By Matt Harrison
“Ghost Light comes from an old tradition where a special light was used to keep spirits at bay. If you extinguished the [ghost] light, it would allow the spirits to return. It’s the idea of embracing our ‘ghosts’; it’s cathartic.”
For Royal Wood, the sense of catharsis he’s speaking about comes in the wake of the breakup with fellow Canadian songstress Sarah Slean. The use of Ghost Light, not only as the title of the new album (out in April) but also as the final track on the record, gives the impression that he’s finally ready to revisit the past, a place that no longer haunts. As if to prove he’s in a better place, Wood leads the first single, “Long Way Out,” with the lyrics “Though it’s hard to admit it / nothing is forever” — a song that while lyrically is about reflection, musically seems to have been composed with an orchestra in mind (it wasn’t). Listening to it, one can only imagine how it might sound when it is adapted for his performance with the National Arts Centre Orchestra on May 6. Wood seems electrified by the idea of performing songs from Ghost Light in a grander, more classical context. Moreover, this has been a dream of his since he was a kid.
When Wood first performed in Southam Hall in 2010, opening for the U.K.’s David Gray, he told himself, “I want to be here in five years.”
On a typical tour, such as the upcoming one for Ghost Light, Wood notes, you can get “locked into set after set, but playing with the NACO changes everything.” There won’t be a chance to improvise, and because this is a one-off, there won’t be an opportunity to improve on the first show.
Musically, Ghost Light is a throwback album: it’s his love letter to such childhood influences as Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and Leonard Cohen. But for one moment, one night, this orchestral performance will elevate his music in a way that won’t — can’t — be duplicated.