Canadian singer-songwriter Carleigh Aikins shares her long-awaited debut solo album, JUNK JEWELRY, alongside its focus track, “Good Book.” The single comes alongside a lyric video designed and edited by Carleigh, with title graphics by Brandyn Aikins and photos by Stefan Foerster.
On the single, Carleigh wrote:
“I wrote ‘GOOD BOOK’ after exiting a relationship that was torn apart by restrictions, repression, and indoctrination of Christianity imposed upon my partner in their early home-school days. Their upbringing in the Church caused them to suppress their true identity, which manifested in addiction, secrets, and lies.
I was attempting to manage its affects on my life and relationship. It caused me to reflect on my own upbringing in the Catholic School System, my Catholic Guilt, and what actually defines a ‘Sinner’ or bad person. I, too, was struggling with addiction, but my ‘misbehaviour’ wasn’t deemed by society as ‘sinful’ as what my partner was secretly getting into But in the bible, there are myriad of ways one could behave to be damned. So, who was the real ‘damned’ person in this situation anyway?
What’s your story as an artist?
I’m a multi-disciplinary Artist who spent my childhood painting while studying musical theatre. I became a child actress which provided my first pay-checks and set a precedent for making a living in the Arts. I worked for years with a theatre company- as a performer and then as designer/education programmer/everything in between. Through all of that, my singing voice seemed to be the thing that most resonated with folks. I left the theatre to play in clubs with bands, which has led me on an incredible journey I will never regret taking. My main focus and discipline now is as a vocalist, songwriter/collaborator. Most recently I was a member of Colorado’s Paper Bird, and loved working in that group setting. But now I’m back in Canada, embracing my solo career and shifting focus to an act centred solely around my own songs/voice. I’m still inventing and settling into who I am as that Artist, to be honest.
What inspired this last release?
I’ve spent the last decade or more touring the world non-stop as part of a line-up/backing vocalist for many Artists. I’ve graced stages I never dreamed I’d play and recorded on countless albums. I cut my teeth in the best way; learning how to tour and operate a business under mentorship of my friends/colleagues. As wonderful as that was, it never really was my “own” achievement. I struggled with overcoming imposter syndrome as I stood on the sidelines behind the glowing light of the “real stars” I supported. I departed my career in theatre so that I could express my own voice- yet, I found myself in a similar position interpreting and supporting other people’s work with my voice. While on the road I slowly built a collection of junky demos. I polished off these diamonds-in-the-rough, making them fully realized songs because I felt compelled to finally share my own story through song. I was fortunate enough to gain support from The Canada Council for the Arts to make my solo record JUNK JEWELRY.
Do you get inspired by other art forms?
As someone who makes half of my living through selling my visual art to collectors, the muse flows between different disciplines. I’ll have a period where I have time to paint and will throw myself into that (during the pandemic I worked on over 75 large pieces). I’ll come out of those phases to find I’m inspired to sit down and work on songs.
Any funny anecdotes from the time you were recording or writing this?
I worked on this album largely with my ex-partner who was so instrumental to the project. Their energy (and ours as a couple) is interjected into every sonic second of the record. We finished the mixes in Montreal, and I headed back to Toronto not realizing we would (still to this day) never see each other again. That was exactly a year to the day of JUNK JEWELRY’s release (which has happened synchronistically somehow). I wrote these songs about failed relationships with other people; but they now take on new meaning strangely applying to this most recent ended partnership. It hasn’t been so easy slowly releasing the album singles as I’ve recovered from that break-up. Every song has acted as a little dagger in my heart as I relive the magic of creating it together, along with the heartache of our partnership becoming unsustainable. But it’s also been a small act of letting go each time. (Not sure if that’s funny “HA HA’ or funny in a sad ironic way?!)
What’s your favorite place or environment to write?
Most of this record was written on the road- in hotel stairwells, the backs of busses and vans, in spaces that were not mine but were generously shared with me. So I’ve written in very up-rooted circumstances. It was nice to bring the songs to full fruition in a more grounded setting at home and in studios I felt comfortable in.
I’ve been fortunate enough to take many retreats across America and the West Coast of Canada during the long depressing months of Ontario winters. I often need to be alone, with access to sun/nature and deep intention to write.
I’ve also done a lot of writing in a collaborative group setting, which I love. I feel extremely charged when flowing with friends and creating on the fly. I typically then want to take what we’ve done for the day and sit alone with it, to shape it further in solitude.
What’s a record that shaped your creativity?
2015 and the albums Signs of Light (The Head and the Heart), Good Grief (Lucius) and Paper Bird (Paper Bird) were pinnacle works that thrust me into truly focusing on songwriting.
I was living with Jon and Josiah (of THATH) in Los Angeles while flying back and forth to Denver/Nashville touring and writing/recording Paper Bird with John Oates (Hall&Oates). THATH were tasked with working on songs after signing with Warner. Jon inspired me every day with his devotion to a songwriting process. I benefited greatly from being submersed in that creative energy. And I had access to their rental piano and to Jon’s recording set up in a gorgeous open-air house overlooking downtown LA. It was there that I started expanding my experimentation with demo recording.
At the same time, Lucius was in LA working with Shawn Everett on Good Grief. It was a congregation of friends in the same place with focus on writing our respective projects. The Lucius crew would come play us their mixes from the day; and the sounds/songwriting (produced by people I loved so dearly) blew my world right open. Signs of Light and Paper Bird somehow ended up being released on the same day in 2016 and each album has songs about that period together. Good Grief became one of my all-time favourite albums whose birth I had the privilege of witnessing. It was a surreal moment in time that challenged me to create the same calibre of work being produced around me. I’m still striving to do so.
Who is an artist or band you look up to today?
All the Artists I collaborated with on JUNK JEWELRY are the people I look up to. Marcus Paquin produced/engineered/played/mixed much of this record. He’s had a hand in some of my favourite records by Artists who are my friends and idols at the same time (namely/most recently The Weather Station, Begonia, and Sarah Harmer).
My oldest and dearest friends from the bands Zeus, Brave Shores, Wax Atlantic and Ocean Potion (who respectively also work as side-players with some of my favourite Artists) have always been my mentors. It’s been full-circle to finally work on my own songs with them.
I worked with Brad Barr in The Barr Brothers’ personal Montreal studio. Having one of my favourite guitar players on my song makes me feel like a fan-girl whose wildest dreams are coming true.
Don Kerr is one of the greatest drummers (and humans) on Earth. It was an honour to have him produce a track at his home studio where I recorded vocals for Bahamas Is Afie (Bahamas) years earlier.
Laura Burhenn of The Mynabirds and Genny Patterson of Paper Bird co-wrote songs on the record. They have been highly inspirational women in my life.
What excites you the most about what you do ?
All of the fabulous people I get to cross paths with- connecting through creation while we all try to navigate this strange space. There’s a thing we call “tour magic” which is when you discover a bunch of your pals are playing a club in the same city that night. You get to share space with loved ones while you’re in such a displaced state. They become the people you see more than your own family through this serendipitous shared pathway. I’ve so missed that during the pandemic.
What is your view on genres and music styles since you mix a lot of them in your music?
I have a difficult relationship with categorizing music. I feel it’s lazy that we need to be told what kind of music we are listening to. Don’t get me wrong- there’s obviously so many works that have defined genres, and I have full reverence for that. But music is appropriation and adaptation of the same chords over and over; and every album is a confluence of influences even if it is easily “defined” by a genre.
When Paper Bird was working in Nashville with Oates, I was so concerned with not being Country or Pop or Americana “enough” and was caught up in where we fit.
” What would you call our sound?” I asked John.
He simply said “ Don’t worry about that. You sound like Paper Bird”.
I let go of putting a label on our band’s sound. We were being authentic to ourselves and so the songs (and our voices) born from that defined our eclectic sound.
I’ve come to terms with the fact that my music may not fit neatly in a box/genre. My voice and story are the consistent things that tie its parts together. I tried not to be too concerned with defining JUNK JEWELRY’s sound in a genre-specific way. I allowed it to be about where the songs wanted to go. I’m sure that transitioning this studio album to the stage will transform the sound/vibe. The record will become even more cohesive as a consistent group of folks interpret the songs together.
What does music and art mean to you?
It’s the literal air I breathe and is entrenched in every facet of my life and being. Corny but so true. I’d be nothing without music and art- and neither would anyone else. We take for granted how imperative it is to our human survival, experience and history.
How would you describe your act in one word?
Ever-Evolving
