Spring is on the horizon here in the midwest, and that usually means rain. This was no different on Friday, March 31st in Cleveland, Ohio. But for those looking to get away from the dreary weather, Canadian indie-folk trio The Rural Alberta Advantage (they refer to themselves as The RAA, so I will as well for the sake of simplicity) offered an escape at the Beachland Ballroom. With support from Georgia Harmer, the room was filled with sounds preparing us for the better part of spring.
Georgia Harmer
Georgia Harmer opened up the show at about 8:05. Also hailing from Toronto, Harmer is the niece of singer Sarah Harmer, formerly of the band Weeping Tile. While only having released her first single Headrush in 2021 and her debut album Stay in Touch in April of last year, she is no stranger to being on stage, having been a backing vocalist for Alessia Cara.
If I’m being honest, I hadn’t listened to any of her work until maybe 15 minutes beforehand, so I was essentially going in blind. Blending catchy melodies with mellow, laid-back guitar (and the occasional much more upbeat riff), Georgia Harmer created the perfect atmosphere to escape from the bad weather outside. Austin, off her debut album, has a guitar line reminiscent of Western Americana, mixing well with her lyrics drawn from the American West. On the other hand, Homes is much slower, with lyrics that embody the phrase “home is where the heart is”.
One thing I notice with many newer bands and even many older ones is that in between songs, there is little if any banter or interaction with the audience. But with Harmer, she seemed to be a natural at talking to the audience, cracking jokes, and telling stories. Props to her for that ability, especially when many bands don’t do that enough on a regular basis.
You can find Georgia Harmer on Instagram, Spotify, Facebook, and YouTube, and see her supporting The RAA on their upcoming Canadian shows before heading to the UK in May.
The Rural Alberta Advantage
The RAA was formed in Toronto in 2005 by vocalist/guitarist Nils Edenloff, keyboardist/vocalist Amy Cole, and drummer Paul Banwatt. To date, they have released four albums and one EP, with the latter being released just last year in 2022. They also released the single Plague Dogs on January 31st of this year in anticipation of their U.S tour. This was the second to last show on that tour before they head home to Canada for an 11-show string of dates lasting until early July.
At exactly 9, The Rural Alberta Advantage hit the stage. I’ve never quite seen a stage setup like theirs. On (the crowd’s) stage left, you had Amy Cole, then Nils Edenloff in the middle, and on stage right was Paul Banwatt on drums, facing towards Cole and Edenloff. Having a drummer in this position posed a unique challenge trying to get photos of him, compared to the usual challenge of trying to photograph a drummer at the back of the stage.
One thing to note before going into the review of The RAA’s show, I was not able to stay for the entire length of the show and was unfortunately unable to find a setlist and not being as familiar with their songs, this review is going to be from what I was able to catch and piece together.
Giving their recorded work a listen, you would not think they would bring the intensity and energy that they do on stage. Starting off was CANDU, which starts off with an acoustic guitar finger-picking section before Edenloff comes in on vocals, then immediately after Banwatt comes in with a thunderous drum beat, accompanied by Cole on her own tom drum. As the song progresses, the vibe changes to what can only be described as anthemic, something you can feel throughout your body both through headphones or speakers or live.
This ends up being a common theme in their music, seeming to take influence from the stomp-and-clap bands of the mid-2010’s such as The Lumineers and Mumford and Sons then turning it up to 11. Instead of the slower, more acoustic-driven sounds of many of those bands, The RAA take a more, I’ll say rock approach, focusing less on Edenloff on guitar but distributing the focus between Banwatt’s heavy-hitting drums, Cole on the keys, and Edenloff’s vocals, which personally remind me of fellow indie-rocker Ben Schneider of Lord Huron.
As lightly implied by the band’s name, much of The RAA’s lyrics are influenced by their hometowns and home nation of Canada as a whole. Even their stage attire is somewhat “Canadian”, with Cole rocking an all-denim outfit while Edenloff wore a simply yellow flannel (as a frequent flannel wearer myself, I have much respect for that and need to know where he got it, but I digress). In fact, their first album, Hometowns, is heavily devoted to this idea as the name suggests. One of my personal favorite songs of theirs, The Dethbridge In Lethbridge, is almost exclusively diving into this topic, with the lines, “We live in this old aching town, Our creaking bones won’t make a sound, You felt the old bridge weigh us down, Let’s try to turn our love around and take the Dethbridge out of town” being just one of many on this record referencing a time long forgotten in place that has met the same fate.
Another lyrical theme commonly found in their lyrics is discussions of heartbreak, such as in On the Rocks with lines like “Our love was not dead, But I lost the fight again, There’s nothing in your heart, It’s all we got my friend”.
While not being able to stay for the entire set, The Rural Alberta Advantage is most certainly a band I will put in my regular rotation of music. And assuming I get the chance again, I would most definitely see them live again, and I recommend anyone who enjoys, indie, folk, a combination of the two, or really anyone should as well.
You can find The Rural Alberta Advantage on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Spotify. As mentioned, they are about to head back up the Great White North for the rest of their tour.
