Frazey Ford, recently announced her third album U kin B the Sun, will come out on February 7, via Arts & Crafts. Ford made a point of preserving many of the lightning-in-a-bottle moments captured during those first sessions for U kin B the Sun. As a result, the album embodies the same untamed and ineffable energy that guided its creation. “There’s certain songs that just appear and there’s no art to it,” says Ford. “To me those songs have some kind of spiritual quality—sometimes I feel like they’re these different voices that you’re able to channel. There really was something magical about the improvisational aspect and how that shaped the album, and such a joy in the experience of really reveling in what we were all creating together.”

Lead album single “Azad” reveals the rich emotional texture of U kin B the Sun, embedding Ford’s lyrical storytelling with sharply rendered memories of early childhood (a time she spent living on a commune in Canada as the daughter of American draft dodgers). With its brightly shuffling beats and soaring vocal work, “Azad” offers a poignant message of courage. “There’s something to that song that’s about survival, and about the love that my siblings and I have for each other in coming through an intense situation together,” says Ford.

Recorded at John Raham’s Afterlife Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, featuring her Vancouver musicians, Darren Parris, Leon Power, Craig McCaul and Caroline Ballhorn 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. U kin B the Sun partly draws inspiration from several instances of serendipity that transpired during her international touring in support of Indian Ocean—including playing separate rooms in the same venue as D’Angelo one night in Holland, which eventually prompted her 2017 cover of the iconic neo-soul singer’s “When We Get By”.

Frazey Ford
TOUR DATES

2/29: Montreal, QC @ Petit Campus

3/2: Toronto, ON @ Mod Club Theatre

3/4: Nanaimo, BC @ The Port Theatre

3/5: Victoria, BC @ Capital Ballroom

3/18: Seattle @ The Crocodile Café

3/19: Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios

3/21: San Francisco, CA @ Independent

3/24: Los Angeles, CA @ The Satellite

3/25: New York, NY @ Baby’s All Right

3/26: Washington, DC @ Pearl Street Warehouse

3/27: Philadelphia, PA @ World Café

7/17-7/19: Vancouver Folk Music Festival @ Jerico Beach Park