This Friday (tomorrow! eek!) I’m releasing my second album on the NACC stage, with Andrea Bettger on violin and Anne-Marie Guedon on cello. The album is called Kindred, after the concert of the same name inspired what has really become my sound over the past few years. I am currently holed up in my office making some final tweaks to the mix with Robert Andrews, the mixing and mastering genius, working remotely from BC. Time zones are working for me today!
This is significant not just because it’s an album launch (yay!), but also because it’s likely the last concert I will do in Yellowknife that will present my music in this way. I don’t know exactly what comes next, but I do know that this concert is a closing of sorts, as I feel I have explored this sound and these songs quite deeply over the past several years and it’s time to move on.
I’m at a bit of a crossroads now, and have been thinking a lot about my own creativity and where it is headed. I’ve confronted a lot of blocks over the years, coupled with bouts of depression and some pretty debilitating mood swings. I have come to realize that creativity is at the heart of both my healing and my pain. The transformative arts facilitation work I was exposed to through PYE Global was life changing, and I need to do more of this. I’m also realizing that finding ways to bring this work to those people who might benefit the most from it is a big challenge in and of itself. Finally, I also feel I’ve reached the ceiling of what I can do freelancing and that work is now getting in the way of my producing the creative projects that are real and true in my heart. A change is coming, and while I’m not entirely sure what it is yet, I feel something shifting internally that is building energy towards an outward shift.
I hope you will come and share this moment with me, or at the very least, I feel I should let folks know that this is probably the last time we’ll present this show, excepting any touring we do. It is fitting to close this chapter with Anne-Marie and Andrea, who are such gorgeous souls and people, and who were there for me two years ago when I was broken, didn’t want to play music anymore, and who lifted me up with their soaring melodies and generous hearts.
Mahsi cho to everyone who’s been along for the ride. I hope you’ll stick around for whatever comes next.
Tickets $20 at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre website.