Check out the video premiere of ‘Right Now’ from Nora Kelly Band. The nostalgia-steeped video features footage of the Montreal-based quartet performing, interspersed with images of them hanging out together on blissful late summer days. The visual is a good fit for a song that sounds dreamily hopeful, with Nora Kelly’s tuneful vocals buoyed by Vader Ryderwood’s warm bass and drummer Ethan Soil’s rhythms, while gently falling and rising keys from Rachel Silverstein enhance the waning summer atmosphere.
Kelly explained the song for AUK: “‘Right Now’ chronicles the rise and fall of a past relationship. The song was written when I was in the throes of the breakup woes, but it also has a sense of optimism about the future. It’s sort of a pep talk to myself that things will get better, while also being an honest encapsulation of what I was going through back then. I’m proud of the song for its vulnerability, and how it details my ever-shifting understanding of love. Like now when I sing it, I tell people it was once a sad song about my ex but now it’s a happy song about my dog.”
Kelly also fronts punky grunge-rock trio DISHPIT but the new band is a pandemic foray into alt-country territory. Kelly explains: “Since high school I’ve found refuge in punk music’s ‘screw-off, I’m tough’ persona. If you want to hear that voice, listen to my previous band. I’m proud of DISHPIT’s music, but my punk soul didn’t really prepare me for the sad destruction of a creative relationship, a painful episode that left me feeling raw and vulnerable. Plus, the pandemic pressed in, seeming to want to squeeze the life out of me. Out of everyone.” In fact, it was that first lockdown in 2020 that was the catalyst for the band forming. Kelly would meet the the other band members outdoors, down by the Mile End railway tracks, where they passed the time by playing covers of country songs. It wasn’t long before they were creating new material. Lyrically, the band’s songs are Kelly’s personal, intimate reflections but they very much represent a group coming together and developing a friendship and new sounds collectively. Kelly continues: “We tend to grow most during difficult times, and ‘Perfect Pig’ is a time capsule of my growth. Going country has given me space to focus on being more sensitive without giving up on sass, humor and story-telling.” ‘Right Now’ is the band’s third single following the well-received ‘Hymn for Agnostics’ and ‘Change My Mind’ earlier in the year. Now, Nora Kelly Band will be releasing their debut EP on 26th August 2022, which promises more hazy, alt-country sounds, perfect for the end of summer. Enjoy.
