FIVER & THE FIVER TROIS and ASHLEY SHADOW w/ Marissa Johnson

A spellbinding double bill of boundary-pushing Canadian indie roots; unforgettable songs, singular voices, and full-band electricity

A spellbinding double bill of boundary-pushing Canadian indie roots: Fiver & The Fiver Trois and Ashley Shadow bring unforgettable songs, singular voices, and full-band electricity to the Comox Valley.

From Toronto/New Brunswick — country, folk, art-rock, and fearless improvisation FIVER & THE FIVER TROIS

with co-headliner from Vancouver — smoky, slow-burning indie folk from one of the West Coast’s most affecting voices ASHLEY SHADOW

& the Comox Valley’s MARISSA JOHNSON

FIVER & THE FIVER TROIS

Fiver with the Fiver Trois is the kind of band that can make a room go quiet and then make it levitate: country music bent through art-rock nerve, folk storytelling, punk urgency, and fearless improvisation. At the centre is Simone Schmidt, a singular songwriter, vocalist, researcher, and guitarist whose songs turn buried histories, private reckonings, and political ghosts into music that feels immediate, alive, and impossible to box in. Their label describes Schmidt as continuing to innovate in the country and folk traditions “with humour and gravity,” while the new Fiver Trois lineup balances “tight songs with sprawling improvisational passages” delivered with “dynamic energy and palpable affection.” For anyone walking in cold, expect songs with hooks, grit, mystery, and a live-band electricity that moves from intimate confession to full-body release. Schmidt has collaborated on recordings and live with Destroyer, Fucked Up, the Lonesome Ace String Band, free improvisers, and many more; Fiver recordings have earned four Polaris Music Prize nominations, and Schmidt has even been called “a Canadian PJ Harvey” by Canadian Rolling Stone. Fiver’s new full-length, Fiver Trois presents Cleaning House, arrived July 10 on You’ve Changed Records after a long creative clearing-out, gathering “nagging melodies,” “molten feelings,” and “wilting tunes” into a record that renews Schmidt’s already remarkable catalogue. Word of mouth has reached us regarding Fiver’s amazing live performances.

ASHLEY SHADOW

Ashley Shadow is the solo voice of Vancouver songwriter Ashley Webber, and her songs arrive like late-night transmissions: smoky, patient, melodic, and quietly devastating. For new listeners, think dusky indie folk and slow-burning roots-rock with the emotional directness of a great ballad and the atmosphere of the Pacific Northwest after dark. AllMusic called her debut “an aching” record with an “engaging, gritty mix of acoustic and electric, strong and vulnerable,” while Pitchfork described her work as “a gentle testament to resilience in the face of emotional hardship.” Her voice can feel intimate enough for a small room and big enough to stop one. A longtime presence in Vancouver music, Webber was formerly of The Organ and Pink Mountaintops, has sung with Bonnie “Prince” Billy, and is the twin sister of Black Mountain and Lightning Dust’s Amber Webber. Her collaboration with Bonnie “Prince” Billy on “Don’t Slow Me Down” underlines what makes her music so affecting: Shadow builds intimate worlds where vulnerability becomes its own kind of strength.

MARISSA JOHNSON

Marissa Johnson is a seasoned songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and prolific collaborator with a career spanning over twenty years of independent music-making. Since her 2010 debut album, The Sky Between the Buildings (originally released under the moniker Weathered Pines), she has toured North America and Europe, contributing her talents to projects like Dizzy Eyes, Nicholas Krgovich and The Flintettes. After moving away from Vancouver to return to her hometown of Courtenay, BC, Johnson has stepped away from pseudonyms and side projects to claim her space under her own name.