Middle Sister

"Middle Sister manages to keep their sound intimate but still huge, organic and contemporary, cool and catchy. In the same musical vein as a band like Of Monsters and Men without the mainstream success, Middle Sister should be playing to the same crowds and could be the next big thing in Canadian folk music with some incessant touring and heavy promotion. The album Cries of the Wild and its brand of chamber pop give you something different to focus on with every listening; even though there are many voices the sound still feels personal. The homogeneous mix of folk and rock provides the best of both worlds with the downfalls of neither."

-Griffin Elliot - The Scene Magazine

"Cries of the Wild is an impressive display of harmonic prowess that elevates the narrative-based, satisfyingly structured songs here. Cries of the Wild is a good start to Middle Sister's venture into the unknown of their career; here's hoping there's lots of journey left."

- Luke-Julius Frenette - Exclaim!

Named after a small island on Lake Erie and not the, stereotypically, forgot middle child, Windsor’s Middle Sister have flushed out a sizeable and lush folk soundscape in their debut self-titled EP. Between the warm, wood covered album art, and the five-piece band’s abilities to create sweeping instrumentals, it seems easy to make connections between Middle Sister’s music and the physicality of the land itself – or maybe they were aiming for that.

In any case, although five members is a pretty sizeable band, Middle Sister inject their music with a depth that makes them sound like a much bigger fleet is part of the music making. The EP as a whole feels like it is distorted slightly, padded with an extra layer of lush sound effects to kick up their already dreamy and harmonized folk sound.

(Again, pardon the generalization middle children!) Middle Sister is a band that is worthy of some attention.

- Laura Stanley, Grayowl Point - Grayowl Point

It’s easy to strum three chords on an acoustic guitar, write some Dylan-knockoff lyrics and call it a folk album. But within the first few minutes of local folk-rock band Middle Sister’s debut self-titled EP, it’s clear that this band isn’t screwing around.

The general sound of these five songs is a combination of folk-rock and ambient chamber music, with pop songwriting sensibilities scattered throughout.

The songs on the album are incredibly well written, and Middle Sister uses something that many bands ignore nowadays: dynamics. There isn’t a single song that stays either loud or quiet the entire time, and they use orchestral buildups to make each song interesting and unique.

In addition to great songwriting, the members of Middle Sister have some pretty serious musical chops. Between the haunting vocals of guitarist Colin Wysman and pianist Kaitlyn Kelly, the restrained yet bold drumming of Nate Gelinas, the beautiful violin work of Stu Kennedy and Kyle Lefaive’s solid bass lines holding everything together, it’s obvious that everyone contributes and nobody is just along for the ride.

Middle Sister deserves any attention and accolades they receive both inside and outside of Windsor. Pay attention, because I have a feeling they’ll be doing some pretty cool stuff in the future.

-Adam D'Andrea, The Urbanite - The Urbanite

Flourishing as a middle child often requires making the best of your surroundings; learning from the history of older siblings while pushing younger ones to innovate for the future. Windsor’s own Middle Sister embody that idea, blending contemporary folk-rock and chamber pop with lyrical homages to Canada’s vibrant history of folk music and lore. The five-piece group are trailblazing a sound that’s unmistakably unique, and they’re trailblazing a new genre of music that’s sure to be a major influence for a whole new wave of musicians. - Andrew Bell