Stephen Ingram - Photo Credit Jason Plant
London, Ontario singer-songwriter Stephen Ingram releases "Leaving Song," the second single from his upcoming sophomore album, 'Silly Things,' arriving September 25. Where lead single "Sour Candy" traced Ingram's growth into himself, "Leaving Song" turns toward the place that shaped him first, Hamilton, and the complicated pull of a hometown that never quite felt like home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t4jF7TBSsU
Ingram wrote "Leaving Song" about the move from Hamilton to London, the city he now calls home, and the strange discomfort of realizing how easily he settled somewhere new after never fully settling where he grew up. His parents divorced when he was very young, and while he says they went above and beyond to make it as painless as possible, the ease he found in London brought an old, unresolved feeling back into focus, that Hamilton was always home in name, carrying more baggage than comfort underneath it.
That tension runs through the song's structure, which pulls Ingram between the city, the forest, and the mountain as he works through it. "Oh I'm coming to the city, and this time I'm gonna stay, have a laugh with the escarpment, race the tide across the bay," he sings early on, before the chorus lands on the song's central admission: "Never lost nor found, never feeling settled down, never felt a part of this town, couldn't teach myself how." It is less a song about leaving for good than one about the ongoing difficulty of ever fully arriving.
Listen on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/track/1hHdHFQxp4eYaZvZ8uh4at?si=f0d062595cad4155&nd=1&dlsi=003d3eef68264f42
Musically, "Leaving Song" leans into the rootsy, acoustic textures that define 'Silly Things,' built around Ingram's banjo alongside Peter Karle on acoustic guitar, Aidan Wasse on bass, Anna Grigg on cello, Mark Swan on drums and Jesse Grandmont on mandolin. The track was co-produced by Ingram and Dean Nelson, mixed by Nelson and mastered by Kristian Montano, the same team behind the rest of the record.
Check it out on Bandcamp here: https://stepheningram.bandcamp.com/
'Silly Things' began taking shape shortly after Ingram received an ADHD diagnosis, using the album to explore how it shapes his daily life and to look back on past relationships and events with new understanding. Written and recorded entirely in London, Ontario, the record is steeped in the specific geography of Southwestern Ontario, and many of its songs began as voice memos captured around a campfire, by a lake or out on a hike, reflecting Ingram's own sense of peace in nature. True to his background in live theatre, Ingram writes lyric and melody first and finds the music after, giving the album its story driven, genre hopping character, and many of its songs, "Leaving Song" included, follow a character ending somewhere different than where they began.
A Hamilton native who moved to London over a decade ago to study at Western University's Don Wright Faculty of Music, Ingram has spent the years since building a career primarily in live theatre as a music director, musician and performer, releasing his 2023 debut album, 'Fridge Magnet Symphony,' as his first step into songwriting under his own name. His music draws comparisons to Canadian songwriting touchstones including Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot, John K. Samson, Alanis Morissette, Sarah Harmer and William Prince, artists who share his instinct for turning highly specific personal detail into something universally recognizable.
With "Leaving Song," Ingram adds another chapter to a record built on growth and change, proof that even the place you leave behind keeps shaping the person you become. 'Silly Things' arrives September 25.
Album Release Show:
September 26, XUUX Artists, London, ON
https://sjingram2523.wixsite.com/website
