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Ghostkeeper
Banff Centre Summer Arts Festival
Arrive early and explore Elliptical Lineages at Walter Phillips Gallery—join the free public reception on June 27 from 5–8 PM. Then settle in for an intimate evening with Ghostkeeper, the experimental pop-rock band whose music channels the spirit world in all its pain, beauty, and wonderment.
Their most recent release, Cîpayak Joy, mixes found noises with snippets of pop and trap, weaving a tapestry of haunting beauty. It was created through a string of collaborative, off-the-cuff basement sessions, using working methods totally new to Ghostkeeper.
A colourful patchwork of noisy pop and heartfelt outsider blues, much of Ghostkeeper’s earlier music can be understood through the distinctive northern Alberta origins of Shane Ghostkeeper (vocals, guitar) and Sarah Houle (drums, vocals). Shane and Sarah spent their adolescence isolated by the region’s geography, listening to folk and blues records and slowly developing an admiration for individuals that had the ability to convey rich stories through song.
“Ghostkeeper, the Calgary-based art-rock collective that in 2023 grazed the Polaris Prize longlist for Multidimensional Culture, have proven again and again their ability to transform… [Cîpayak Joy] presents a departure from previous projects to explore something unabashedly raw in its instrumental simplicity. The result is a re-conjuring of joy that mingles with wounds past and present, thrusting them to the forefront of a musical partnership that spans decades, land, time, and space.” — Exclaim
CLVB’33
Photo by Jared Sych.