'the intention, the blue' is the earliest album by Kim Erickson. Originally released on cassette in 1987, it was remastered for cd and released again in 2012 due to a recognition of the spontaneous energy and inspired creativity of the original session. Miche Pouliot joined Kim in the CHEZ-FM studio in Ottawa, Canada, where Sharon Burke produced and recorded the results for her radio show. The physical cd album contains 4 extra tracks not available on the download album - songs by Duke Ellington, Miche Pouliot, Bernice Johnson Reagon and Clarence Williams. Kim Erickson is a vocalist, pianist and song composer who calls Thunder Bay Canada her home, and who has been influenced by European classical music, singer-songwriter traditions, jazz, eastern European, Celtic and African traditional musics, French chanson and cabaret music, Portuguese fado and East Indian dance.Kim has released three full length solo albums. Two independent releases, the intention, the blue (1987/2012) and Away (2000) have been followed by The Raven's Wing, a critically acclaimed international release on the Route 61 Music label (Rome, Italy, 2015). Away is a joyful and eclectic collection of Kim's songs and arrangements with piano and thumb piano accompaniment, and the support of Ottawa area musicians Fred Guignion, Ken Kanwisher, Marion Linton, Rebecca Campbell, Peter Von Althen, Tracy Holmes and producer Ian Tamblyn. Kim has performed her original work across Canada (Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival, Summerfolk Festival, Northern Lights Festival Boreal, Ottawa Folk Festival, Live From The Rock Festival, Winnipeg Women's Cultural and Music Festival, Thundering Women Festival) and overseas in Holland (Vredenburg Muziekcentrum and 'T Hoogt Cafe and Cultural Centre/Utrecht, De Ijsbreker and the Stedelijk Museum/Amsterdam). She has worked as a solo artist, and in various duos and ensembles, including the acoustic trio Canto (with Damon Dowbak and Sage Reynolds). Her work has been recorded and documented in various media (sound recordings, film, television and radio).She is a mezzo soprano soloist for orchestra. With the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra she has worked with conductors Geoffrey Moull, Glenn Mossop, David Bowser and Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, and has performed orchestrations of several of her own songs. Kim is a performer, composer and music director of soundscapes for theatre and radio (Thunder Bay: Kam Theatre, Magnus Theatre, New Creations Theatre, Broken Moons Artist Collective; Ottawa: Great Canadian Theatre Co., Penguin Theatre; Saskatoon: Persephone Theatre; Edmonton: Workshop West Theatre; CBC Vancouver). Collaborations with dance include work with dancer/choreographer Edgar Zendejas (Montreal), Michelle Silagy (Toronto) and Image Dance Studio (Thunder Bay). A native of Northern Ontario, on the shores of Lake Superior, the landscape and spaciousness of that part of Canada influenced her from childhood. Kim moved to Ottawa to study music, began working professionally within the Ottawa music community and toured across Canada with Ian Tamblyn, playing the Riverboat, Massey Hall, Place des Arts, the Ottawa Civic Centre, and the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. She also formed a piano duo with Lauri Conger, a founding member of The Parachute Club.Kim spent three years living in Holland, continuing studies in music composition and voice. While there she worked with American jazz pianist Robert Rowe and Dutch rock band Hi Jinx, performed for Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands, and undertook research into eastern European folk music, which she continued in Thunder Bay through her involvement with the AUCC Lakehead Mandolin Orchestra and Women's Choir. She has raised a family, initiated and developed several community choirs, implemented arts projects in schools and anti-racism and social justice projects in her region, studied and performed various forms of dance, performed music in hospital settings, and began teaching for Lakehead University's Department of Music.She is interested in all things to do with the voice, and continues to follow her unique vision of what music can be for herself and for her listeners.