India Gailey
Butterfly Lightning Shakes The Earth

Out: October 25, 2024 on Redshift Records
Genres: Modern Composition, Cello Concerto, Solo Cello

India Gailey — WEB
Symphony Nova Scotia — WEB
Redshift Records — WEB | BANDCAMP

On their new mini-album Butterfly Lightning Shakes The Earth the award-winning American-Canadian cellist India Gailey (she/they) offers listeners more than just the robust and insightful cello playing heard on previous releases. Here, the Halifax resident treats us to a program of their own compositions exclusively. Three solo miniatures, Mountainweeps, open the recording. Originally written for Arlen Hlusko in 2020, the suite explores the impact of climate change on alpine environments. The longer titular composition is effectively a cello concerto that Gailey performs with Symphony Nova Scotia (under the baton of Karl Hirzer and musical direction Holly Mathieson). Both works display Gailey’s uncanny gift for seamlessly integrating timbral interest and an accessible, often generously melodic, way of navigating pitch. This tendency imbues their compositions with a sort of magical quality and expresses welcome disregard for the supposed boundary between more experimental or avant-garde contemporary music with more conventional approaches. As such, Gailey’s handling of orchestral forces manages somehow to deliver the evocative power of Romantic-era repertoire without resembling the music of said era. Named by CBC as one of “30 hot Canadian classical musicians under 30,” India Gailey has toured extensively across the Western hemisphere, performing and/or holding residencies at Domaine Forget, the Banff Centre, Garth Newel Music Center, Halifax Jazz Festival, OBEY Convention, Open Waters Festival, Guelph Jazz Festival, Suoni Per Il Popolo, and the Tuckamore Festival. Gailey has received numerous honours, including awards from the Nova Scotia Talent Trust, the Canada Council for the Arts, Acadia University, and McGill University. In 2021, she was bestowed with an “Emerging Artist Recognition Award” from Arts Nova Scotia. The album To you through was also “Classical Recording of the Year” at the 2023 Music Nova Scotia Music & Industry Awards.

COVERAGE:
Award — Classical Composer of the Year, East Coast Music Awards
Award Nomination — Classical Album Of The Year—Solo Artist, JUNO Awards 2025
Award/ Mention — Kerry Doole, Music News Digest: Classified Leads East Coast Music Awards Winners in a Controversial Year, Billboard
Award/ Mention — Tara Thompson, ECMA 2025 Red Carpet Breakdown & Winners, Canadian Beats
Year-End/ Radio — David Dalle, CKCU (December 26, 2024)
Year-End/ Radio — Icarus FM, Urgent FM
List — Upcoming Releases, Tinnitist
List — Upcoming Releases, A Closer Listen
List — Darryl Sterdan, Next Week in Music | Oct. 21-27 • The Long List: 620 Releases On The Way, Tinnitist
News — Viva Scene
Newsletter — CMC Ontario E-Blast
Info — All Music Guide
Video Premiere — The Strad
Article — Lawrence Peryer, India Gailey’s Cello Metamorphosis Shakes the Earth, The ToneArm
Interview — 15 Questions
Review/ Feature — Pierre Durr, Focus Canadian Connection, Revue et Corrigée
Review — Cheryl Ockrant, The WholeNote
Review — Tom Haugen, Take Effect Reviews
Review — John Gilks, Opera Ramblings
Review — Frédéric Cardin, PAN M 360
Review — Nitestylez.de
Review/ Round-up — Peter Margasak, The Best Contemporary Classical Music on Bandcamp, October 2024, Bandcamp Daily
Round-up — 2024 Cello Museum Holiday Gift Guide, Cello Museum
Podcast — The Modern #338
Podcast — Icarus #629
Podcast — Different Noises #60
Radio/ Chart — Top Albums, Dec 23-29 2024, CKCU
Radio/ Chart — Weekly Top 30 — CFRU (January 7, 2025)
Radio/Chart — Weekly Top 30, CFRU (December 17, 2024)
Radio/ Chart — Top Albums Nov. 25 – Dec. 1, 2024, CKCU
Radio/ Chart — Top albums: Nov 18 – Nov 24, 2024, CKCU
Radio/ Chart — CJSR Weekly Top 30, (October 21, 2024)
Radio/ Article — Bepi Crespan, 02 November 2024 Broadcast Preview, CITR
Radio — Afternoon New Music, WKCR (June 10, 2025)
Radio — Transcendant Phase, KWVA (April 15, 2025)
Radio — Transcendant Phase, KWVA (April 1, 2025)
Radio — Floating Head of Zsa-Zsa, WRUV (March 25, 2025)
Radio — Fine Tuning, WVUD (March 25, 2025)
Radio — Maple-Infused Breakfast, Big E Radio (January 18, 2025)
Radio — La Mouvée, Radio-Canada (January 17, 2025)
Radio — Two Top Intervals, CJSW (January 12, 2025)
Radio — Floating Heading of Zsa Zsa, WRUV (January 7, 2025)
Radio — Modern Notebook (WUSF/ WSMR Syndicated) (January 5, 2025)
Radio — Fine Tuning, WVUD (December 31, 2024)
Radio — Transcendant Phase, KWVA (December 31, 2024)
Radio — Epäilyttävän uutta, YLE (December 12, 2024)
Radio — The Pickle Jar, WRUV (December 11, 2024)
Radio — Mini Playlist #412, One World Music Radio (December 5, 2024)
Radio — Icarus Radio, Urgent FM (December 4, 2024)
Radio — David Dalle, CKCU (November 28, 2024)
Radio — About Time With Tom Allen, CBC (November 25, 2024)
Radio — David Dalle, CKCU (November 21, 2024)
Radio — Classical Discoveries, WPRB (November 20, 2024)
Radio — NewSounds, New York Public Radio (November 14, 2024)
Radio — Bepi Crespan Presents, CITR (November 9, 2024)
Radio — In The Margin Of The Other, WMBR (November 6, 2024)
Radio — About Time With Tom Allen, CBC (November 5, 2024)
Radio — Bepi Crespan Presents, CITR (November 2, 2024)
Radio — Musica esoterica, KWUR (November 2, 2024)
Radio — Floating Head of Zsa Zsa, WRUV (October 29, 2024)
Radio — Glasba našega časa, RTV SLO
Radio/ Record Of The Week — In Concert with Paolo Pietropaolo, CBC (October 27, 2024)
Radio — Quid Novi, CHUO (October 8, 2024)
Radio — Cooler Classics, www.thefeelgoodstation.uk (October 6, 2024)
Radio — Electric Sense, CIUT (October 2, 2024)
Radio — Humanoid Radio, CFRU (October 1, 2024)
Radio — Floating Head of Zsa Zsa, WRUV (October 1, 2024)
Radio — Other Aspects, WAYO (September 29, 2024)
Radio — Other Aspects, WAYO (September 22, 2024)
Radio — Luminous Chord, KBRP (September 22, 2024)
Radio — Pushing The Envelope, WHUS (September 21, 2024)
Radio — Luminous Chord, KBRP (September 18, 2024)