Sled Island 2025 Day 1: Sloth Records sets the stage with a lineup of intimate performances

By Hannah Caparino, June 20 2025—

Sled Island 2025 started off with a bang by providing festival goers with early shows to hear performers in an intimate setting. Sloth Records on 17th avenue hosted three up and coming artists at an all-access show, starting with Kamra, followed up with Jolene Marie, and ending the show with Zenon and the 64.

Kamra and their guitarist Andrew arrived at Sled Island from Toronto to play their first performance at Sloth Records, bringing their indie and experimental sound to the record shop. They began their set with a soft sound and a guitar melody that audience members would sway to. Kamra’s lyrics are both vulnerable and equally as relatable, balancing between familiar indie guitar tunes and experimental production their set was extremely entrancing. In their eighth song set, Kamra was able to curate a list of songs that is underpinned with intimate experiences of personal development, relationships, and more. 

Kamra’s 2024 album, Shift Circuit made up the majority of their performance, featuring songs like “Absolute Ardor” and “Nerve Endings”. Kamra also teased new music by performing an unreleased song, “Roaming Start”, which has themes of growing in a relationship with someone and the love that is shared between two individuals. Their powerful vocals perfectly complemented the sometimes softness or strong strums of the guitar.

Calgary artist Jolene Marie was the follow-up performer at the record shop. With her soft and raspy tone, she entranced the audience with her easy going guitar strumming and story-driven songs. Marie was accompanied by a drummer and trumpeter which allowed for the performance to feel more full. The addition of the trumpet complemented the vocals and soft melody of the guitar, creating a background sound that adds another layer to the music. 

Marie’s mellow tone is also paired with her lyrics that contain strong imagery like “Peach Smoke”. One of the best parts of her performance was how her haunting melody and songs would reflect feelings of loss and relationships in an multiple indie and folk set list.

To end the show at Sloth Records was returning musician and singer, Zenon who is joined by a full band. The band consists of Balazs Ordog on drums, Francis DNM who plays the electric guitar, Trevor Wiebe on bass, and Zenon who provides lead vocals and keys. The band set the stage for their debut performance by beginning with a cover of the 2012 song “Unaware” by Allen Stone. 

Following the cover, the band continued to showcase their original music by including songs from Zenon’s 2022 EP GENRE Z like “Smoke in my Lungs”. The R&B and soul sound reverberated throughout the entire venue as Zenon sings with a smooth and rich voice, adding riffs and belts in the lyrics. Like Kamra, Zenon and the 64 also teased their unreleased songs called “So Fine” and “Bad Bad News” which was a collaboration between all band members. The lyrics of the song “So Fine” is about how an individual can lose themselves through being deeply enveloped in a relationship. Zenon’s feelings and lyrics are visceral and their engagement with audience members ended the performances at Sloth Records with excitement for the rest of the festival.

Sled Island will continue to feature these artists for the rest of the festival, appearing in places like King Eddy and Commonwealth. 

For ticket and pass information, check out the Sled Island website. General information about the festival line up and schedule can be found here.