When Kaleigh Watts was 16, her parents took her to see her idol, Elvis Costello, who told her to pursue music if it was what she really wanted.
Years later, the Carleton student has achieved just that with her first original folk album, Smoke Lake. The album is set to release on Sept. 13 at the National Arts Centre (NAC), where she will perform her graduation recital and concert on the same day.
“My inspiration for this album came from the feeling of home. Family is extremely important to me and I’m fascinated with where I come from and my ancestry,” Watts said. “I enjoy experimenting, and folk music allowed me to sing without too many instruments.”
Recorded at her family cottage deep in the forests of Algonquin, where she said generations of her family have visited, the album features organic instrumentation, textures created from everyday household objects, and natural soundscape without the use of any electricity.
“I feel connected to these places with people I’ve never known,” said Watts as she described her reasons to record in Algonquin. “At one point, we just loaded a boat full of equipment and took it to the portage trails and it was surreal. It was such a natural silence and you could only hear the wind in the trees and the birds chirping.”
Watts said Smoke Lake was an emotional journey. She had planned to record during another bi-yearly trip to Algonquin but she hadn’t written a single song yet, and was starting to panic.
Then on a walk back into the woods, she ended up sitting on a log and pouring her heart out for 15 minutes. This would later become the most emotional track off the album as well as the title track, “Smoke Lake.”
Watt’s eyes shone with emotion as she said, “I had felt so connected to the moment. After the first take of ‘Smoke Lake,’ I wanted to get rid of it because I thought I sounded horribly emotional, but Gabrielle [my primary producer] said it was the best recording.”
Watts recalled breaking through ice to get to her cabin in the winter to record.
“It was so cold that I could barely play because my fingers were freezing. But there was no negativity, nothing was planned at all and it was a very natural thing. We had the songs to record, but for instrumentation nothing was planned. Every decision was made with my gut,” Watts said.
During the process of recording the album, Watts said she made sure to have physical representations of her family and music around her as a visual way to spark her creativity. Things such as old photos of her family and dried branches from Ottawa and Algonquin followed her everywhere to maintain the connection.
It was the theme of home comfort that Watts said led to the NAC. Normally, graduation recitals are held on campus at the Kailash Mital Theatre, but Watts suggested the NAC to her department.
She said she wanted her musical career to step outside the boundaries of Carleton. Watts said the NAC’s Fourth Stage was ideal for its intimacy and it coincided with her album release.
Carleton first welcomed Watts as one of the first to enroll in the singer/songwriter program, which she said she chose for its uniqueness. At the time of its pilot year, the program had only three students. Now it has grown to 30.
Watts attributed most of her development as an indie-folk and jazz artist to the many mentors and unique people the program has allowed her to meet, and the unconditional support they have offered her.
The program offers a lot of practical experience as students can work with local singer-songwriters, according to Watts. With the help of James Wright, the head of performance studies at Carleton and the creator of the singer/songwriter program, Watts was able to work with Megan
Jerome, whom she studied jazz with, and with Lynn Miles, a Juno and Canadian Folk Music Award winner.
Together they work on songs and perform as musicians, tour, learn how to take care of the voice, and practice vocal warm-ups. Watts said she even took part in the Carleton Jazz Ensemble.
She said passion led to her musical experience taking off when she left her small hometown of Lakeside and first arrived in Ottawa as she started to busk and perform gigs locally. She described Ottawa as a place, perhaps unexpectedly, filled with many hidden musical gems.
Watts is set to graduate in December.
She said her next goal is backpacking through Europe. She guaranteed there will be further exploration into different textures and genres, along with more investigation into personal heritage and family.
