Singer/songwriter Ken Yates transforms uncooked hope and heartache right into a comforting, cathartic, and emotionally charged folks rock reverie in “Below the Cowl of Gentle,” a fantastically intimate anthem of empathy taken from his extremely anticipated fifth album, ‘Whole Cinema.’
“Below the Cowl of Gentle” – Ken Yates
I hope you’re dreaming in black and white and seeing in color below the quilt of sunshine…
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The snow is melting, the nights are softening, and light-weight is creeping again into the corners of the day.
As winter slowly offers approach to spring, Canadian singer/songwriter Ken Yates returns with music tailored for the season’s push and pull – of aching and therapeutic, of injuring and hoping. “Below the Cowl of Gentle,” the fourth single taken off Yates’ upcoming fifth album Whole Cinema, is a masterclass in distinction: Directly heavy and buoyant, intimate and anthemic, delicate and driving. The Ontario native transforms uncooked hope and heartache right into a hovering, revitalizing expertise on his newest providing – a comforting, cathartic, and charged folks rock observe that invitations each quiet reflection and emotional launch.
As lyrically vivid as it’s breathtakingly weak, “Below the Cowl of Gentle” as soon as once more affirms Yates’ longstanding reward for turning deeply private moments into universally resonant, soul-stirring songs.
You’re at all times calling your
mother in the dark
With a mood you bought out of your father
By the point that you just’re feeling drained
You’re lined in morning,
you’re lined up
Salt on the street from the morning ploughs
Nonetheless you discover that you just’re spinning out
Giving the mirror a dressing down
It by no means reveals you what you need
Atwood Journal is proud to be premiering “Below the Cowl of Gentle,” a music that feels each uncooked and resilient, pulsing with an pressing vitality that units it aside from a lot of Ken Yates’ previous work. Propelled by a dynamic guitar lick and crisp, kinetic percussion, the observe surges ahead with Yates’ signature emotional depth – his voice sizzling on the mic, charged with feeling however tempered by reflection. It’s an anthem of empathy, a rallying cry for anybody caught between breakdown and breakthrough.
Out in all places Could 8th, “Below the Cowl of Gentle” follows Yates’ latest singles “Cataclysmic Finish,” “Perennials,” and the title observe “Whole Cinema,” every providing its personal window into the immersive, dynamic sonic world Yates has crafted for his upcoming fifth studio album. A two-time Atwood Journal Editor’s Decide, Ken Yates has repeatedly proved himself to be a singular, generational artist, his songs “shining with the quiet hope of a soul put via the wringer.” We beforehand praised his fourth album Cerulean (2022) as a wide ranging triumph of the human spirit, channeling ache into magnificence and grief into hope.
The place his final file started a concerted transition out of strict ‘folks’ music towards one thing much less strictly and structurally outlined, Whole Cinema marks a defining evolution.
Per his personal crew, the brand new album “expands Yates’ sonic palette with wealthy textures and versatile preparations,” all whereas exploring themes of gratitude, self-awareness, and the complexities of the human situation. Collaborating with producer Dan Ledwell in Halifax, Yates embraces each the shadows and the sunshine, creating an eleven-track journey that celebrates creative readability and emotional honesty in actual time.
Musically, “Below the Cowl of Gentle” embodies this ongoing artistic evolution, dancing on an emotional knife’s edge as Yates injects vitality and heat into his heavy material. The result’s one thing unexpectedly uplifting: A brilliant, cathartic reckoning that may’t assist however lean into the sunshine, at the same time as its narrator wrestles with the ache of eager to assist those that aren’t able to obtain it.
Yates builds all that introspection, gratitude, and pressure into the music’s cathartic refrain — a hard-won second of launch that feels each tender and triumphant, even when it’s all simply constructed on one soul’s hopes and desires. The sentiment continues to be there; the center, the care, the load of understanding what the one you love goes via and attempting to be there for them nevertheless you’ll be able to. It’s not only a want for another person’s therapeutic, however a mirrored image of the empathy we supply for these we maintain shut; the quiet, persistent hope that they’ll discover their approach via the darkness and again “below the quilt of sunshine.”
I hope you’re carrying your welcome out
Below the veil of your hanging cloud
Hope you’re taking it mild on your self
And sleeping higher
I hope you’re whetting your urge for food
Discovering your approach into somebody’s eyes
I hope you’re dreaming in black and white
And seeing in color
Below the quilt of sunshine
Below the quilt of sunshine
As Yates explains, this music not solely set the tone for what was to return, however it additionally gave him a brand new perspective on his personal songwriting.
“‘Below the Cowl of Gentle’ was one of many first songs I wrote for Whole Cinema, and in loads of methods, it grew to become the album’s compass,” Yates tells Atwood Journal. “At its core, it might’ve simply been a ballad – slow-burning and introspective – however I nudged the tempo simply sufficient to offer it this sudden buoyancy.”
“I like the strain of it being mild on its toes vs. the load of the lyrics – concerning the quiet heartbreak of attempting to assist somebody who is probably not able to be helped. That pressure actually set the tone for what the remainder of the file would sound like.”
Just a little lighter fluid remedy
You then discovered your self going abroad
Seeing the world in ADHD
And it by no means reveals you what you need
The accompanying music video, additionally created by Daniel Ledwell (who produced, combined, and engineered your complete album – “he’s a person of many skills,” Yates quips), transfers the music’s tenderness and aching into pseudo-real life examples. Comprised virtually solely of intimate moments – some shared, some solo, many in varied bedrooms – the visible highlights the extraordinary vulnerability concerned in that type of uncooked, human connection, each for individuals who are in ache and people who need to assist.
“It mirrors the music’s emotional undercurrent,” Yates provides. “[It’s] that stressed, sleepless churn in your intestine as you fumble via the detours and disappointments of being human.”
At its core, “Below the Cowl of Gentle” is a music concerning the quiet ache of wanting to assist somebody discover their approach.
Collectively, each music and video provide a cinematic portrait of what it means to care, to hold, to return undone — and to maintain going anyway. Yates expertly expresses that acquainted longing, that bitter helplessness, and that fierce, unwavering devotion that comes with loving somebody via their struggles. It’s about holding house for an additional’s ache, even when you’ll be able to’t repair it, and discovering a type of solace in merely being current. The video interprets this emotional panorama into vivid, on a regular basis moments: The bodily (and non-physical) areas we occupy once we’re hurting, the small gestures that join us, and the intimate, unstated bonds that maintain us collectively. Exhibiting up issues. Listening issues. In a approach, this music reminds us that not all issues are solved by phrases or actions – and that not all heroes put on capes.
Signal mentioned satisfaction assured
and then you definitely purchased it
And I do know every part you mentioned
just isn’t fairly what you thought
I see your insanity via the bushes
And I’m inclined to disagree
That the universe has canceled your plans
“Below the Cowl of Gentle” is a meditation on the sweetness and burden of human connection, on the sleepless, stressed churn of empathy, and on the grace we provide each other just by exhibiting up. Let Ken Yates’ newest single be your soundtrack to these quiet, laborious, hopeful moments – moments the place the load of the world feels somewhat bit lighter below the quilt of a brand new daybreak.
Stream “Below the Cowl of Gentle” solely on Atwood Journal, and keep tuned for extra to return because the singer/songwriter continues to unveil his fifth studio album: Whole Cinema is out June 5th, 2025!
I hope you’re carrying your welcome out
Below the veil of your hanging cloud
Hope you’re taking it mild on your self
And sleeping higher
I hope you’re wetting your urge for food
Discovering your approach into somebody’s eyes
I hope you’re dreaming in black and white
And seeing in color
I hope you’re sweating the larger stuff
Discovering some peace in an trustworthy love
Hope you cease once you’ve had sufficient
Throw within the towel
I hope I see you round a while
Blowing smoke via your social life
I hope you’re dreaming in black and white
And seeing in color
Below the quilt of sunshine
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“Below the Cowl of Gentle” – Ken Yates
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