Aysanabee Comes Full Circle

With a voice that carries both intimacy and quiet power, Aysanabee has quickly become one of Canada’s most compelling artists. But when we catch up, he’s not racing to an airport or loading guitars into a van. Instead, he’s been at the gym, skating, and trying to slow down.

“I booked February off,” he said. “The first week, I just slept. It’s been such a busy few years.”

For an artist who has spent the past four years in near-constant motion touring across Canada, the U.S., Europe, and Australia, stillness felt unfamiliar. “You get used to always having somewhere to be. A stage. A plane. A mission. When that stops, it’s strange.”

That momentum has carried him far from his early days hauling guitars through Northern Ontario bars. Back then, he was the young songwriter playing intimate rooms in Thunder Bay. Now, he’s headlining theatres, earning major award nominations, and preparing to release Timelines, an acoustic EP arriving this spring.

This Next Chapter is about Returning to the Beginning

“This EP is stripped back,” he explained. “Just the songs at their core. A lot of storytelling. It’s kind of full circle.”

For his April 2 show in London, audiences can expect a raw, intimate performance: Aysanabee alone with his guitar, layered pedals, ambient soundscapes, and the stories behind the songs. “When my career started, that’s how people first met me,” he said. “So, this is offering something to go back to.”

Though his records have featured expansive production and alternative textures, his writing process remains grounded in feeling. “It’s usually emotion first,” he said. “I plug in, grab a notepad, and start searching.”

Searching is the word he returns to often. For him, songwriting isn’t a lightning bolt moment of inspiration. It’s practice. Discipline. Like working a muscle.

“It’s like going to the gym. You show up. You write the song whether it’s good or not.”

Community Central to his Journey 

Recently, he’s been exploring piano, discovering new textures that shift how he hears his own melodies. And in a surprising twist, he’s even been considering experimenting with electronic music. After temporarily losing his voice during a tour stop in Australia, the thought crossed his mind.

“For two days, nothing but rasp came out,” he recalled with a laugh. “I thought, maybe this is it. Maybe I’ll become a DJ. That’ll be the comeback story.”

While his sound blends indie, folk, and alternative influences, his lived experience as an Oji-Cree artist from Sandy Lake First Nation shapes the lens through which he writes. “Being Indigenous informs how I see the world,” he said. “Empathy. Understanding struggles. That first-person perspective.”

At the same time, he’s careful not to confine his identity to a category. “Sometimes I’m just an artist who happens to be Indigenous,” he said. Rather than relying on traditional instrumentation or language, his identity lives in the emotional undercurrent of his work.

Community remains central to his journey. Having opened for artists like Dan Mangan and Allison Russell, he now pays that support forward, inviting emerging Indigenous artists to open his shows and offering guidance on navigating contracts and the realities of the industry.

“When I was younger, I didn’t know many Indigenous artists I could reach out to,” he said. “So, I try to be that person now.”

International Shows and Awards 

The Canadian music scene, he’s learned, is smaller than it seems and more supportive than expected. “You bump into the same people. And at the base level, we’re all kind of friends.”

Fresh off international performances from Australia and Taiwan to Norway’s Riddu Riđđu festival and Germany, Aysanabee is also earning major recognition at home. His album Edge of the Earth is nominated at the Canadian Folk Music Awards, and he continues to build on the momentum of his two JUNO Awards wins. The record landed on multiple year-end lists, including CBC Music’s Top Albums of 2025, and has seen tracks charting across Canadian radio.

The upcoming Timelines EP reimagines songs from across his catalogue, including Watin (2022), Here and Now (2023), and Edge of the Earth (2025). The newly released single, “Dream Catcher (Timelines Acoustic),” revisits one of his most personal songs, a reflection on doubt, endurance, and the act of dreaming despite uncertainty.

“It’s wild to have written this song from a place of imposter syndrome,” he has said. “But playing it night after night to rooms full of people connecting to it helped me unravel some of that mystery. I hope this stripped-back version gives fans a more intimate look at my process after they’ve given me so much.”

As he prepares to return to London, his focus is simple: connection.

Asked what he hopes audiences feel when they leave his show, he paused.

“I hope they feel full,” he said. “Inspired. Better than when they came.”

In a career that continues to rise, Aysanabee remains grounded in that same quiet pursuit: searching for the song, sharing the story, and letting the feeling lead.

Photo courtesy https://www.facebook.com/AysanabeeOfficial