Laura Kelsey’s new single reflects upon the desire and loss of a soured relationship.
The release, by the former 100 Mile resident, marks her first single in seven years. Entitled A Foolish Thing, Kelsey spent the last year working on the project, thanks in part to a grant from Creative BC. The money was used to hire Winston Hauschild, of Bowen Island’s Little Island Studio, to help record her powerful voice and heartfelt lyrics for this acoustic rock single.
“If you’re in a bad relationship you move on and grow from it and if we’re going down the wrong path as an entire human race, we got to change. That’s what the theme of the video and song is about,” Kelsey said.
A singer-songwriter based out of Nanaimo, Kelsey lived in the South Cariboo from 2008 to 2012, working as the editor of the 100 Mile Free Press and for the Cariboo Advisor. While in 100 Mile House, Kelsey became a familiar face in the local music world playing at venues like Lac La Hache’s Red Crow Cafe and the Garlic Festival. She also premiered her music video by Huncity Productions for her single Run out of Road at the South Cariboo Theatre.
Ruth Lake, meanwhile, was the set for the music video Wild Mountain Women which featured around 30 women from Ruth Lake, Forest Grove and 100 Mile House marching around the lake.
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“I miss the freedom of walking the backroads with my dogs, one is from 100 Mile and the other is from Williams Lake so I’m forever tied there,” she said. “I had a wonderful time, I wish I could have stayed longer.”
Kelsey said she’s always enjoyed playing music and has experimented with a wide range of genres from country to metal and funk to blues. It was during her time in the Cariboo that Kelsey began releasing her own music and playing more acoustic songs where she came to love “the reciprocal energy between the listener and the player.”
“I didn’t have any music lessons as a child, I just always loved singing. I started writing my own songs and began to learn how to play the guitar myself,” Kelsey said.
In 2014, she released her last single, My Time, recorded in Calgary, Alta. at Beach Advanced Audio Production. All proceeds from the song went to Women Against Violence Against Women in Vancouver.
Her latest video was filmed in late summer and fall of 2020 on Vancouver Island by Greg Nuspel. Kelsey said the video is about transformation on both a personal and collective level. It features wolf ambassador Tundra from the SWELL Wolf Education Centre in Nanaimo and dancers Garnet Nicolle and Abby Dishkin, whom Kelsey shapeshifts into during the video.
“We got to experience two seasons while shooting, which I hope is noticeable in the backgrounds as it reflects the cyclical and ‘shapeshifting’ aspects of the video,” Kelsey said.
Looking to the future Kelsey said she has about “50 songs I’d like to record” and is working on her next single and grant application. She can be found at https://laurakelsey.com/ with links to her music catalogue.
“I’d love to put out a single every year for the next 10 years and have an album at the end of that. I’m not out to make myself famous I’m just looking for more opportunities to create (my music.)”
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Tundra, an ambassador wolf with SWELL Wolf Education Centre, is featured in Laura Kelsey’s new music video. Kelsey said she wanted to include her to bring a little awareness to the plight of BC’s wolf population. (Photo submitted)
