With a voice like a soaring instrument, unflinching lyricism, and a swaggering live show shaped by years on the road, Skye Wallace is a force on a mission to celebrate life and welcome everyone in on the immersive experience.
The Act of Living, Wallace’s forthcoming, head-turning record, arrives November 1st 2024 on Tiny Kingdom (not coincidentally a day honouring spirits and endings in many cultures). It is all at once energizing, grinding, brittle, and electric; a sonic journey examining death and the ways it pushes life ever forward. The album nods to elements of Skye’s dark-folk past, mixed with the pure, unbridled enthusiasm of their live performances. In a co-producer role with counterpart Hawksley Workman, Skye sees her own vision come to life clearer than ever, inviting the listener through portals of near-death experiences, dream worlds and loss, while brandishing themes like the death of fear, death of reality, resilience and rebirth.
If you’ve had the opportunity to see Skye and their band perform live in the past several years, you’ve likely noticed hints of heavy, grungy jams – these influences get to be fully realized in The Act of Living, perhaps no more so than in the title track, where Wallace utilizes every end of her impressive vocal range, from low grumbles to banshee wails, claiming the tag line “Life is a death cult.” In true Skye Wallace fashion however, you still find tender acoustic moments with heartbreaking lyrics and her signature emotive vocals, perhaps no more effectively than in “You Don’t Still Have A Hold On Me”, a song eulogizing Wallace’s own anxiety, or in “Round Round Round” as she recounts a car accident in which she and her mother barely escaped death. But just when you think you’ve got the album figured out, a curveball like “Before the Afterlife”, with its twinkling synths and ethereal harmonies, shows up and whisks you away like a nostalgic memory of a moment in life where everything was peaceful.
The theme of death is deftly woven throughout the album’s 11 tracks, but it doesn’t leave listeners feeling morose – it’s an uplifting, cathartic ride through grief, ending in finding a peace within it, letting go of fear and coming out the other side, even if you’re still picking up the pieces.
“Wallace is at her most compelling when she fuels her own fire.” - EARMILK
“A strong buzz has grown around this Toronto rock singer/songwriter…” - Billboard Canada
“Wallace manages to marry ambitious production choices with down-to-earth lyrics and instrumentation…” - NEXT Cover Story
“The Act of Living boasts plenty of grit, harkening the impassioned anthems that galloped buckwild all through 2016's, Something Wicked, their 2019 self-titled, and Terribly Good…’You Don't Still Have a Hold on Me’ is an unfettered, uncomplicated should-be-hit that wouldn't have sounded out of place on an episode of MuchMusic Countdown. ‘Momentum’ is pummeling, runaway garage rock with a buzzing guitar riff and dug-in bass line. The snarling "Tough Kid" swaggers with the attitude of PJ Harvey. - Exclaim! Magazine
"The Toronto singer's voice soars like colliding fireworks filled with the thirst of lovers."
- Noisey
"Women are making the best rock music on the planet. The list is lengthy and adding to it is Canadian rocker, Skye Wallace."
-The Revue
"Everything this woman does is with raw passion and musical power."
- Grant Lawrence, CBC
team
MANAGEMENT: Savannah Wellman
PUBLICITY: Listen Harder
AGENT (CA): Feldman Agency
AGENT (EU/UK): Midnight Mango