Kaia Kater’s JUNO-winning and Polaris-nominated album, Strange Medicine, blends historical reflection with personal introspection. Opening with a haunting vision of the women accused of witchcraft in 17th-century Salem, Massachusetts, the album explores the resilience of women and oppressed peoples throughout history, transforming centuries of pain into a powerful artistic statement. Kater’s songs serve as dialogues with historical figures while also reflecting on her own modern life. After her 2018 album, Grenades, Kater pursued film studies to deepen her compositional skills and retreated to her Montréal apartment to write more honestly and personally, resulting in her most intimate and daring work yet.
Co-produced with Joe Grass, Strange Medicine features contributions from close collaborators Aoife O’Donovan, Allison Russell, and music legend Taj Mahal. The album incorporates lush arrangements and draws from genres including minimalist composition, jazz, and film scores, creating a sound that challenges traditional Americana conventions. By centering marginalized voices and embracing a Black Feminist perspective, Kater crafts an album that is both a personal celebration and a broader artistic statement on identity, resilience, and self-expression, guided in part by the words of Lucille Clifton’s poem “won’t you celebrate with me.”
Doors open: 6:30 PM, show: 7:30 PM.
