Graphic by Mallika Chennupaty
I’m scrambling to set up my paper and pen. Leith is splayed on my laptop screen, sitting at their table. In the midst of shuffling through my desk to find a pen, I hear Leith softly singing “Nothing New” by Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers. I stop moving as I’m taken back to the previous night when I was listening to “I’d Have to Think About It” by Leith Ross. Their voice is comforting, but strong: something that I want to listen to on a cozy fall evening. There’s a certain honesty to their music and demeanor, something that I later learned they prioritize in their songwriting process.
“Sometimes I’m gonna sit down to write a song, and the only thing I’m going to want to write is just facts. Things that are happening to me and very, very basic feelings about it, super straightforward. Zero poeticism. I’m not going to be deep about it. I’m just going to say exactly what I feel. Then sometimes my gut instinct is to be more poetic or figure out the intricacies of some event or feeling. Then I’ll write a poetic song. The most important lesson for me has been learning to let myself do both,” Leith explained.
Leith has applied that lesson throughout their impressive body of work. They released their debut EP, “Motherwell,” in 2020 and currently have two singles out. Leith’s first musical experience dates all the way back to their childhood. Growing up as the middle child (with an older brother and younger sister) in Manotick — a little town outside of Ottawa, Ontario — Leith was an “obnoxious and loud singing kid.” Walking around the house, they would aggressively scream the lyrics to their favorite songs. This love of singing eventually transformed into a love of songwriting as Leith got older.
“Songwriting has always been my natural instinct for processing the world. I wrote songs a lot when I was a kid. They were not good, probably about grilled cheese and unicorns or something, but I still did it. It was definitely a huge coping mechanism for me. Instead of journal entries, I write songs.”
At the mention of their past behavior, Leith shrunk inward, with slight embarrassment — but also endearment — toward their past selves. Shaking their head and recovering from the mild embarrassment, they described why they turned to songwriting. Leith’s house was filled with their own renditions of songs, but also old country and traditional Celtic tunes from their mother’s childhood just outside of Glasgow, Scotland. Surrounded by this continual storytelling through music, Leith started to do the same with their life. They explained, “If I had a hard day, I used to go into my backfield and walk around, while making up lyrics, like I was in a musical or something. Like, I fully acted as if there were 200 cameras on me right now and they really would like to hear about how my day in grade five went.”
As the years went by, Leith immersed themselves in the art of songwriting. After applying to music and history college programs, they decided to attend Humber College in Toronto, studying jazz voice. The program’s final project involved recording an EP with two or three songs. Leith spoke to their sound engineer about a week in advance of the recording to run the idea of doing a live session, but they decided to record somewhat spontaneously after only one session. Within the next few hours, Leith recorded what would later become “Motherwell,” an album with eight songs that represented Leith’s journey navigating college and adulthood.
“Right before all that recording session, I was going through a hard time. I was writing so many songs about being sad, trying to process and get through it. So it felt very cathartic to just record all of my depression songs from the last six months. And then it turned into something completely different. It’s nice to have things that I need to process resonating with other people that might be having a hard time because that’s the best possible thing to come out of a really serious depression,” they said.
Throughout writing “Motherwell,” Leith’s creative process was heavily based on their own experiences. Lyrics, chords and melody all came together at the same time, like a bunch of puzzle pieces falling into the right place. And usually, this falling into place happens within the span of an hour. Leith takes whatever comes out of that hour and doesn’t tweak it much.
I asked if this process is learned from their role models or creative influences. They shrugged and said, “Not really.” Leith grew up listening to Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton and Lucinda Williams. As for their favorite five records, they reference Corinne Bailey Rae’s self-titled album, India-Arie’s “Acoustic Soul,” Hillary Duff, Avril Lavigne and a Disney Soundtrack CD. At the mention of the last record, they chuckle and reference their love for Disney. A few moments later, Leith and I broke into song, excitedly singing the chorus of “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know” by Selena Gomez and The Scene.
“Tell me, tell me, tell me somethin’ I don’t know
Somethin’ I don’t know
Somethin’ I don’t know
Like how many inches in a mile
What it takes to make you smile
Get you not to treat me like a child, baby.”
After our outburst, Leith went into deep laughter for the first time during our chat.
We moved to a more serious question: What about their music surprises them? They repeated the question, buying themselves a bit more time to ponder an answer.
“Often, when I’m writing a song, I will find out something about myself that I wasn’t necessarily conscious of. When I’m creating art, I can be more honest about myself and who I am because it’s not so hard to look at my flaws when it’s in the context of creating something beautiful. Whereas if I’m just sitting around on a regular day, and I’m thinking about the things about myself that are not ideal, then it’s just very sad and pessimistic. Music opens up an ability to look at myself in a way that I can’t on a regular day, which is what ends up surprising me.”
And though creating music helps Leith be more open and vulnerable, it also makes releasing their work to the whole world more challenging: “My most intimate feelings and thoughts and the way that I see myself and the way that I move through the world is just public information which is definitely for me, the hardest part about being a musician.”
However, they find the courage to be vulnerable through seeing the community they create with their songs. If they get a DM about how a lyric in “Grown Up” really resonated with a listener who was going through a rough patch or how a melody in “Understood” helped a fan get through a hard time, everything becomes worth it. As they explained, their voice choked up a bit; their eyes glistened, holding in tears. I received a warning: “Sometimes, I cry when I talk about this.”
And I realize how much this community means to Leith. The effort and time they put in to make other people feel less alone. To create art to alleviate the stress of life. “Being vulnerable is more than worth it if it can help somebody. My favorite part about any art is when it feels human and that involves vulnerability. So when I read something, or I listen to something that is someone following their instincts, letting themselves make mistakes, and being vulnerable, that’s when I’ll be really moved by it,” they said.
But overall, Leith hopes that they can focus on building community with their music through mutual aid work. They strongly believe that music can facilitate communities that support themselves and others, rather than just being a part of the business-oriented music industry. Regardless of the struggle, Leith hopes to contribute music in a community-based way. “I feel like if I’m going to be in music, I want to concentrate on making my little corner of the world like music, like my little music corner of the world. As community based and supportive and good as possible,” they explained.
Looking ahead to the next few months, Leith Ross will further build their little corner of the music world by releasing new music and embarking on their first-ever tour. In a full circle moment, they are visiting Glasgow where their mom and grandparents grew up, and where their interest in music started. Their one hope for the next few years of music-making is as follows: “The cheesy but very true answer is that my music helps anybody who would like it or need it. I really try not to think about or care about numbers or streams. The most rewarding thing is to form our community and connect with people who went through the same experiences as me. I can’t imagine anything else being more satisfying and as long as I can support myself and keep making music and being something good in people’s lives.”