Toronto based R and B/ soul/ pop singer Tanika Charles has fond memories of playing the Geomatic Attic Wide Skies Music festival last year and hopes to make many more when she returns to Lethbridge this weekend to play the SAAG Art Auction and the Owl Acoustic lounge, Saturday, May 4.

“ I am spectacular,” Said Charles, who enjoyed playing Wide Skies last summer.

“ I remember it was definitely one of my favourite shows of 2023. Also Michael (Spencer)  is a top notch guy and so accommodating to the band and all of the artists he brings out. Just the audience  was incredible. We played a rooftop and  I think it was 1,000 degrees  that day , but the sweat was worth it. It was such a good time,” Charles said, adding she is excited to play two shows on Saturday.

“We’re doing two shows. We’re going to perform at the art gallery. We’re going to do a little acoustic set there   and shortly after  we‘re going to head over to the Owl Acoustic Lounge,” she said.

 She is bringing an expanded Toronto band  including  two singers  and new members .

“ Not a new band I’ve just got new members.

“ The acoustic one  will be me and my guitar and my two singers Tafari Anthony and D/Shon Henderson and Ben Foran on guitar,” she said. Bassist Jeremy John and drummer Jim Toner who plays his first show with Charles this weekend, join her at the Owl Acoustic lounge.

“ I’ve got bands in different cities . I’ve got a band  out in Vancouver and the Toronto band and one in Montreal and then I’ve got one in France so it‘s just convenient. Jim is the newest member in the Toronto band,” she said.

“ I’m going to play some songs I haven’t  sung in a very long time. Because now I have singers with me for these two shows, I can kind of indulge in these songs and of courses some classics I hope people know. And that it. Nothing too new. I am working on two albums,” she said., adding she expects them to be released by the end of the year.

 She just released two albums last year — The “Union Sessions,” and “ Papillon de Nuit: The Night Butterfly in 2022.

 the new albums go back to her roots in hip hop and pop, but  a visit to the Tallinn Music  in Estonia  encouraged her to write. 

“I recently went to Tallinn , Estonia nan d although love writing and creating and releasing new music, I was kind of uninspired for a while since the last release. Just because I’ve been really busy and on the road. Not complaining at all, but just a little bit busy and trying to focus on my health, not that anything is terribly wrong, but I just wanted to be a little healthier, spiritually, mentally and whatnot. And went to Tallinn  for Tallinn music week and had to do a songwriting camp. And I personally enjoy writing with others. It’s just easier to brainstorm that way. But this, from nine to five to write a new song three days in a row  and it kind of forced me to work on my songwriting chops which I’d always kind of shied away from if I had to write an entire album on my own,” she said.

“ After those three days, I came back . I’d been working on music here and there but now I feel so prepared and ready to release new music,” she continued, adding  the new music takes her back to her roots.

“ I think this leans more towards what I think people are more familiar with which is soul  run . So back to the Motownesque kind of hip hop, bluegrass , kind of influences. That’s what I think , on the first album. So it’s just  going back to a familiar sound,” she said adding it feels good to go back to her roots.

 

“ You know what, it’s just great because it feels good. I did not mind stepping out and trying new things,  because I think we should be allowed as artists, to do that. But I find that this kind of genre whatever it may be I find is a bunch of sounds and styes are all in one. I feel this is me. This is closer to what I do,” she said, adding they will be out by the end of the year, but there will be advance singles released.

 “I do know when they’ll be released, but I can’t tell you,” she chuckled.

 She is looking forward to the shows in Lethbridge .

 

“I would hope that when people come out to our shows  that they would have a lot of fun. Because there is a lot of audience interactions  and I like get to know people , so I ask a lot of  questions. Maybe I talk too much. But it is such a good time,” she said adding other than that  she hads been busy working out at the gym, taking care of herself.

 

“ So aside from working out the gym and trying to keep fit, just working on these albuyms,” she said.

“ I would really hope that everyone decides to join us, if not at the SAAG, then at the Owl Lounge. It’s going to be a really fun time,” she said.

 Tickets for the Owl Acoustic lounge show are $39.95.

— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor