 2024.
Last year, he performed and toured all across Western Canada to Ontario.
“This year, I hope to branch out further,” he said. “Come the spring, I will be hitting the road once again.”
Tickets for the Music in the Forest show at Sir Winston Churchill Provincial Park can be found through the Alberta Parks website.
