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 superbly 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 beneath the duvet 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 strategy 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 monitor that invitations each quiet reflection and emotional launch.
As lyrically vivid as it’s breathtakingly susceptible, “Below the Cowl of Gentle” as soon as once more affirms Yates’ longstanding present for turning deeply private moments into universally resonant, soul-stirring songs.
You’re at all times calling your
mother at nighttime
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 highway 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 tune 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 monitor 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 all over the place Might 8th, “Below the Cowl of Gentle” follows Yates’ current singles “Cataclysmic Finish,” “Perennials,” and the title monitor “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 Choose, Ken Yates has repeatedly proved himself to be a singular, generational artist, his songs “shining with the quiet hope of a soul put by 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 document 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 group, 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 inventive evolution, dancing on an emotional knife’s edge as Yates injects vitality and heat into his heavy subject material. The result’s one thing unexpectedly uplifting: A vibrant, 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 help those that aren’t able to obtain it.
Yates builds all that introspection, gratitude, and pressure into the tune’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 goals. The sentiment continues to be there; the center, the care, the load of realizing what your beloved goes by and attempting to be there for them nonetheless you possibly can. It’s not only a want for another person’s therapeutic, however a mirrored image of the empathy we stock for these we maintain shut; the quiet, persistent hope that they’ll discover their manner by the darkness and again “beneath the duvet of sunshine.”
I hope you’re sporting your welcome out
Below the veil of your hanging cloud
Hope you’re taking it gentle on your self
And sleeping higher
I hope you’re whetting your urge for food
Discovering your manner into somebody’s eyes
I hope you’re dreaming in black and white
And seeing in color
Below the duvet of sunshine
Below the duvet of sunshine
As Yates explains, this tune not solely set the tone for what was to come back, nevertheless 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 may’ve simply been a ballad – slow-burning and introspective – however I nudged the tempo simply sufficient to provide it this sudden buoyancy.”
“I like the strain of it being gentle on its toes vs. the load of the lyrics – in regards to the quiet heartbreak of attempting to assist somebody who will not be able to be helped. That pressure actually set the tone for what the remainder of the document would sound like.”
Slightly lighter fluid remedy
Then you definitely 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, blended, and engineered all the album – “he’s a person of many skills,” Yates quips), transfers the tune’s tenderness and aching into pseudo-real life examples. Comprised virtually completely of intimate moments – some shared, some solo, many in varied bedrooms – the visible highlights the extreme vulnerability concerned in that type of uncooked, human connection, each for many who are in ache and people who wish to assist.
“It mirrors the tune’s emotional undercurrent,” Yates provides. “[It’s] that stressed, sleepless churn in your intestine as you fumble by the detours and disappointments of being human.”
At its core, “Below the Cowl of Gentle” is a tune in regards to the quiet ache of wanting to assist somebody discover their manner.
Collectively, each tune and video supply a cinematic portrait of what it means to care, to hold, to come back 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 by their struggles. It’s about holding area for one more’s ache, even when you possibly can’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 manner, this tune 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 definately purchased it
And I do know every part you mentioned
shouldn’t be fairly what you thought
I see your insanity by the timber
And I’m inclined to disagree
That the universe has canceled your plans
“Below the Cowl of Gentle” is a meditation on the wonder 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, exhausting, hopeful moments – moments the place the load of the world feels somewhat bit lighter beneath the duvet of a brand new daybreak.
Stream “Below the Cowl of Gentle” completely on Atwood Journal, and keep tuned for extra to come back because the singer/songwriter continues to unveil his fifth studio album: Whole Cinema is out June 5th, 2025!
I hope you’re sporting your welcome out
Below the veil of your hanging cloud
Hope you’re taking it gentle on your self
And sleeping higher
I hope you’re wetting your urge for food
Discovering your manner 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 by your social life
I hope you’re dreaming in black and white
And seeing in color
Below the duvet of sunshine
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“Below the Cowl of Gentle” – Ken Yates
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