Ben Caplan
Ben Caplan is both the roar of the hurricane and the eye of the storm. He has an uncanny ability to channel both wild abandon and quiet introspection. His songwriting pulls from many diverse influences but both his music and his lyrics regularly draw from his Jewish heritage. Often mixing biblical imagery and klezmer inflected melodies, Caplan re-appropriates ancient sounds and themes with a decidedly contemporary twist.
Ben released his first studio album in 2011, and has spent the last ten years recording music and performing to ever growing audiences in music clubs and theatres around the world. For the ten year anniversary of his first release, Caplan has recorded a retrospective collection of stripped back re-interpretations of songs from across his catalogue. The album, entitled Recollection, will be released in October of 2021 followed by an extensive European and Canadian tour.
"Burlesque folk with a bellowing ringmaster" Guardian
"Ben Caplan & The Casual Smokers are consistently an exciting band to see. With their soulful folk tune, multi-instrumental musicians, and theatric banter they never fail to entangle an audience in their songs" Spill
"Halifax musician Ben Caplan can be counted among the genre-defying musicians with his unique sound" The Voice
Gabrielle Papillon is a Canadian musician and songwriter based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. To date she has recorded seven albums. n 2015, she released her fifth album The Tempest of Old. It charted on Canadian national campus radio, CBC Radio 2, and the international iTunes Singer-Songwriter charts and won the Music Nova Scotia Award for Recording of the Year. She also began working with veteran music manager Peter Jenner. She released her sixth album Keep the Fire in 2017. The album was nominated for three East Coast Music Awards, four Music Nova Scotia Awards, and a Canadian Folk Music Award, winning the Music Nova Scotia award for SOCAN Songwriter of the Year in 2018.[ Papillon's seventh album Shout was released in 2019. Songs from Papillon's albums have appeared in various films and television shows in Canada, the United States, and Australia including Rookie Blue (USA) and This Life (CAN). Tom Power, host of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's 'q', has called Papillon "one of the finest songwriters in the country right now". In an interview for the Globe and Mail, writer, director, and actor Sarah Polley said of Papillon "She is an incredible songwriter and has a transcendent voice."
Gabrielle Papillon