Wolf Castle with The Olympic Symphonium

SATURDAY, AUGUST 2

Wolf Castle is an Indigenous Mi’kmaq rapper/​producer and singer from Pabineau First Nation, New Brunswick. An unlikely place for a rap career to come to fruition, everything about Wolf Castle defies the odds. Growing up on the reserve with a supportive family of artists, movie directors and musicians, going for a career in the arts seemed like the natural choice.

At his young age he’s already caught attention playing festivals like Pop Montréal and securing four East Coast Music Award nominations. His music carries an energy and wisdom beyond his years covering topics about love, loss, celebration, and perseverance. Mixing pop-rap with old school roots, his lyrics have been described as catchy and confessional. A knucklehead with an internet connection, Wolf Castle likes to keep listeners on their toes and deliver a new perspective on being young, indigenous, and proud of it.

The Olympic Symphonium have been trudging through the murkier depths of the Canadian music stream since 2005. Consisting of four distinct and diverse songwriters, the band has crafted a full, lush sound that is entirely their own. A sound that features emotional musical flourishes, soaring harmonies that float in and out, and dramatic lyrical content. It is the sound of a strange and beautiful tension.

Whether it’s the complexity of family life, the inevitability of death, the mundanity of life on the road, or struggles with mental illness, each band member writes with their own life experiences in mind and combines those with that of the other members in a Voltron like fashion to form one strong and varied body of work. Four become one to create a singular vision and sound. It’s the sound of a band not afraid to go deep into the darkness, go against the current and swim upstream.