Back in 2020, Canadian songwriter Ken Yates dropped a track called “Quiet Talkers” which both served as the title track for the LP he released that year and ventured into the complicated subject matter of finding solace in the impermanence of a one-night stand, the weary folk ballad being paired with a contrastingly playful lyric video featuring some dated clips of skiers dancing on the slopes. Fast-forward to 2022 and Yates’ latest album cycle and he’s once again returned to the subject on “Consolation Prize,” the latest cut from his forthcoming record Cerulean.
Positioning the track as “somewhat of a sequel” to “Quiet Talkers,” the single matches that song’s downcast energy and confessional lyrics while adding layers to its lush soundscape (one of which takes the form of backing vocals from Nashville-based songwriter Katie Pruitt). “‘Quiet Talkers’ is about finding solace in the company of a complete stranger for a night,” Yates recalls. “I wrote ‘Consolation Prize’ imagining how that relationship might look a few years in the future, with one of the characters falling in love, and the other person not feeling the same way. I think one of the hardest types of love is loving someone who doesn’t love you back, but still wishing the best for them.”
The video the track arrives with extends the parallels between these two songs, this time presenting Yates himself on the slopes, distractedly downhill-racing rather than busting out flashy moves. Check out the visual below.
