Kaia Kater - "Rising Down"
Photo by Polina Mourzina Folk music has been around for generations, and true folk music hasn't really changed much. Making music with a human voice and acoustic string instruments has been done millions of times. That's what makes it so special when you actually find someone doing something unique with the art form. Kaia Kater is one of those truly rare voices. Hailing from Toronto, she spent time learning and honing her art in the Appalachians in West Virginia. While most modern folk is uplifting and celebratory, "Rising Down" is dark. It's dark to the point that it includes the lyric "Your cross is a symbol of my lynching." It's not exactly the music for hipsters to dance to while wearing a straw hat, and bring a political charge back to a genre that's been missing it for a while. Her voice is beautifully haunting, bouncing between powerful and vulnerable between words. The music is just sparse enough to make her vocals and lyrics the c...