Vancouver-based alt-folk artist Kele Fleming has never shied away from truth. Her songs are protest anthems. They are hymns for the haunted. They are postcards from the edge, sent in the voice of someone who made it back. Her newest single, “The Nite The Stars Fell (For Kurt Cobain),” might be her most personal yet.

Out April 5 via World Peach Records, the song is being released on the 31st anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death. Fleming wrote it exactly one year earlier, on April 5, 2024—the 30th anniversary of his passing. “I wrote this song on April 5, 2024,” Kele shares. “That night, I came very close to death myself. I was in the middle of a medical emergency, lying on a hospital gurney, waiting for a battery of tests. I didn’t understand at first why my thoughts had turned to Kurt. Later I realized—it was the anniversary of his death. Some benevolent angels had other plans for me that night, and I feel Kurt was among them.”

 Listen on Spotify here:
open.spotify.com/track/6EO6TtP0YDstuumPU2qPvB

What emerged from that night is a raw, reverent, and poetic track—a haunting duet with Art Bergmann, Canada’s punk laureate. Bergmann’s weathered voice adds gravity and grace to the recording, matching Fleming’s radiant ache note for note.

The nite the stars fell
Was he among them, I couldn’t tell
Explore your Leonard Cohen Afterworld
To give rebirth a whirl
Teen spirit wild and free
Told us all how to be
His heart in a box for the whole world to see
Awake in the nite with me
Bringing me pennyroyal tea

“The Nite The Stars Fell (For Kurt Cobain)” features Kele Fleming on vocals and acoustic guitar, with legendary Canadian artist Art Bergmann contributing vocals. Scott Fletcher plays bass guitar, Tony Lee adds drums and percussion, Jonathan Blokmanis provides electric guitar, and Matthew Presidente performs on piano and keys. The track was engineered and mixed by Sheldon Zaharko of Zed Productions, with assistance from Annie Kennedy and Alex Walters, and was mastered by Andrew Downton at Railtown Mastering. Each musician brings their own emotional weight and artistry to the track, making it a powerful, collaborative tribute.

Fleming, described as “the distinct love child of Linda Perhacs and Ani DiFranco,” has long balanced fierce intellect with soaring, soul-rattling vocals. Quoting Darwin and Foucault mid-song, she crafts psychedelic, feministic folk music that pushes against apathy and forgetfulness. Her music has charted at #1 on the New Queer Canada Music Charts, and her presence as an LGBTQ2A artist remains essential in today’s shifting landscape. 

With over 500,000 Spotify streams to her name and a previous hit remix (“The Great Acceleration – Devours Remix”) amassing over 114,000 listens, Kele continues to break barriers and defy industry molds. “The Nite The Stars Fell (For Kurt Cobain)” is another bold stroke in an already luminous discography.

This is not just a tribute. It’s a torch passed between generations. It’s a whispered thank-you to a fallen star—and a quiet vow to keep the light burning.

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