$35

Kioea (pronounced kēōˈāə) is a music group featuring Carand Burnet (she/her) as lead guitarist and songwriter. Their music blends sounds of surf rock, psychedelia, and global influences. J. Swartwood (Aquarium Drunkard) described Burnet’s music as “simultaneously modern and vintage.”

Bandcamp recognized Kioea for their EP and album, Stand Tall, which they selected as New & Notable releases. Bandcamp’s Editorial Director writes, “The debut LP from Kioea is dreamy psychedelic surf music that calls back to the ’60s while feeling remarkably contemporary.” Jason M. Rubin (The Arts Fuse) comments, “Burnet’s surf guitar takes the listener on journeys of their own, all of which feeds a desire to hear more.”

Doyle Dean, host of The Dean’s List on NCPR, notes that “Burnet’s guitar playing owes a little bit to the sound of The Ventures, Dick Dale, and the 90’s Canadian daredevils of the form, Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet. But her singular voice owes just as much to that of Sonny Rollins – lost in the madness of a late 1950s session for Riverside. It’s that departure Kioea offers.”

Kioea has played at 3S Artspace, The Music Hall, The Thing in the Spring Festival, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, SPACE Gallery, WMUR Summer Concert Series, and elsewhere. Burnet received a Maine ARP Grant through SPACE Gallery and the National Endowment for the Arts, which supported the making of Kioea’s album Stand Tall.