Wildflower album release with Kioea

Maine pastoral folkies celebrate their third LP featuring contributions from members of Destroyer, Cut Worms, Widowspeak, and The Huntress and Holder of Hands.

Wildflower is the songwriting project of Adrian O’Barr, based in Portland, Maine. Writing primarily about place and the power of nature, the music seeks to explore a distinctive vision of “Atlantic” music and tell stories of a changing coastline. Combining influences as far ranging as 1970’s British Isles folk music, Laurel Canyon, and ambient, Wildflower’s third album, “Green World” arrives 3/1/2024 via their own label Dog’s Breath Records. It features contributions from friends and collaborators Andrew Weaver (Mail the Horse, Widowspeak), Joseph Shabason (Destroyer), Hamilton Belk (Cut Worms), MorganEve Swain (Huntress and the Holder of Hands), Matthew Maiello, Jason Eckerson, and Kevin Sullivan.

Wildflower has toured both locally and nationally and played with many of their heroes, including Little Wings, Michael Nau, Kacey Johansing, and Steve Gunn, among others. Their previous album, “The Ocean Rose” was released by Los Angeles label Night Bloom Records. Wildflower has been featured in Aquarium Drunkard, New Commute, Various Small Flames, Uncut Magazine, and For the Rabbits. Their new album was made in part with funding from the American Rescue Plan Maine Projects Grants, a sub-granting program administered by SPACE Gallery for the National Endowment for the Arts.

Kioea (pronounced kēōˈāə) is a music group featuring Carand Burnet (she/her) as lead guitarist and songwriter. Their music blends sounds of surf rock, psychedelia, and global influences. J. Swartwood (Aquarium Drunkard) described Burnet’s music as “simultaneously modern and vintage.”

Bandcamp recognized Kioea for their EP and album, Stand Tall, which they selected as New & Notable releases. Bandcamp’s Editorial Director writes, “The debut LP from Kioea is dreamy psychedelic surf music that calls back to the ’60s while feeling remarkably contemporary.” Doyle Dean, host of The Dean’s List on NCPR, notes that “Burnet’s guitar playing owes a little bit to the sound of The Ventures, Dick Dale, and the 90’s Canadian daredevils of the form, Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet. But her singular voice owes just as much to that of Sonny Rollins — lost in the madness of a late 1950s session for Riverside. It’s that departure Kioea offers.”

Kioea’s performance will feature a duo format with guitar and drums. The band has played at 3S Artspace, The Music Hall, The Thing in the Spring Festival, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, WMUR Summer Concert Series, and elsewhere. Burnet received a Maine ARP Grant through SPACE Gallery and the National Endowment for the Arts, which supported the making of Kioea’s album Stand Tall.