It’s time to meet the main characters in Canadian folk musician James Culleton’s augmented reality-enhanced children’s album, Unusual Friendships, with the release of his new single “Little White Paws.”

“‘Little White Paws’ describes each of the characters in Unusual Friendships and gives the listeners the basic facts to what they are about to embark on,” James said, describing the song in relation to the album. “This first song is sort of a preface to the full story.”

Unusual Friendships is based on a children’s story written by James’ aunt, the award-winning Métis author Beatrice Mosionier, who is probably best-known for the novel In Search of April Raintree. She wrote the rhyme-heavy book as a symbol of the difficulties Métis persons experience.

The 36-minute recording features 14 traditional and contemporary roots numbers and succinctly retells the symbolic tale of acceptance and equality relayed through a peculiar and unexpected friendship between a black cat and a white rat. Though rats and cats are thought to be enemies, the dynamic duo stick together throughout Unusual Friendships to fight and earn the respect of others.

You can reach more about the project here:  How musician James Culleton used AR technology to bring a children’s concept album to life

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