Singer-songwriter Charlotte Day Wilson plays the Independent.
The day before her latest EP, “Stone Woman,” came out, Charlotte Day Wilson was alone in her Toronto apartment, saddled up on her couch to listen to the record one last time before it was released into the world. But what the 25-year-old singer heard for the first time was a part of herself she had been unable to find until now.
“I realized that I was trying to tap into my emotions and that I was trying to feel something that I couldn’t when I was writing those songs,” Wilson says. “The recording process of all those songs is about how to give myself a visceral reaction or give myself goosebumps, because I wasn’t feeling enough in the rest of my life. And when I sat down and listened to it, I kinda broke down and cried. It’s very heavy and there’s a lot of emotions in that EP.”
It was a break from Wilson’s generally unflappable demeanor, one that she’s conscious of and is the inspiration for the EP’s title. The self-released album, which came out Feb. 23, is a six-song collection of Wilson’s ruminations on her relationships and introspective windows into her soul.
The young Canadian’s deep and opulent voice straddles the line between the elegant classicism of Sade, and the operatic modernity of Rhye’s Mike Milosh. All the while, there’s a sense of escapism, but also a distinct presence with Wilson, and her vocal talent is among the finest emerging ones.
“I listened to a lot of soul music, R&B and folk music, so I think that somewhere along the way those genres have found a marriage in my voice,” Wilson says.
Wilson is also a musician who plays a number of instruments throughout “Stone Woman.” From the saxophone on the spellbinding single, “Doubt,” to guitar, piano, synths and even drum programming on a track like the string-laden “Nothing New.”
Other multifaceted Toronto artists who appear on and co-produce parts of “Stone Woman” include altR&B singer/guitarist River Tiber and jazz/ instrumental hip-hop fusionists BadBadNotGood. (Conversely, Wilson was the featured vocalist on the BadBadNotGood’s track, “In Your Eyes,” a standout on the band’s critically acclaimed 2016 album “IV.”)
“A lot of these artists are very close friends of mine that I spend a lot of time with,” says Wilson, who had just finished lunch with River Tiber’s Tommy PaxtonBeesley before the phone interview. “I just feel blessed to be part of that community and to have these people as my support network because I respect them all very much.”
There’s no denying the creative energy coming from Toronto these days. But for Wilson, who identifies as queer, there is still something missing — a distinct lesbian community.
“Something I find really frustrating is that there are no lesbian bars ... anywhere. To me that’s a huge reason why I don’t feel this sense of (queer) community, because all the gay bars I go to in Toronto — or anywhere really — are all overrun by gay men,” she says.
Wilson feels inspired by the Bay Area, though, and mentions hearing about how the Mission District institution, Lexington Club, once San Francisco’s most important lesbian bar, has closed. She half-jokes saying that in a perfect world, she’d be the one to open such an establishment in Toronto. And it incites reflection on her part about her fan base and presence of lesbian communities.
“A lot of my fans are queer people, which is amazing. I guess people are connecting with my stories from a gay perspective, which is the perspective that it comes from, because if its ever about love or relationships for me, its always about a woman,” Wilson says. “But sometimes, I feel the lack of an actual physical community, and I’m definitely excited to come to San Francisco for that reason.”