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Ora Cogan

Ora Cogan

Nanaimo-based folk singer whose voice slides between gothic hush and psychedelic country haze.

LIVE SESSION · Audiotree

VIDEO · FROM APPLE MUSIC

Nanaimo-based folk singer whose voice slides between gothic hush and psychedelic country haze.

MOODS · gothic folk · atmospheric · melancholic · psychedelic · haunting

BIOGRAPHY

Ora Cogan is a Canadian indie folk singer-songwriter based in Nanaimo, British Columbia, raised on Salt Spring Island in a musical, activist household. She apprenticed as a silversmith as a teenager, cut her teeth in Vancouver punk clubs and DIY venues, and has released eleven albums since her 2005 debut Sparrow, moving between folk, experimental music, and cinematic songwriting. Alongside music, Cogan has worked for a decade in environmental justice organizing and media, including directing a 2012 documentary on the Northern Gateway pipeline and photojournalism during the 2021 Fairy Creek old-growth logging protests. Her most recent album, Hard Hearted Woman, was made with producer David Parry and marked her signing to Sacred Bones Records; the prior album, Formless, emerged from grief after her father's death.

WHY THEY'RE COOL

Reviewers consistently place Cogan at the crossroads of genres that shouldn't mix but do: Ghost Cult Magazine likened Formless to 'Gillian Welch covering The Sisters of Mercy,' while Silent Radio heard 'a gothic Stevie Nicks.' Treble compared Hard Hearted Woman's incantatory pull to Grouper and Vashti Bunyan, and The Skinny praised her seamless blend of traditional folk with psychedelic and experimental inflections. That album features guest turns from Luz Elena Mendoza of Y La Bamba and Cormac Mac Diarmada of Lankum, and was longlisted for the 2026 Polaris Music Prize. Cogan has also discussed her work on CBC Radio's Q.

GEORGE'S PLAYS

George has played this artist 3 times.

LIVE SESSIONS