As the saying goes, home is where the heart is. For The Rural Alberta Advantage, home may be where they currently reside in Toronto, but the true heart of the band lies within the prairie province of Alberta. The Canadian trio's debut album, "Hometowns," is an invitation to that rural realm, taking us on a blearily nostalgic trip down memory lane, where devastating break-ups, pleasant summertime nights, traumas of a certain mining incident, and beautiful images of the northern lights all bleed into one lingering apparition.

Even with all the wide-reaching buzz surrounding their band (thanks in part to a catapulting stint on e-music Selects and a successful jaunt to SXSW), Amy, Nils, and Paul remain down-to-earth and stay true to the spirit of their small-town roots. Before facing a sold-out crowd at their SF show, the RAA sat down with us to share some stories about their hometown memories and recent touring adventures, as well as clearing up the origins behind their enigmatic name.

The Rural Alberta Advantage are:
Paul Banwatt, Amy Cole and Nils Edenloff

The Rural Alberta Advantage play indie-rock songs about hometowns and heartbreak, born out of images from growing up in Central and Northern Alberta. They sing about summers in the Rockies and winters on the farm, ice breakups in the spring time and the oil boom's charm, the mine workers on compressed, the equally depressed, the city's slow growth and the country's wild rose, but mostly the songs just try to embrace the advantage of growing up in Alberta.