Vancouver-based artist and performer, Kimmortal (a.k.a. Kim Villagante), first discovered her passion for hip-hop and R&B music during her early adolescent years, and ever since then has been on her grind, evolving and developing her own original material and unique sound to add to the Westcoast music roster.

With her working-class, Filipino-immigrant parents attempting to produce better opportunities for her and her siblings, Kim was raised in the suburbs of Surrey and attended a very conservative, Christian private school. Amidst the personal battles, internal conflicts, identity issues, and existential questioning that emerged throughout those confusing, awkward teenage years, Kim was able to find home within the realm of urban music and culture. It was through the mode of hip-hop particularly that Kim truly found her freedom to fully express her deepest thoughts and truest identity.

Deemed an “earthquake” of a performer by the Georgia Strait, this year Kimmortal surfaces with her first album titled “Sincerity”. This long-awaited album, arranged and produced by Ascetic Productions’ Jeremy Enns dropped on bandcamp at midnight on Friday, November 28, 2014 (which also happens to be Kim’s birthday).

The album, produced, recorded, and mixed by Jeremy Enns of Ascetic Productions encapsulates Kim’s vast and varied experiences and societal musings over the past decade with a substantial and stripped, yet simultaneously ethereal and spiritual, sound of indie-folk-soul-rap fusion. Kimmortal’s soulful voice and lyrical stylings have often been said to be reminiscent of a younger Ms. Lauryn Hill (circa MTV Unplugged).

“Sincerity” is a tapestry of soothing classical and acoustic strings, garage percussion, gang-vocals and raw rap that marries the gritty essence of East Coast hip-hop with the laid-back, experimental sound of West Coast indie. Kimmortal’s lyrics on “Sincerity” courageously and unapologetically delve into topics most often untouched by popular music artists, topics like race, queer love, ancestry, and social justice.

“Sincerity” is just that: a transparent and vulnerable account of humanity: a toss up between the mortal and immortal, somewhere between the physical and the metaphysical. “Sincerity” is most definitely a refreshing and reflective album to accompany your restless mind and comfort your soul on those rainy, dark winter nights moving between point A and B.

For those in the Vancouver area, her album release show will take place Saturday, Dec. 6 at 8 p.m., at the Wood’s Studio, accompanied by other artists such as Dj Wondrkut, Missy Diane, Sol Diana, & Purple Hearts Social Club.

You can listen and check out “Sincerity” here and learn more about her work on her website at www.kimmortal.com.