SYLVAINE to Support ZEAL & ARDOR on North American tour

Norwegian multi-instrumentalist SYLVAINE will be directly supporting ZEAL & ARDOR on their upcoming fall headlining tour! The trek kicks off on September 11 in Brooklyn, NY and concludes in Berkeley, CA on October 7. Ticket pre-sales have started and will go on sale to the public on Thursday, June 30 @ 10:00 A.M. EDT. The full itinerary and ticket links can be found below!

SYLVAINE is supporting the release of her brand new fourth studio album, 'Nova,' which is out NOW! Stream/download/order HERE.

SYLVAINE North American Tour (w/ AMORPHIS, UADA, + HOAXED):
09/11: Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw [TICKETS]
09/12: Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts [TICKETS]
09/13: Cambridge, MA @ The Middle East [TICKETS]
09/15: Montreal, QC @ Le Studio TD [TICKETS]
09/16: Toronto, ON @ The Opera House [TICKETS]
09/18: Detroit, MI @ El Club [TICKETS]
09/19: Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge [TICKETS]
09/20: Minneapolis, MN @ Turf Club [TICKETS]
09/23: Calgary, AB @ Dickens [TICKETS]
09/24: Edmonton, AB @ The Starlite Room [TICKETS]
09/26: Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre [TICKETS]
09/27: Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
09/28: Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre [TICKETS]
10/01: Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theatre [TICKETS]
10/03: Phoenix, AZ @ The Crescent Ballroom [TICKETS]
10/04: San Diego, CA @ Brick by Brick [TICKETS]
10/05: Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex [TICKETS]
10/07: Berkeley, CA @ Cornerstone [TICKETS]

To speak to Sylvaine, the one-woman multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, and composer born Kathrine Shepard, is to speak to some spirit that exists beyond the veil of convention and stereotypes. This is not a woman playing to the vogue dark melodic folklorist trope that has become so prevalent in the metal scene but rather, this is a woman who is a serious and classically trained composer and arranger whose songs, that originate on unplugged electric guitars in lavender and black bedrooms, end up exploding against the unlimited conventions of what modern music can accomplish. 

For some time, Kathrine Shepard has been seen as the petite pixie of the Norwegian black gaze scene but her small eleven features and lightheartedness belie the woman warrior behind Nova, her complex and personal fourth release. Following her 2018 Atoms Aligned Coming Undone release, Sylvaine (a play on the name of one of her beloved French poets, Paul Verlaine) gives us Nova, an album that is both a musical and personal reawakening of a singer/composer finding her way in this world.  

The Lord of the Rings type choir arrangement heralds in the opening of her latest release as we the entranced listeners follow her to the realm of Lothlorien. The creation of this ambitious release began in 2019, before the world changed before all of our eyes. Experiencing a personal loss in a time the world was suffering a collective loss, Sylvaine composed on her guitar and wrote in her notebooks, eventually leading her into the small rooms of Drudenhaus in early 2021. Sequestered away in the countryside of France, the Norwegian native and her musical cohorts would all contract Covid. Asthmatic since birth, our heroine isolated herself in a small room to score out the different soprano and alto melodies of an actual choir to make her vision for the opening track “Nova,” come to life. Sung in an imagined language, the syllables of NO-VA continued to emerge, suggesting to the singer something linguistically symbolic and important. 

“I’ve been wanting to write a choir piece since my 'Wistful' days,” she says, “Just a purely vocal piece. I love harmonies and the most personal instrument you have is yourself, your voice. I wanted to really show who I am this time around.” 

Naked on the cover, which may raise some eyebrows, Sylvaine insists to her fans that this is a symbol of her own vulnerability and personal rebirth that transpired over these years of creating Nova. “Nova" in terms of language is connected to words such as nuova (Italian) or nueva (Spanish), meaning ‘new’ and speaks to a rebirth, to loss, the temporality of life, grieving as nothing lasting forever, but looking forward as new doors are forever opening.  

Album tracks “Mono No Aware” and “Fortapt” are compositions in the 10-minute range, showing the progressive skills of the multi-instrumentalist’s musical mastery and magic. Taking the loud and quiet back-and-forth of the ‘90s a step farther, she manages to haunt every note with primal sincerity. “Fortapt” is a particularly unique track, paying homage to Sylvaine’s Norwegian roots. And while critics may want to pin a song like “Nowhere, Still Somewhere” in the shoegaze or dreampop category, her mysterious resonance adds something to the composition that makes Sylvaine’s work defy categorization.  

Much like Joan of Arc, Sylvaine is not a one-woman army without her legionaries. Instead of enlisting members of the folk metal glitterati, she has been a bit more selective about her surprise guests on her album, choosing Scottish violinist Lambert Segura of SAOR and cellist Nostarion aka Patrik Urban, whom she met while performing a very special acoustic show in Belgium in 2019. For Sylvaine, it felt emotionally appropriate to weave classically trained instrumentalists into her work, demonstrated on the last track on the album, "Everything Must Come to an End." 

Unlike so many of the pixie dream girls haunting the American metal landscape right now, Sylvaine sings but also screams from the very depths. There is absolutely no one in the metal game right now who can match her vocal range, which traverses from the elvish sounds of Enya and Lisa Gerard to the black metal Ericthro screeches of her kvlt counterparts of the land of ice and snow. 

In the U.S., we have a tendency to clarify bedroom pop as music that is composed in the feminine space of one’s bedroom confines. Although orchestral and incredibly composed, Sylvaine does not shy away from admitting her songs always start bare bones—almost all of her compositions begin with an unplugged electric guitar. “A melody and a chord progression should be able to stand on its own without any effects whatsoever. The song will go on to manifest itself in different ways but that main guitar part has to be solid enough to emotionally work just by itself, “ she says.  

But to this lover of Verlaine and the French Romantic poets (as well as a diehard Type O Negative fan), the written word is still paramount to her heart. After all, she explains, “Music is an attempt to avoid the words we can’t always express in life.” 

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/sylvainemusic/
https://www.instagram.com/sylvainemusic/
https://sylvainemusic.bandcamp.com/
https://www.youtube.com/c/sylvainemusic/
https://soundcloud.com/sylvainemusic
https://twitter.com/sylvainemusic
https://www.sylvainemusic.com/

Recording Lineup:
Sylvaine – vocals/guitars/bass/synths/arrangements
Dorian Mansiaux – session drums

Current Lineup:
Sylvaine

Live line-up:
Sylvaine - Main vocals/guitar
Dorian Mansiaux - Drums
Florian Ehrenberg - Guitar/backing vocals
Maxime Mouquet - Bass/background vocals

Guest Musicians:
- Lambert Segura (SAOR) - violins on “Everything Must Come To An End”
- Patrick Urban - cellos on “Everything Must Come To An End”

Recording Studio: Drudenhaus Studio, Issé, France

Producer, mixer, sound engineer: Benoît Roux

Mastering Studio + engineer: Karl Daniel Lidén at Karl Daniel Lidén Productions

Cover Art: Photo by Andy Julia, post-production/digital illustration by Daria Endrese

Biography: Veronika Lee

Pre-sales: https://redirect.season-of-mist.com/SylvaineNova

Album formats:
CD Digipak
Digital
Vinyl in various colours

Eric Church to Perform During "In Performance at the White House: Spirit of the Season" Airing Dec. 21 at 8pm ET on PBS

ERIC CHURCH JOINS A-LIST LINEUP FOR HOLIDAY CELEBRATION MUSIC SPECIAL IN PERFORMANCE AT THE WHITE HOUSE: SPIRIT OF THE SEASON PREMIERING DECEMBER 21 AT 8 P.M. ET ON PBS

Holiday Special Hosted by Jennifer Garner to Feature Performances by Andrea Bocelli, Matteo Bocelli, Virginia Bocelli, Camila Cabello, Eric Church, Jonas Brothers, Norah Jones, Pentatonix, Billy Porter, Northwell Health Nurse Choir, Voices of Service and “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band

PBS will mark the holiday season with the premiere of In Performance at the White House: Spirit of the Season. This dazzling music special celebrates the holidays and highlights the seasonal décor at the White House. Hosted by actress Jennifer Garner, the program will include performances by Andrea Bocelli, Matteo Bocelli, Virginia Bocelli, Camila Cabello, Eric Church, Jonas Brothers, Norah Jones,Pentatonix, Billy Porter, Northwell Health Nurse Choir, Voices of Service and the United States Marine Band.

The hour-long television special is produced by WETA Washington, D.C., the flagship public broadcaster in the nation’s capital, in association with Ken Ehrlich Productions, Inc., and will be recorded at the White House December 11-14, 2021. The music special is part of the Emmy Award-nominated PBS In Performance at the White House series and will premiere Tuesday, December 21 at 8 p.m. ET on PBS stations nationwide (check local listings). The program will also be broadcast at a later date via the American Forces Network to American service men and women and civilians at U.S. Department of Defense locations around the world.

The diverse roster of artists will perform songs in historic White House rooms — including the East Room, the State Dining Room and the Blue Room, home of the Official White House Christmas tree — sharing the festive spirit with the nation through In Performance at the White House. Audiences will see the First Family’s “Gifts from the Heart”-themed holiday installations currently on display throughout the White House. The performances and inside look at the White House holiday décor will honor the resilience of the American people, with communities coming together in service to others, during this celebratory and reflective time of year. For more information about the White House holiday décor, please visit WhiteHouse.gov/Holidays.

“WETA is pleased to partner with the White House to welcome viewers into the nation’s most prominent home to focus on the importance of family, community and America during the holidays,” noted Sharon Percy Rockefeller, president and chief executive officer of WETA. “We look forward to sharing more special performances recorded at the White House to capture the essence of our nation at its best.”

“We are thrilled to celebrate the holiday season with this special musical performance at the White House,” said Paula A. Kerger, PBS president and CEO. “As an important part of our mission, PBS and our member stations will continue to share the very best of theater, music and dance with audiences across the country.’’

“We are pleased to support In Performance at the White House: Spirit of the Season,” said Pat Harrison, president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. “Although we are still dealing with the pandemic, it is important to take this time to count our blessings through music and song and come together as a nation during this season of celebration and remembrance.”

Two performance acts in particular will celebrate service to the nation. The Northwell Health Nurse Choir is a group of frontline nurses — each from different Northwell hospitals, nursing specialties and areas of New York. They formed in 2020 and represent frontline workers and the nursing profession, with the power of music lifting their spirits and helping them forge a special bond while the COVID-19 pandemic has been especially challenging for their profession. Voices of Service is a singing quartet, part of the nonprofit Center for American Military Music Opportunities (CAMMO), and includes retired Master Sgt. Caleb Green, retired Staff Sgt. Ron Henry, Sgt. Maj. Christal Rheams and Sgt. 1st Class Jason Hanna. Voices of Service use their platform to increase awareness of what music can do for service men and women who are coping with post-traumatic stress and other invisible and visible wounds.

WETA has produced In Performance at the White House for PBS since 1978, first collaborating with President Carter’s administration. The series is a showcase of the dynamic fabric of American culture in the setting of the nation’s most famous home. The series began with an East Room recital by the legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz. Since then, In Performance at the White House has embraced virtually every genre of American performance: pop, country, gospel, jazz, blues, hip-hop, theatre and dance among them. Past programs have showcased a wide array of performing artists, including cellist Mstislav Rostropovich; dancer/choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov; jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie; soul icon Aretha Franklin; popular music singers Marc Anthony, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Gloria Estefan, Ariana Grande, Mick Jagger, John Legend, Linda Ronstadt, Justin Timberlake and Stevie Wonder; gospel singer CeCe Winans; blues icon B.B. King; Broadway luminaries Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald and Idina Menzel; country music’s Willie Nelson and Alison Krauss; and the Dance Theatre of Harlem.

In Performance at the White House: Spirit of the Season is a production of WETA Washington, D.C., in association with Ken Ehrlich Productions, Inc. The executive producers are John F. Wilson for WETA and Ken Ehrlich for Ken Ehrlich Productions, Inc. The producer is Renato Basile. The director is Toré Livia. The project executive is Kate Kelly. The senior producer is Jim Corbley. The executive in charge for PBS is Douglas Chang. The In Performance at the White House series was created by WETA Washington D.C.

This PBS presentation of In Performance at the White House: Spirit of the Season was provided by Otsuka. Major funding is also provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Watch the full program online at pbs.org/whitehouse and join the conversation on social via #WhiteHouseConcertPBS.

For images and additional up-to-date information on this and other PBS programs, visit PBS PressRoom at pbs.org/pressroom.

About Eric Church
Eric Church has spent the past year releasing new music at a relentless pace; providing a glimpse into the results of a marathon writing session during which he spent nearly a month writing and recording a song per day – including current single “Hell of a View” – while sequestered in a rural North Carolina cabin, and fueling speculation that his highly anticipated seventh studio album is on the horizon.

Just as unique as Church’s approach to recording and releasing music is his tenacity on the road. During his most recent outing, 2019’s Double Down Tour, Church played back-to-back nights of two unique shows in each market sans opening act, giving every city’s fans six-plus hours of his iconic music. The tour also featured a massive stop at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, where he broke the venue’s concert attendance record with more than 56,000 fans in attendance and became the first artist to sell out the venue with a solo lineup.

A seven-time ACM Award winner, four-time CMA Award winner, including the 2020 award for Entertainer of the Year, and 10-time GRAMMY nominee, Church has amassed a passionate fanbase around the globe known as the Church Choir as well as a critically acclaimed catalog of music. His most recent album, Desperate Man, earned a GRAMMY nomination for Best Country Album (his third nod in the category) and produced his most recent No. 1 hit, “Some Of It.” Previous releases include the Platinum-certified Sinners Like Me (“How ’Bout You,” “Guys Like Me”), Carolina (“Smoke a Little Smoke,” “Love Your Love the Most”) and Mr. Misunderstood (“Record Year,” “Round Here Buzz”), the Double-Platinum certified The Outsiders (“Like a Wrecking Ball,” “Talladega”) and the 3x Platinum-certified Chief (“Springsteen,” “Drink In My Hand”), as well as 22 Gold, Platinum and multi-Platinum certified singles.

About WETA
WETA is the leading public broadcaster in the nation’s capital, serving Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia with educational initiatives and with high-quality programming on television, radio and digital. WETA Washington, D.C., is the second-largest producing-station for public television in the United States, with news and public affairs programs including PBS NewsHour and Washington Week; films by Ken Burns such as Muhammad Ali and Hemingway; series and documentaries by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., including Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song; health content from Well Beings, a multiplatform campaign that includes original broadcast and digital content, engagement campaigns, and impactful local events, featuring the documentary Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness; and performance specials including The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize, and The Library Of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. More information on WETA and its programs and services is available at www.weta.org. Follow @WETAtvfm on Facebook and Twitter.

About PBS
PBS, with more than 330 member stations, offers all Americans the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and digital content. Each month, PBS reaches over 120 million people through television and 26 million people online, inviting them to experience the worlds of science, history, nature and public affairs; to hear diverse viewpoints; and to take front row seats to world-class drama and performances. PBS’ broad array of programs has been consistently honored by the industry’s most coveted award competitions. Teachers of children from pre-K through 12th grade turn to PBS for digital content and services that help bring classroom lessons to life. Decades of research confirms that PBS’ premier children’s media service, PBS KIDS, helps children build critical literacy, math and social-emotional skills, enabling them to find success in school and life. Delivered through member stations, PBS KIDS offers high-quality educational content on TV – including a 24/7 channel, online at pbskids.org, via an array of mobile apps and in communities across America. More information about PBS is available at www.pbs.org, one of the leading dot-org websites on the internet, or by following PBS on Twitter, Facebook or through our apps for mobile and connected devices. Specific program information and updates for press are available at pbs.org/pressroom or by following PBS Communications on Twitter.

About CPB
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,500 locally managed and operated public television and radio stations nationwide. CPB is also the largest single source of funding for research, technology and program development for public radio, television, and related online services. For more information, visit cpb.org, follow us on Twitter @CPBmedia, Facebook and LinkedIn and subscribe for email updates.