Ora Cogan

Haunting folk-noir from the Canadian forests

Bewitched folk-gaze from a bygone era? Cinematic country-noir with an icy touch of gothic? Ora Cogan’s enigmatic music is hard to pigeonhole. But whatever you want to call them—these mystical songs, born in the dark pine forests of Vancouver Island—they grab you by the throat and don’t let go.

Cogan's music is like alchemy. A steaming brew that emerges where experimentation, psychedelia, and centuries-old tradition converge. Each of her songs possesses a kind of vintage charm. They drip with reverb and evoke hazy memories of Karen Dalton *and* the Cocteau Twins—but not quite. Cogan makes it a sport to constantly push her boundaries a little further. For seven albums in a row, she refuses to be pigeonholed, playing with influences from shoegaze, post-punk, country, and long-forgotten folk traditions.

This year, her latest album was released on the iconic Sacred Bones label (Emma Ruth Rundle, Marissa Nadler). An intimate, shimmering collection of songs with a glow of smoke and seawater, with which she will enchant De Helling on September 10.