Dorothea Paas & Eliza Niemi

8 PM – Doors
9 PM – Show

DOROTHEA PAAS

For over a decade, Dorothea Paas has honed her unique, prismatic style of folk songcraft, and has lent her talents as a guitarist and vocalist to artists like Jennifer Castle, U.S. Girls, and Shabason & Krgovich. Her debut album, Anything Can’t Happen (2021), was described by Exclaim as “Joni Mitchell fronting Shellac at a coffee shop”. Paas has just released her second album, Think of Mist, which was called “uncommonly beautiful” by Pitchfork and “​​wholly mature, fully-formed and intentional— dense but highly replayable” by Aquarium Drunkard. At her live shows, Paas instantly draws audiences in with her disarmingly earnest, occasionally comedic approach to performance, as her playing opens up the space between composition and improvisation. 

ELIZA NIEMI

Kneading dough is tricky. You should know how it’s supposed to feel, and if you try too hard, you could make it worse. It’s a beautiful practice–creation with a gentle touch. This is the same instinctual skill Toronto-based artist Eliza Niemi has cultivated in her songwriting over decades. Before she became a cellist and vocalist, her father taught her the basics of bass and guitar at home. They would play together by ear, which fostered her deep musicality and a creative ethic that prioritizes joyful collaboration. Collaboration has always been at the centre of her practice — whether it be in improvising, playing in bands, or running her label Vain Mina Records. Her critically acclaimed debut LP Staying Mellow Blows (2022) was long listed for the Polaris Prize and her scores and compositions have appeared on CBC, BBC, Radiotopia, No Budge, and the Tribeca and FIN Atlantic Film Festivals.