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| Nils Edenloff and Amy Cole |
Indie rock trio the Rural
Alberta Advantage (also known as the RAA)
came together in 2005 at an open stage in Toronto, Canada. A year later vocalist/guitarist
Nils Edenloff, keyboardist Amy Cole and drummer Paul Banwatt released a self-titled EP
and began performing a wider circuit. The band's third and most recent album, Mended with Gold, was released on
September 30, 2014.
Headlining tonight the second of two nights at the Bowery Ballroom, the Rural Alberta
Advantage proved that a Canadian trio perhaps could widen the Americana genre. Led
by Edenloff's earnest, unpolished vocals and hard strums on the acoustic
guitar, the band often sounded like a folk rock band. His heartfelt, plaintive
lyrics pondered universal themes like love and loss, but with a backdrop noting
the conditions and concerns of plain folk who experience long, cold winters. In
many songs, the words were plentiful, but the easy-going melodies saved them
from seeming excessive. Cole's keyboards charmingly magnified the melodies with
an indie pop gloss, and Banwatt's energetic drummer gave the songs a driving
rock flavor. The collaboration yielded cleverly-arranged music that was
delivered with gritty integrity and plain-folk honesty. The band concluded the
final encore, a bare bones acoustic "Good Night," by singing in the
midst of the audience. By the end of the night a listener could have been
convinced that indeed there are advantages to being a rural Albertan.
Visit the Rural Alberta Advantage at www.theraa.com.
