Cathartic trip leads to new album

The first thing you notice about Royal Wood is his sartorial splendour. Is it a gimmick? How many pop singers wear three-piece suits and a tie instead of torn jeans, T-shirts and tattoos?

It turns out the candid singer is the genuine article.

“It’s not something I chose,” he says with smile in his voice. “It was an evolution. It was the way I was raised. My father taught us to dress well and if we went to a restaurant I have a tie and I couldn’t wear a hat at the table.”

In rhythm with a dapper, well-manicured appearance, Wood has also spent the last decade evolving and honing his musical craft.

A prolific songwriter and one of Canada’s top talents rated by fans and industry alike, he nurtures an unmistakable identity and is unafraid to reinvent his sound.

As a musician, he is a multi-instrumentalist with an innate skill for creating layered arrangements and heart-tugging melodies. As a lyricist, he displays his soul on his sleeve with poetic, sublime writing.

Wood has spent the better part of 2014 on the road in support of his fifth studio album The Burning Bright and its companion I Wish You Well.

As a further testament to his energy and output, Live at the Grand, a CD/DVD, taped earlier this year at London’s Grand Theatre was also released yesterday, Feb. 10.

A favourite with pop aficionados, the Ontario-based recording artist returns to the Arden Theatre for a two-nighter on Feb. 13 and 14.

As with many songwriters, Wood’s incredibly prolific period developed from a year of tumult. Although his 2012 album We Were Born to Glory received glowing reviews and a Juno nomination, Wood expressed dissatisfaction with the formulaic result.

“I felt like it was the first time I had tried to write songs. I was experimenting with up-tempo, catchy hooks. I knew people connected on a pop level. But in an artistic level, I didn’t feel connected.”

In addition, his marriage to singer-songwriter Sarah Slean was crumbling and the couple eventually announced a divorce.

Wood felt unattached to his career and relationships, and needed to find his footing. Salvation came in the form of a trip to Ireland.

“Ireland always called to me. I’d been there many times while touring, but usually you see the inside of airports. Something felt I needed to return home. I needed to unplug, go onto farmland and be connected with nature.”

A friend rented a cottage in the village of Slane, an area of rolling hills and stone fences, near his ancestral home of Rathkenny in County Meath.

“I didn’t have a car. I didn’t have a bike. I just wanted to walk. It’s amazing how walking brings perspective to your life.”

The “cathartic” trip was a needed healing experience and Wood left Ireland six weeks later carrying 40 songs – enough for two complimentary albums, The Burning Bright and I Wish You Well.

To date, they are Wood’s strongest and most personal work, a statement of who he is.

“You can still create an album that comes through you and be connected to you and have real music happen. I just wanted to make a piece of art that was not part of a big machine.”

The Arden concert will be complemented with two vocalists Carleigh Akins and Alanna Stuart. Producer-guitarist Dean Drouillard, bassist Steve Zsiari and drummer Mark Mariash provide backup.