
Saintfield is currently in pre-production with their FACTOR and OAC supported debut full length album with three time Grammy award winning producer David Bottrill (Peter Gabriel, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Tool, David Sylvian, IAMX, Smashing Pumpkins, Rush, Crown Lands) set for release in June 2022.
In 2018, Ciara Adams and Ali Jafri joined forces to form Saintfield - more than a band, but an immersive “Alternative Global” music duo that envelops the audience in an audio/visual splendor. Drawing on their collective histories in music and the performing arts, the band’s debut EP - Into the World - presents a vibrant blend of neo-classical atmospheres, multicultural textures, and darkly engaging post-punk and goth/rock. From the ethereal melodies of “Next Full Moon” and the crooning vocals and ambient layers of “Into the World” to the richly cinematic “Oonagh” and rhythmic and ritualistic “Dil Ki Avaaz”, Into the World entices you to engage with your innermost emotions, creating a world from within, making the very act of listening a participatory experience - you are part of the majestic and magical soundscapes towards which Saintfield transports you.
Written, produced, and performed by Jafri and Adams, with contributions from cellist Anne Bourne and tabla percussionist Ed Hanley, Into the World is now available to purchase/stream digitally via Bandcamp, Amazon, Spotify, and YouTube, as well as from Saintfield themselves. Mixed by Reza Moghaddas at Bamahang Studios and mastered by Justin Gray at Immersive Mastering, the EP’s four tracks are only the beginning of a much grander and encompassing journey, with an internationally award winning companion live concert film/documentary showcasing Saintfield’s live performance of Into the World at The Music Gallery in the band’s home of Toronto, Ontario, directed by Grain Fed Films’ Adrian Smith.
A visual media artist and multi-instrumentalist, Jafri has been a featured member of David J’s (of 80’s post-punk icons Bauhaus, Love and Rockets) live band as an electric sitarist, percussionist, and backing vocalist during the “Vagabond Vigilantes” Tour in 2017, he also performed “rock-sitar” in industrial supergroup Pigface (featuring Martin Atkins of Nine Inch Nails, Danny Carey of TOOL) in 2019. Adams is an accomplished musician, vocalist and theatrical creator, having studied opera at Queen’s University and acting at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, she has performed and toured internationally with immersive collective bluemouth inc., and as a solo artist (Live at Le Select Bistro, Last of the Bohemians), as well as with many others including as a vocalist for Peggy Baker Dance Projects.
The pair formed Saintfield in 2018 creating a live score for the stage production Katimajuit with Inuit throat singing duo Sila Singers going on to debut their original Electro-operatic multimedia experience R.U.X. in December 2019 at TMAC (Toronto Media Arts Centre).