artist Sunbear

Sunbear - an eclectic, trippy-country and folk-infused rock band fronted by singer-songwriter Kate Boothman with Ian Russell (One Hundred Dollars) on bass and masterful Canadian music veteran Michelle Josef on drums — celebrates the release of its second album, Moonbath. Set for release on September 21, 2010, the band will set up shop with a very special album release show at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto on Thursday, September 16th. Moonbath, which was recorded in just six days by Blue Rodeo’s Greg Keelor at his farm in December 2009, features the band and a slew of star studded guest musical collaborators, including Keelor, Mike Boguski (Blue Rodeo), Ian Blurton (C'mon, Change of Heart), Kathleen Edwards, Julie Fader, Erik Arneson (Great Lake Swimmers), Graham Walsh (Holy Fuck), and Sean Dean (The Sadies), among others. Kate Boothman has been recording beautiful, hand-made records for years, first with the short-lived but well-loved all-girl retro outfit The Real Priscillas; then as Horse, a solo recording project that featured turns by members of Blue Rodeo and The Sadies; and then last year’s Sunbear debut album, Sun Streaming In. Boothman has also been gaining a reputation as a solo performer, playing stripped-down acoustic sets as the invited opener for established songwriting talents like Joe Pernice (Pernice Brothers), Hope Sandoval (Mazzy Star), and Robyn Hitchcock. With Moonbath, Sunbear pushes Boothman’s natural talent for musical storytelling to a new level. Moonbath sounds like the intimate document of a separation’s long aftermath, the thaw during which the high costs of freedom are stared down with clear eyes and the pleasures of independence are weighed against a longing for re-connection. It’s a collection of solitary morning afters spent by characters who intimately confess to being distracted, lonely, and jobless; where the electric thrill of anticipation is undercut by the resignation that risking heartbreak is an unavoidable cycle. Boothman exposes the fragile hearts hiding inside a honky-tonk world where ‘unrequited’ goes beer-in-hand with ‘late-nighted’. Taking