In turbulent times, the events and changes of three years can feel like three lifetimes gone by. Seconds into "Parallels," the first single from Toronto's Kaia Kater since her 2018 album Grenades, a tonal shift is immediately felt: the pulsing keys, reedy string swells and smoky atmosphere that were hinted at on that LP are now fully realized. A hazy sound world feels a fitting place for Kater to sort through the wreckage of modern life, here depicted as a world of fear, distrust and promises unkept. With a stellar duet partner in trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Kater's smooth alto paints a picture of two lives in turmoil, an aching waltz with a simple desire at its core: "And I wish you would just / Care for me / Care, care for me."
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