Kaya Fraser

Powerful songs. A sweet, soulful voice. Strong arrangements. Kaya Fraser's music is not about gimmicks, it's about quality--that know-it-when-you-hear-it thing that makes you listen, listen again, and go tell your friends. She writes about people and circumstances, about love gone awry, about places that haunt you. And she does it right. Kaya has a songwriting pedigree: her father is Allan Fraser of the critically acclaimed 70's folk duo Fraser & DeBolt, who were known for their intense performances and brilliant songcraft. Her clever, well-constructed lyrics also bear the mark of years studying poetry. She was on her way to getting a PhD in literature when she started writing songs in the mid-2000's. As it became clear to her that this, not the ivory tower, was where she belonged, she quit her degree and started writing music that sounded like she'd been at it all her life. Her debut EP, Tremor and Slip (2007), made reviewers sit up and take notice. It peaked at #3 on the iTunes charts in its genre in France, and received healthy airplay on CBC and on college radio. Exclaim! said this about her first full-length release, Open Horizon (2010): "the album flirts with soul and ... more...