the Blue Raincoats

Biography

The Blue Raincoats is the new creative outlet for Keri Steele of Hush Hush. One guitar, one amazing voice. It all started in a living room in downtown Toronto with Steele and Hush Hush bassist Nina Martinez playing guitars and writing new songs for a projected third Hush Hush album. Steele soon realized that they were creating something new, something more stripped down than the band and with a greater emphasis on her voice. “After spending many years working in a band setting, it was time for me to branch out and work more independently with a different musical template; more open and vulnerable, and working with Nina offered that possibility.” Reinvention is a word that may be overused, but is definitely not a cliché when applied to singer/songwriter Keri Steele. As a teenager in Vankleek Hill, Ontario, she was a founding member of ambient folk group Imaginary Heaven. After recording three albums with that line-up, Steele felt the need to stretch artistically and explore more contemporary forms of music. Forming Hush Hush enabled her to combine an identifiable band sound with the flexibility of working with a variety of musicians. Both Hush Hush albums, Cinematheque and Fake, were critically acclaimed and charted at Canadian college radio. The Blue Raincoats debut album was produced by Thomas Ryder Payne (ex-Joydrop) and features guest performances by Michael “Mez” Dilauro (Beautiful 2000), Josh Hicks (Wild Strawberries/K-OS) and Sarah McElcheran (Damhnait Doyle/Sarah Slean). As well as some great original songs ranging from the garage-band-with-horns of Backfire to the acoustic thoughtfulness of Nice Holidays, the album includes a bare bones version of the Nancy Sinatra classic “How Does That Grab You, Darling?” “There was really no question in my mind whether or not to record these songs, but I was very nervous when we began the process. I’m so proud of this music and I really wanted to capture the simplicity and rawness of our live shows while enhancing the songs with more instruments and layers. It was a very emotional process for me – more so than any other recording experience I’ve had. I’m more attached to the music and this is both a good and bad thing when recording it. But at the end of it all I feel we have an honest, dynamic and candid album and I’m very happy about that.” The Blue Raincoats self-titled debut album is set for release in Canada on September 27th through Popguru Sound & Vision and distributed by Outside Music.