Victoria folk/soul band Carmanah are fresh off of releasing their debut album Speak in Rhythms; lead singer Laura Mitic says that the album is a showcase of their evolution as a band. She also says that the album explores how the world works.
“We’ve matured quite a bit with this album, both in songwriting and in production,” she says. “We’ve worked with a really amazing team of producers who are based out of New York. We brought them out here with the help of a Creative BC grant and just put our heads down and really spent a lot of time with all the details of the songs and really pulling them together. We put a lot of passion into this album and I think that comes through. We also wanted to discuss some bigger topics and challenge kind of how the world is right now.”
In support of Speak in Rhythms, the band is going on tour across Canada. Mitic says that although this is their debut album, they’ve done nationwide tours before. (Carmanah will be playing here in town on Friday, March 9 at Capital Ballroom.)
“We did a tour cross-Canada back in 2015, but it was organized by me so it was pretty do-it-yourself. We played for some bigger crowds but also some small crowds too. We played for, I think, six people in Moncton, New Brunswick, so I don’t know if that really counts, but we had a really good time and we really learned a lot about playing music. This upcoming tour is, I guess, different in the sense that we are working with a booking agent and we have a manager with us full-time too, so I think our music will be shared in a different way than before.”
Carmanah formed six years ago and have been through some different lineups; Mitic says that she’s the most excited about their current lineup.
“The band has taken on many different faces,” she says. “We’ve had quite a few different musicians in our lineup. I would say that we’re about a group of friends coming together from different walks of life. The musicianship has also taken a big leap forward, especially with this new album.”
Mitic says that although they’re a relatively newer and smaller band, the music scene here in Victoria has kept them going throughout the years. She says it may not be a huge scene, but it’s a good one.
“There’s a lot of reasons why bands move to places like Toronto or Montreal, just to be in the centre of a bigger music scene. I’m sure that there has been maybe some ways that that has slowed us down from growing in that sense, but the scene here in Victoria is very supportive. Even thought it’s small, it’s a very good place to come from,” says Mitic. “Our manager, too, having people like him on board, he’s got some good connections with people in bigger cities, and that will help us reach places we haven’t before, as well as grow in those aspects of the band.”