Toronto’s Adria Kain dives track-by-track into her stunningly beautiful and deeply vulnerable debut album ‘When Flowers Bloom,’ an utterly enchanting soulful seduction full of passion, intimacy, and vivid sound.
Stream: “Alone in Kenzo” – Adria Kain
I started to view myself as a garden and I began my journey of growth and just patiently waited for years for my flowers to bloom. Everything that I create surrounds this now.
It’s hard to experience to Adria Kain’s debut album and not feel like we’re being exposed to the artist’s inner sanctum: Her music, achingly intimate and unapologetically honest, feels like the torn pages of a diary manifest in song. She holds nothing back in her music or her lyrics, and as a result, we come away feeling like we don’t just know the songs themselves; we know the ins and outs of the person behind it all. An utterly enchanting soulful seduction, When Flowers Bloom is a stunningly beautiful and vulnerable album of self-discovery and connection. It’s a record of inner reckoning; of love, loss, and healing; of self-empowerment, and taking control of one’s narrative. Through plunging into her own depths and sharing her raw truths, Kain inspires us not only to be our best selves, but also to own our stories.
It’s getting kind of late
Cuz’ its dark outside and I think
That your mind won’t remember a thing, no
After tonight if I don’t make a move on you
But I always hesitate
When you look at me in that way
Like there’s something you’ve been meaning to say to me
I can tell that it makes you afraid
Its okay, yeah…
Why you wanna war with love baby?
Let me break your walls down
You know you want give me that baby
Just let me guide you
Released February 11, 2022 via ArtHaus Music / Venice Music, When Flowers Bloom is a truly exciting introduction to Adria Kain – not to mention an exceptional collection of inspiring and invigorating alt-R&B songs. Hailing from Toronto and active since 2015, Kain is a masculine-presenting queer woman with a voice like melting butter and the songwriting talent to match. She’s already shone bright on previous EPs, including 2017s DE{com}pressed and 2018’s Still in Love, but with her debut LP, Kain is truly iridescent – cultivating her artistry and her vision through a sonic smorgasbord of colorful, evocative, and provocative instrumental work that resonates alongside her breathtaking voice. Meanwhile, Kain’s lyrics see her branching inwardly and outwardly at the same time: Her songs explore everything from identity and romance, to understanding her place in the world and so much more. In short, these songs are far from one-note or one-topic – and that’s just the beginning.
“When Flowers Bloom tells the story of falling in love after overcoming the loss of oneself through previous experiences in love,” Kain tells Atwood Magazine. “It touches on the hardships faced, after embarking on a journey of self-discovery, in an attempt to heal the wounds that developed through romantic relationships and the false perceptions that were taught throughout my upbringing. Accountability & vulnerability are the key emotions in this story.”
“Overall, it started as a way for me to break down parts of my experiences through the art of storytelling, I guess to sort of clear my mind in a real way rather than succumbing to the habit of suppressing my thoughts. In turn, it ended up sending me on a journey of growth that I was not prepared for, but realized through the process was long overdue. Once I got to a certain stage in my growth, I started to let the vision flow more freely and all that is heard on the album now is what came from that. I am very big on feeling through one’s emotions through music, so being able to kind of build a soundtrack to my experiences was such a comforting experience in so many ways. Almost like another form of therapy. A soundscape that allowed for things, as hard as they seemed at times, to make a bit more sense, or to be a bit easier to move through.”
When Flowers Bloom is as honest and true to Adria Kain “the person” as Adria Kain “the artist” has ever gotten.
She shares considerable pride, as well as humility, in having created a work that so closely encapsulates her personage – the ins and outs, the seen and unseen.
“I think this album is the strongest I have ever been as an artist all around,” she explains. “It’s the first time I really feel like I was able to sit in my voice comfortably. It’s also the most creative I’ve been in my years of doing this, and most of my own creative vision only really started to come to life near the end. So it’s really just the beginning of the part of my journey I’ve been looking forward to the most. This is the album I wish I could have produced when I first presented myself to the world, but everything in divine timing is the theme that I’ve begun to know well lately.”
For Kain, the album’s title speaks volumes to the music within: Spiritual, natural, instinctual – embracing truth and letting things flow, rather than forcing round pegs into square holes (or vice versa).
“A few years ago I developed a strong connection with nature,” she recalls. “I had experienced a lot throughout the years that caused me a great deal of pain and mental strife and confusion, and I think isolating myself and spending a lot of that time outside with the trees and in open fields and spaces allowed me to come back to life in a way that was more authentically me.”
“Letting myself go completely to the sounds of large bodies of water and really reflecting on how water is such an important, complex, healing component to life brought me to the realization of why I connected so deeply to nature. I started to view myself as a garden and I began my journey of growth and just patiently waited for years for my flowers to bloom. Everything that I create surrounds this now and I think the evidence of that begins to show itself throughout this album.”
Highlights abound throughout When Flowers Bloom: From the intimate opening tracks “Garden Entrance (You Exist)” and “Ocean (Reprise)” to the seismic and sweeping finale, “Garden Exit (To the Ones I’ve Loved Before),” Kain ensures an emotionally charged, cathartic, and energizing listen for all. Instant standouts include the insatiably groovy “Alone in Kenzo” and the dazzlingly hypnotic “Classic” (featuring fellow Torontonian Leila Dey), both of which showcase Adria Kain’s talents as a jaw-dropping, shiver-inducing performer.
For Kain, two songs in particular resonate with her. “It’s hard for me to choose [favorites] really, but I’d say for sure it’s between ‘Only with Time’ & ‘Garden Exit (To the Ones I’ve Loved Before),’” she says. “I knew with these two songs, once the ideas came, that there was an important message, and I refused to let myself be in a rush to figure out what it was. It took me, if I remember correctly, at least two years to finish writing both.”
As a lyrically forward songwriter, Kain cites four lines from four different songs as some of her favorite lyrics on the album.
“I fell away baby, from the things in you I reprehend, when I went away baby, I just thought that you would understand…” – Only With Time
. “I hope you found love, in the memory of us” – Garden Exit ( To The Ones I’ve Loved Before )
. “Last Night when I fell under the moon, I dreamt of me and you, woke up wondering the truth behind those big brown eyes” – Melt Into You
. “I tried to let go of all the things I don’t like here, despite all the nightmares, I’ve realigned with myself” – Peace Be Still
“I remember perfectly, when writing these particular lyrics, being so surprised that I could write so clearly from such an honest place,” Kain says of the above lines. “There was no holding back in those moments, just instant release and then instant gratification after hearing the way things naturally fell together melodically.”
Ultimately, When Flowers Bloom represents Adria Kain’s blossoming as an artist.
She comes to life not only with stunning intimacy and emotion, but also with vivid color, thanks to every song’s evocative instrumental work – from the radiant strings, rich saxophone, and stirring piano on the interlude “Never Change” (ft. Leila Dey), to the woozy guitars and pulsing beats of the subdued, contemplative confessional, “Peace Be Still.” There’s nary a dull moment on When Flowers Bloom; from her loudest roars to her softest whispers, Adria Kain holds our collective attention and never lets it go – and as far as debuts are concerned, this is one enviable introduction we are sure to keep close, coming back to it time and again in the months and years to come.
“I don’t talk much in general,” Kain shares. “I mostly observe, but in my growth and observation I have a lot on my mind that I think needs to be released. For now, the only thing I will say is believe in yourself enough to do it yourself.” Experience the full record via our below stream, and peek inside Adria Kain’s When Flowers Bloom with Atwood Magazine as the artist goes track-by-track through the music and lyrics of her debut album!
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:: stream/purchase When Flowers Bloom here ::
Stream: ‘When Flowers Bloom’ – Adria Kain
:: Inside When Flowers Bloom ::
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Garden Entrance (You Exist)
The first flower blooming from the garden. The sonics of this song brings life to Adria’s new found self awareness, as she looks inward to acknowledge her own emotional instability and perspectives on life.
Ocean (Reprise)
A powerful message to self on pushing forward and overcoming hardships regardless of how difficult the journey may be. A reminder to create a safe space within and celebrate your accomplishments more often.
Melt into You
A song about seeing a world of possibilities in love with someone new. Paying close attention and embracing every single detail of what draws you to this person.
Peace Be Still
An important message on taking a moment to breathe and finding peace within, during moments of chaos and overwhelm.
Alone in Kenzo
The first date with the person you admired during Melt Into You. The emotional and energetic exchange, the thoughts, the warmth. The night where everything makes sense with you and them. Falling in love for the first time, but being a little afraid to be the first to admit it.
Classic (ft. Leila Dey)
Celebrating a new love with the world around you. You’ve come into full realization of yourself and the things you admire and want in life and love and this woman is the first flower to spring from the garden of manifestations.
Flowers, For You
Giving Black women their flowers.
Never Change (ft. Leila Dey) (Interlude)
A message of reassurance. Working through feelings surrounding fear of heartbreak and managing insecurities while settling into a new relationship.
Lost One
Succumbing to over-thinking and not communicating how you feel, resulting in losing out on an opportunity to be with someone you saw a potential future with.
Only with Time
Holding faith that regardless of how hard things were with your person, and no matter how long you end up separating, that time will bring you back together in some way if it’s meant to be.
Garden Exit (To the Ones I’ve Loved Before)
A song about accountability and self love. An open apology to myself and the ones I’ve loved in my past for any pain that may have been caused through my own.
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:: stream/purchase When Flowers Bloom here ::
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