Acclaimed percussive folk-rock trio, The Rural Alberta Advantage (The RAA), have shared a video for the track “3 Sisters,” off their new EP, The Rise, out now via Saddle Creek/Paper Bag Records, to announce a cross-Canada tour. The band head out across the U.S. prior, kicking things off May 16 in Seattle.

“3 Sisters” is an elemental track that reminisces about life on the road. Directed and animated by Jared Sales, the video features a likeness of The RAA’s actual touring van, features tickets stubs from some of the band’s most memorable performances, along with cityscapes from those locations, using 3D animation software.

Discussing, Sales stated, “We wanted to show the synergy a touring band has with each other, their audiences and the landscapes between them. Stylistically, we told the story from a bird’s eye view and using 3D animation was the most effective way for me to bring it to life.”

“So much of the emphasis of touring focuses on getting in front of people, playing some songs and making a human connection, which we’ve all been craving for a while now,” noted guitarist/vocalist Nils Edenloff. “However, outside of those few moments on stage, there are countless hours spent planning, packing and traveling from one city to the next. While the time on stage often flies by in a blur, it’s the long drives and quiet stops that can be the source of some equally long-lasting memories. 

We’ve been friends with Jared for a long time now so it was great to finally have a chance to work with him for ‘3 Sisters’. He did an amazing job capturing the feeling of the ebb and flow of being on the road, while also capturing the excitement of the song itself.”

The Rise is the first word in a conversation, the first step on a new, unkempt trail. It’s the beginning of a new era for the Toronto trio, and the first of three pieces in a year-long puzzle, which will be constructed over three separate releases. 

The Rise tells its own story through Paul Banwatt’s thundering drums, Amy Cole’s hammered keys and crystalline harmonies, and Nils Edenloff’s furious acoustics and soaring, wheaty tenor. At times, it’s literal and visceral, like the blowing dust of “Lifetime,” or the hardy, galloping roadtrip post-mortem of “3 Sisters,” or the slow, naked march of “Late September Snow.” At others it’s hallucinatory and surreal, like the vivid, crashing dreamscape of “10Ft Tall.”

Discussing this first installment of new music, and The RAA’s return, Edenloff notes, “We just go only based on heart and gut and try to let our minds get out of the way, because more often than not those just trip us up.” Cole adds, “We’re so intrigued by the idea of different perspectives and memories in these songs, and then this ultimate view of ‘Is any of it anything?”

The past two years have upended all that we thought to be concrete. The Rise, like this period, is a complication of what we assume to be familiar and true and unchanging. It’s the start of something new.

Photo Courtesy: Colin Medley