Canadian Metis singer-songwriter Auroara Leigh recently released her new single/lyric video, “Emergence,” following on the heels of her previous single, “Open.”
Talking about the track, Leigh shares, “‘Emergence’ is about allowing yourself to be true to your own story of self, more than the projections from others about who you are. ‘Emergence’ is about releasing the story of life or pain that someone else might have taught you or showed you in their behavior and not letting it impact how YOU choose to live.”
With her unique sound, an amalgamation of solfeggio tones, tribal rhythms, and ambient textures, Leigh’s music reflects a mystical sonic essence that’s simultaneously familiar and distinctively fresh. So much so, that it’s difficult to pigeonhole.
It’s not quite pop. Not quite classical. Not quite New Age. Not quite folk. Not quite indie. What it is, is beautifully beguiling.
Produced by Jeremy Sundahl, musicians appearing on “Emergence” include Jeremy Blattner (piano), Karl Matzhold (bass), and Chloe Nakahara (violin). Nakahara’s violin infuses the tune with haunting tones mirroring tender, nuanced surfaces, at once graceful and crying.
Leigh explains, “I felt the need to have a fiddle join the track because my grandfather was a Metis fiddler, and he was well known for it. I hadn’t brought in fiddle in any of my songs yet, and it felt like a way of honoring him, and also my Metis identity.”
“Emergence” opens on a thumping syncopated rhythm, followed by the entry of Leigh’s evocative voice, visceral and affecting, gliding across the gentle soundscape with passion and charming urgency, revealing a kind of sonic restorative, somewhere between a prayer and a hymn.
“Looking in the mirror / I can’t tell if I see clearer or not … Self-doubt shattered in my head / You gave me your own breath.”
Listening to Auroara Leigh is like looking in a mirror and seeing yourself for the first time – recognizing the unrecognizable. “Emergence” is a grand composition.
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