‘hard.times with Lady Phyl’ melds rhythmic jazz with the vibe of R&B and soul music to create a sound that is both unique and appealing.
As an instrumental quartet, hard.times released its debut EP, Portland, in 2019; a FACTOR-funded live-off-the-floor album in 2020; the single ‘Clean Dancing’ (via Inner Ocean Records) in 2021; and the full-length beat tape style album, ‘After A Year’, in spring of 2022.
Lady Phyl has done backup vocals and features for countless artists: Kuba Oms, Matt Stern, Deva Premal and Miten, and RUSUR. In collaboration with Juno Award-Winning string quartet The Fretless, she recently released a cover of the Canadian classic ‘Wondering Where The Lions Are’, by Bruce Cockburn.
In April 2022, hard.times with Lady Phyl released the FACTOR funded ‘High with Me’: the single has accumulated over 130,000 streams and has been added to over 1500 playlists, including Spotify's coveted 'Fresh Finds'. So far in 2022 the group has played Nanaimo’s International Jazzfest, sold out all its smaller shows at local venues to date in Victoria, Nanaimo, and Vancouver, and performed at Victoria Jazzfest and the Laketown Shakedown festival.
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hard.times with Lady Phyl are gearing up to release their next single, YRU So Confusing, in early 2023.