The Sound Cafe

Award-Winning Canadian Artists Ben Caplan and Terra Spencer Announce New Album With Single Release

Award-winning Atlantic Canadian artists Ben Caplan and Terra Spencer have teamed up to create their first album together titled Old News, set for release on October 14, 2022. Combining Terra's creative prowess as a storytelling songwriter with Ben's first foray into music production, their upcoming album features intimate duets and compelling solo performances, exquisite musical craftsmanship, and the organic ambiance of listening rooms from long ago.

Old News is a collection of real and imagined stories, told by two very different voices; funeral director-turned-songwriter Terra Spencer was awarded Music Nova Scotia's 2021 Recording of The Year for her self-produced sophomore album and coined "the real deal" by legendary Canadian artist Ron Sexmith. Explosive performer and newly-minted producer Ben Caplan has played some of the world's most coveted stages including Glastonbury and SXSW, and was branded "an unmistakable presence" by the UK's Independent Newspaper.

In advance of their full album release next month, Terra and Ben have just released their brand new single "Good Friends", a cheeky, jazzy, call-and-response duet about friendship (and maybe something more).

Merging their extensive musical backgrounds and diverse tastes, Terra Spencer and Ben Caplan's upcoming album unites the charming allure of the golden era of jazz with the authentic warmth of 1970's analog recordings. Filled with the exciting contrasts of Terra's tender vocal and Ben's husky growl, the project blends jazz, folk and influences from across time to create "Old News" - a nostalgic, yet remarkably current album exploring longing, loss, and the gentle art of saying goodbye. With a friendship born over a cup of tea at Ben's kitchen piano between lockdowns, the duo has since toured across Canada and the UK offering sneak peeks of this unique collaboration.

Reaching back to the glory days of jazz duets and the "are we, aren't we" playfulness of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, Terra Spencer's adamantly fictional "Good Friends" paints the predicament of walking a fine line between friendship and something more. Producer Ben Caplan corralled some of the city's finest jazz players at Fang Recording in Dartmouth, NS to capture a live-off-the-floor listening room sound and tipsy energy of the tune. With a dash of musical theatrics, a whimsical piano opening leads into the cheeky call and response between Terra and Ben. Featuring a horn section arranged by Matt Meyer, the track includes a notable horn breakdown, in which Terra and Ben can be heard giggling into the background - as "Good Friends" do - before giving the friendship a jovial nudge back into place. The song has been a highlight on their Canadian and UK tours, serving as the perfect introduction to this new musical pair of "Good Friends". Terra and Ben's new single and full album will be sure to delight both old and new fans alike.

Terra and Ben's brand new album “Old News" will be released in October 2022

Raised on the mud banks of the Avon River, Nova Scotian funeral director-turned-songwriter Terra Spencer was recruited as a backup singer while scooping ice cream at a music festival. She can make you feel knee-to-knee with her in a room of 5 or 500 with her butterscotch vibrato, deft fingerstyle guitar, church bench piano, sly humour, and ‘70s wood-paneled warmth. Her startling knack for unraveling intimate stories caught the attention of Canadian musical mentors like David Francey and Matt Andersen (who chose their co-write Other Side of Goodbye to launch his recent album) and she has become a sought-after studio musician, co-writer, producer, and workshop facilitator. Terra’s self-produced second album Chasing Rabbits won Music Nova Scotia’s Folk Recording of the Year and received nominations for ECMA Folk Recording of the Year and CFMA Contemporary Singer of the Year. Her song “Feels Like Home” was named the 2021 Blues and Roots Radio International Song of the Year. Following a full-band summer tour celebrating the golden anniversary of the music of 1971, Terra is currently touring Canada and the UK with Ben Caplan in support of their upcoming joint album, Old News, set for release in fall 2022. “The real deal.” - Ron Sexsmith

Ben Caplan is both the roar of the hurricane and the eye of the storm. He has an uncanny ability to channel both wild abandon and quiet introspection. His songwriting pulls from many diverse influences but both his music and his lyrics regularly draw from his Jewish heritage. Often mixing biblical imagery and klezmer inflected melodies, Caplan re-appropriates ancient sounds and themes with a decidedly contemporary twist. Ben released his first studio album in 2011, and has spent the last ten years recording music and performing to ever growing audiences in music clubs and theatres around the world.