I was first introduced to the concept of the songwriters circle while attending folk festivals in my youth and really became enamored with the format. It’s simple yet so effective – gather a group of musicians together to play their songs in the round, with each sharing the stories behind the music. And on Wednesday night, the second night of Departure Festival, Burdock played host to three singer-songwriters as part of the venue’s MIrrorball at the Music Hall series, with Sister Ray, Emily Schultz and Evan Redsky taking to the stage together alongside host Kaitlyn Swan.
The trio took turns playing songs, several of them yet to be released, sharing their inspiration for each tune as Swan interjected with questions, guiding the conversation along as the session morphed into a blend of songwriting workshop and a group therapy session of sorts as they also delved into the difficulties of songwriting at times.
In her intro to her first song of the evening, Schultz mentioned this ‘songwriter in the round’ format was her favourite way to take in and share music and I’d have to agree – there’s a certain openness to it and a sense of community that brings the performers and audience closer together. It’s also an interesting way to get more insight into a writer’s inspirations. Schultz’s first song, “Here and Now,” was a good example of this.
An unreleased song she’d never played before, “Here and Now” was inspired by the true story someone who decided to end it all at a downtown Toronto hotel where she regularly performs and the shock of it all, especially when she was told that this happens all the time. Sister Ray and Evan Redsky also took this session as an opportunity to test out some new unreleased material and it all sounded great, with Redsky’s “Cosmic Carousel” standing out as a particular highlight. It was quite interesting to hear his thought process while writing the song, which takes inspiration from the film Interstellar and touches on concepts around time and space, particularly the idea of circular time.
Of course, being aware that they should also use this as a chance to introduce folks to the music that they have actually released, each artist played at least one song that people could go and listen to right away. Of those tracks, my favourite of the evening was Sister Ray’s “Believer,” the title track off their recently released sophomore album, out now on Royal Mountain Records. Check it out below.
