Ben Somer

BEN SOMER with Emma Whale and Kaleb Hikele Friday June 14, 2024 • 7pm Doors GA 19+ • $20 (+SC/HST) Advance ON SALE MAR 22 @ 10AM Mills Hardware 95 King St E., Hamilton, ON millshardware.ca Ben Somer is a North American original, pulling influences from the greats that came before, but wholly responsible for creating his own imaginative world. Ben has a strong sense of the song, a gift for songwriting that brings to mind the legacy of Cash or Dylan, a songwriter who can shine a light on the harder humanities without losing sight of our hopefulness. Produced by acclaimed Canadian singer-songwriter Jerry Leger, Ben's 2022 album, Ben Somer & the Cold Winter, taps folk and Americana influences. The album's lead single, "Back When", features Somer's backing band the Cold Winter with Dan Edmonds on keys, Jimmy Hayes on guitar, Adam Melnick on bass, and Matt Burns on drums.   • Emma Whale is the next obscure indie artist you’ll bring up in conversation to sound cool. 
 No matter the genre, Emma knows how to make a song stand out. With her sweet-as-candy vocals up front, she’ll tell you sad stories with a tinge of hope. While her lyrics reflect her life, she’ll morph her sound to match her mood, resulting in a unique experience for every release. Emma became a multi-instrumentalist at a young age, starting with singing, then picking up piano and guitar not long afterwards. She is a graduate of a concurrent post-secondary program, earning a Bachelor of Musical Arts degree from Western University, and a Music Industry Arts diploma from Fanshawe College. Emma has been a songwriter for several years, and works as an engineer and producer at Catherine North Studios. Emma has been performing throughout the GTA for years, including appearances at the Burlington Sound of Music Festival’s Club Series, Sneaky Dees, Supermarket, and the Hamilton Transportation Club’s 94th Annual Dinner. Does she sound like Clairo, Hayley Williams, AURORA, or Taylor Swift? While compared to each of them, her sound is too hard to pin down. But her consistent lyricism, and impressive vocals keep everything cohesively Emma Whale. 
 • Kaleb Hikele is a Canadian singer-songwriter, folk rocker and prolific recording artist. His upcoming 12th independent studio album, My Mind Is Like a Radio, was written and recorded all within one spring season. Kaleb, best known for his work as The Sun Harmonic, performed and engineered the entirety of the new record at his home studio in Toronto's east end. The latest album was recorded in a retro style, a-song-a-day studio sessions, then mixed in Mono sound, harking back to vinyl in his record collection. In his first decade as The Sun Harmonic, Kaleb toured from coast to coast in Canada as a solo artist, accompanied on stages big and small by opera singers, a chamber string orchestra and a rock trio. In the spring of 2019 he set off on a solo tour to mark ten years as The Sun Harmonic, followed by a release of his cross-country folk album, years in the making, Coast to Coast in 2021. Kaleb’s musical output started in 2004 and has since been featured on Netflix, SiriusXM, CBC Radio, Stingray Music, radio stations and streaming services around the world. His work with The Sun Harmonic and other projects has been recognized by Canada's Walk of Fame, Record Store Day and Canadian Musician Magazine, with nominations from Forest City London Music Awards (Ontario Independent Recording Artist) and Ontario Folk Music Awards (Album of the Year).   Kaleb Hikele hits the road on a solo tour with his brand new album My Mind Is Like a Radio on vinyl, all around Ontario from May to July 2024. Come out to celebrate and listen to a retrospective of songs in his 20th year as a indie musician.