Evangeline Gentle is a Scottish-Canadian internationally acclaimed folk-pop songwriter, performer and vocalist based in Ontario, Canada. Contemplative and affecting, Evangeline’s lyrics evoke lush emotional landscapes within the listener and seek to unite audiences with a sense of “sameness”. A celebration of queerness and queer culture is woven throughout Gentle’s upcoming release Where The Diamonds Are, best heard on singles “Gay Bar” which debuted on CBC q, and “Bad Girls”. On this she says “While many have never been to a gay bar, most know the euphoria of getting dressed up to go out dancing with friends. We are inextricably connected by our shared emotional, human experience. I love that songs remind us of this.”
Produced by Jim Bryson (Kathleen Edwards), and mastered by Grammy-nominated engineer Philip Shaw Bova (Bahamas, Feist), her 2020 debut self-titled release earned international praise. Gentle was interviewed by legendary host Scott Simon on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday, appeared in Forbes, and received radio play on BBC, CBC, SiriusXM and more.
Evangeline supported headliner Donovan Woods at the 2021 Mariposa Folk Festival, with other standout performances including those at Maverick Festival (UK) and Static Roots Festival (Germany) in 2022. She has supported acts such as Kathleen Edwards, Tim Baker, Begonia, Basia Bulat, Craig Cardiff, Whitehorse and Rae Spoon.
Evangeline’s highly anticipated sophomore release arrives in 2023.
For Gentle, their debut album is far more than just musical achievement.
“The album’s overarching theme is the pursuit of
open-heartedness,” they add. “It’s driven by the belief that it takes
extreme strength to be vulnerable but that the rewards of doing so are far
greater than those of being closed-off in the name of self-preservation.
That wasn’t intentional. Only when the album was finished did it dawn on me
that this idea was the thread stitching these songs together.”
The album’s ten tracks make for a powerful introduction to this
Hamilton-based singer songwriter. “Ordinary People” and “The Strongest
People Have Tender Hearts” celebrate the strength it takes to stay soft in a
world that can harden you with a single headline. “Drop My Name” champions
the voice of someone no longer willing to be taken advantage of. “Sundays”
is a sweet and honest exploration of insecurity in our romantic
relationships. “Neither of Us” and “Long Time Love” are love songs for the
modern day world, while “So It Goes” is a nostalgic retelling of teen-hood
and summer love. “Even If” and “Digging My Grave” are more meditative tracks
that share vulnerable truths about depression and recovery. “Good and Guided” is a hopeful closing song to this
album, uniting listeners with the question “How do we become good and guided
by the heart?”.