Much like his career, Chris Ho’s music has always been a balancing act. It strikes a tone somewhere between hope and heartbreak — buoyed by the power of a man who gets up every day deliberately choosing optimism but anchored by the humility of one who knows doing so might be the only thing holding back a tide of sadness.

Born in BC in 1989, the self-taught singer and guitarist’s voice has a quietly tenacious quality, gliding through his swirling melodies like a rowboat moving resolutely against a current. It’s the sound of persevering in the face of troubles large and small — a struggle that is by turns joyous and wistful, often in the same song. This ability to capture and express the melancholy of everyday life has invited comparisons to Canadian folk luminaries such as Gordon Lightfoot and Dan Mangan (as well as more than one character from the films of Wes Anderson).

Chris released the independently recorded Answers EP in 2011 and has since put out two full-length studio albums: City of Dust, which earned him Songwriter of the Year at the 2012 Vancouver Island Music Awards, and Places You’ve Been in 2017. He has toured both albums across Canada, heard his music played over the airwaves on CBC Radio, and slept in his old Toyota Camry more times than he would like to admit.

-- Graham K. Miles, October 2020