When Andrea Ramolo toured through Halifax two years ago, the Toronto-based roots-folk musician was sleeping in a van with built-in bunk beds, constructed with her longtime touring partner and musical Jack-of-all-trades Jason Skiendziel. For her upcoming cross-country jaunt, which brings her to the Seahorse next Wednesday, April 6, she’ll be supported by a bassist and drummer — and will hopefully be spending at least a few nights in comfier lodgings. Not that she’s complaining, though: “I just want the band to be comfortable,” she says. Ramolo’s humbler tour accommodations provided song fodder for her new album, The Shadows and the Cracks — one song, “Eastern Shore,” was specifically inspired by a spooky rest stop by an old graveyard on the way to Cape Breton. It’s a sea-shanty-style waltz, using the story of fisherman lost at sea as a framing for Ramolo’s own story of unrequited love. “It’s really eerie,” she says. “And that drive has always stuck with me — it’s such a haunting and beautiful place, with all the little lighthouses blinking in the fog.”
Listen to "Eastern Shore":