Departure Discovery Series

The Painted Lady is proud to be an official venue of Departure Festival 2026.

As a lead-up to the festival, we’re excited to launch the Departure Discovery Series — a special showcase featuring Sara Kae, Active Mirror, and Noise Hotel.

Designed to build momentum ahead of Departure, the series gives audiences a chance to discover these artists in an intimate, electric setting before the festival begins.

Hosted at one of Ossington’s favourite live music spaces, the Departure Discovery Series is more than just a concert series — it’s an opportunity for artists to connect with a vibrant music community, and for audiences to experience what’s next, up close.

With exceptional sound, award-winning engineers, and the warm, high-energy atmosphere The Painted Lady is known for, it’s the perfect place to catch rising talent before Departure kicks off.

Doors 8:00pm

$15 ADV | $20 ATD

Sara Kae is an Ojibwe and Cree artist, writer, and performer with limitless range in both the stories she tells and the spaces where she tells them. A member of Lake Helen First Nation, Sara got her start touring northern Ontario with her counsellor father, speaking and singing in schools and community gatherings from the age of 12.

An honours graduate and Founders Award recipient of the esteemed Metalworks Institute in Mississauga, Sara is a CBC x SOCAN Foundation Reverie resident, an RBC First Up participant, and one of the nation’s most promising emerging artists. Her 2025 single, “Do You Think Of Me?”, was named to the Top 100 Canadian Songs of 2025 and reached #6 on the CBC Top 20, marking a milestone moment in her early recording career. Sara has also lent her voice to national Truth and Reconciliation Day broadcasts, as well as her own Toronto-based radio program with APTN.

Sara’s growing list of career highlights includes hosting Wake the Giant Music Festival, opening for Juno Award-winning artist Aysanabee, partnering with Susan Aglukark’s Arctic Rose Foundation, co-creating the musical theatre production Trading Places, and fronting Rise with Sara Kae, a concert series with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra.

Her 2024 EP, Maadaadizi, funded by the Ontario Arts Council, is an intimate, organic, and upbeat tribute to her growth as an artist. Sara is excited to open an exciting new musical chapter in 2026.

activemirror is a post-punk–rooted band from Aruba, formed in a place with little infrastructure for original indie music and built deliberately outside traditional industry pathways. Blending restraint with melodic tension, the band focuses on atmosphere, precision, and live presence rather than spectacle.

In 2024–2025, activemirror became the first Aruban band selected for Taco Bell’s Feed The Beat program, toured across Canada, performed at NXNE in Toronto, and showcased at Music Matters Live in Singapore. Their debut album, Though The Night Is Not Over (2025), marked a clear step forward in the band’s international development, supporting continued showcase activity and laying the groundwork for expansion into new markets in 2026.

activemirror’s live performances emphasize connection, dynamics, and control, designed to translate equally well in intimate rooms and on festival stages.

Noise Hotel is a four-piece indie rock band steeped in nostalgia, with a penchant for velvet & neckties. Taking influence from Arctic Monkeys, The Backseat Lovers and Steve Lacy, Noise Hotel packs energy, melody, and undeniable stage presence into their electrifying live act. Noise Hotel has shared the stage with the likes of Moondoggy, The Kilans and Charlie Houston, and brought their immersive & high-energy live act to festivals and stages across Central Canada including NXNE and the legendary Horseshoe Tavern.

Noise Hotel was formed in 2022 by singer/guitarist Eric Montpool and bassist Christian Strong after a series of chance encounters in Ottawa, ON including a short-lived groupchat and a Christmas party jam. What started as a few songs between friends quickly grew into consistent shows at small clubs and bars in Canada's capital, turning Noise Hotel into a regular presence in Ottawa's lively student indie scene. Noise Hotel solidified their lineup in 2024 after the departure of original drummer Boshko Maric, bringing hometown friend-of-a-friend Brendan Vandepol into the fold behind the kit, and Eric's hannah vig bandmate Matthew Scharfe on guitar.

After releasing their self-recorded debut single Tea For One in early 2023, Noise Hotel began work on their first EP A Traveller's Guide with award-winning Ottawa producer Kieran Isley [Country Club Pool Boy, hannah vig + more], spawning singles Disconnected and the instant classic Diet Cigarette. Work on their first full-length album began with Isley soon after, resulting in Poolside Fantasy: a sonic time-capsule of the band's university days featuring singles My Last Girl, All The Things and their ode to Ottawa, The City Fun Forgot. After moving away from Ottawa, Noise Hotel returned to their DIY roots with drummer Brendan Vandepol taking on recording duties for singles Can't Go On, Sweet Talk, Cigarettes in Summertime and Burning Pictures.

Noise Hotel are starting 2026 off strong, with the Easy Check In Tour, multiple confirmed festival dates including Departure and NXNE, and their newest single Life Is Easy.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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