Roots noir songstress Lindi Ortega has lived through some major upheaval in the past seven-plus years.
Malfunctioning in-ear monitors led to a damaged singing voice, her marriage broke up, her father passed away, and she found herself with debilitating anxiety and panic attacks. She left music, thinking it was forever.
Today, a lot of healing has taken place. She’s writing, recording, and she’ll soon be on-stage at Block Heater in Calgary.
“I’m just so excited that I can perform,” Ortega says, from her home in Creston, BC. “There was a point when I literally felt that I was never going to be able to perform again.”
“I have a whole new perspective on music now,” she says. “I’m just super happy to be able to do it.”
She quietly put out a ghost-themed record out in 2024, From The Ether. “It was very different direction for me,” she says. “It was fun to be put something out of left field and experiment.”
She had another record planned for this year, called With a Vengeance. But she’s decided to make a different one.
“I was going through a very angry phase and my anger is not so angry now,” Ortega says. “So I’m shifting directions again.”
Where did the anger go?
“I think just time and self-reflection and self-work and good friends,” she says. “I spent a lot of time with myself for a good three years and just kind of worked through and processed the stuff that I was feeling.”
The new album will be more quirky and tongue in cheek, she says.
She wrote a murder mystery song, a song about her cat and how he’s “a holy terror,” and a jokey song about older women and younger men. “I’ve been experimenting with different things,” she says.
Next up, her turn on stage in Calgary. Coming back to performing has been a bit nerve-wracking, Ortega says.
She just reminds herself that playing guitar and singing are what she loves most.
“I think it’s evident that I’m very much happy to be there and happy to perform. At this point for me it’s truly all about just having a good time, enjoying it, and sharing my creativity with others.”
Lindi Ortega performs at Block Heater in Calgary, February 5, 6, and 7. Details on her website.
“How’s It Gonna End” by Lindi Ortega and Jack Barksdale:
