It’s been over four years (thanks pandemic!) since New Brunswick’s Jessica Rhaye (& The Ramshackle Parade) made her way to Halifax, but she’s back – with her full band – to celebrate the release of her latest album, Sunshine Baby (out now), with a performance at The Carleton on Thursday, October 19th. Show time is 7:30 PM and tickets are $25 + HST.

With the release of Sunshine Baby, Jessica Rhaye’s second album with The Ramshackle Parade, the New Brunswick-based singer/songwriter expands her reach as a lyricist and vocalist with a set of alternately personal and observational songs that manage to be incredibly intimate and cinematic in scope simultaneously.

On Sunshine Baby, Rhaye illuminates the darker corners of her world with a compelling, if sometimes somber, sound. A treatment driven as much by the stellar contributions of The Ramshackle Parade and liberal application of lush strings, as by Rhaye’s substantial vocal chops and her uncanny ability as a lyricist to invite listeners to find their own lives, loves, and heartaches reflected in her words.

Directly inspired by the book How to Write One Song by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, on ‘Sunshine Baby’ Rhaye took a step outside her comfort zone by playing piano. “I have no piano training, but I just started playing a couple of pulsing chords, and the song came to me very quickly.” Although Rhaye is known for a sound that seamlessly incorporates folk, adult contemporary, and Americana styles, if listeners expect a stripped-down, acoustic-focused album, they’re in for a surprise. The farther you get into Sunshine Baby, the more it seems to play out like a series of short films, vignettes full of vivid instrumental colours, gooseflesh-raising moments of vocal power, and, at times, heartbreaking intimacy.