Saku Mantere – Vocals
Kate Wyatt – Piano
Adrian Vedady – Bass
Jim Doxas – Drums
Lex French – Trumpet (1-4, 6-8, 10)
Eric Hove – Alto Saxophone (1, 3, 6, 8-10)
Bohdanna Novak – Vocals (5)

Divine Apology is a jazz album that travels through purgatory, memory, and longing with poetic precision and deep musical sensitivity. Composer, vocalist, and bandleader Saku Mantere crafts a richly textured work that draws as much from literature and philosophy as it does from the jazz tradition. Half of the album’s lyrics come from the work of poet Norman Cristofoli, whose metaphysical play The Pub inspires the album’s overarching structure: a liminal space where souls gather, reflect, and await their next passage. Each song becomes a meditation—on grief, childhood, resistance, or redemption—anchored by the recurring question: How does one measure the quality of life?

The ensemble features some of Canada’s most gifted jazz voices: Jim Doxas’ deeply intuitive drumming, Kate Wyatt’s luminous piano work, Lex French’s aching trumpet lines, Erik Hove’s searching alto saxophone, and Adrian Vedady’s lyrical bass—joined by the haunting voice of Bohdanna Novak in a standout wordless role on the song Not Fair. From the reimagined Finnish lullaby Lapin Äidin Kehtolaulu to the poignant intimacy of Velvet, a love song written for Mantere’s future wife Maryam (whose artwork graces the cover), the album navigates shifting emotional and temporal landscapes with nuance and sincerity.

The title itself holds a double meaning: an apology as a gesture of regret, and as a defense of the human condition. Divine Apology imagines both: a world in which divinity learns to say sorry, and a life defended through song. By turns irreverent, vulnerable, and transcendent, this album offers no easy answers, only lyrical and musical invitations to keep asking the question. In the end, as the usher at the back door of The Pub might say: your fate is your own to determine, but the soundtrack can make all the difference.

sakumantere.ca

ayeletrose.com/orchard/label

Release Date: September 19th, 2025