Annie Sumi is a mixed-race, ethereal-folk artist from Canada. Her music is intimate and expansive, inviting the listener into a familiar otherworld. Inspired by the mirrored relationship between physical and emotional landscapes, Sumi’s music speaks of the human experience through the language of the senses.

“Listening to Annie Sumi in concert is like taking a musical forest bath", says Carter Smith of Common Ground Concerts, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY.  

Since 2015, the Ontario-based songwriter has released two critically-acclaimed albums and toured her music across Canada, parts of the U.S. and Europe. Both Reflections and In the Unknown have been awarded with a number of nominations as ‘Emerging Artist’, ‘Female Vocalist’, and ‘Songwriter of the Year’, and received support from national and international radio.  

Sumi’s third album, Solastalgia, was written at the foot of Sleeping Buffalo Mountain on Stoney Nakoda and Blackfoot territory at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. The album digests terminology found in Dr. Glenn Albrecht’s Earth Emotions in hopes of creating conversation about the changes we are living through on this planet. 

“Solastalgia is the ‘homesickness you have when you are still at home’. This word forced me to ruminate on what it means to be a human and feel a deep connection to the Earth as ‘Home’, and simultaneously participate in the structures we have created to destroy it. Now, it seems like we are slowly remembering to listen to the land and follow the lead of people that have been living traditions of connection and conservation for centuries. That space of humility, gratitude, and deep listening is where these songs have come from.”

Solastalgia was released in October, 2021, and is available on Bandcamp and multiple streaming platforms.