Former RCM First Signs of Love featured artist, St. Graye has been selected as one of the top 10 Vancouver finalists in the CBC Searchlight contest with her song Night’s Long.
“This is definitely a surprise for me,” says St. Graye. “I am so overwhelmed with joy! I told myself that it would be enough if just made it to Top 10. To me that is a huge accomplishment even if I don’t go all the way. I am now among 225 artists across Canada down from 3,333 who entered.”
Originally from Orillia, Ontario St. Graye (Katie Fagan) moved away from home at 17 and worked as a snowboard instructor from season to season as she moved further west. Just four years ago she finally landed in Vancouver and made it her home. Her friends in both the skate and snowboard communities as well as the Crossfit community (she trains at RainCity Athletics) continue to be huge supporters of her efforts with the CBC Searchlight contest.
In addition to her massive local support, St. Graye took a page from the CBC Searchlight handbook and joined a coalition of about 30 musicians across the country voting for each other and cross-promoting between artists on their social media.
“I have been overwhelmed at the support I have received from people I know, ” she says, “but the big win in my book was working with and supporting musicians across the country – these artists and their music are really amazing.”
The song was originally written by Katie Fagan, Chris Henderson (from the band UltraVillain), Sam Masih and Alex Ross. The song was originally produced by former Seeds finalist Jordan Carrier, but has since gone on to be re-recorded with engineer David Graham at The Warehouse and produced by Vebjørn Jernberg (aka Softboy) from Norway with final mixing done by Toronto based engineer Josh Bowman.
“The memories, senses, feelings and experiences that I had when I was younger are emulated in this song,” says St. Graye in her bio. “I just felt so behind, so different from everyone else. It was this idea that ‘no one was coming’ — like I was stuck in the darkness alone and only I could try to find the light.”
There have been several remixes done on the song included mixes from Jamie Grant, Softboy, Station Six, and a hip-hop version featuring local Vancouver rapper, J. West. Check them out on Soundcloud.
[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jx4G9KWTOs[/youtube]
