Local musician draws ‘Curtains of Light’ on pandemic

Lisha Van Nieuwenhove

Local musician Whitney Ross-Barris performs her new album, “Curtains of Light,” at the Uxbridge Music Hall on Jan. 29. Photo by Tracy Walker

You may have seen her in Zehrs, or at the Second Wedge Brewing Co., or in the line up of cars outside a local school, and you wouldn’t guess that, behind that high-voltage smile, Whitney Ross-Barris harbours a voice that sounds the way a hot knife slicing through soft butter feels.

Ross-Barris shows off her voice on “Curtains of Light,” her recently released album of her own work. Uxbridge will get to hear her new album live during her upcoming concert, which will be held at the Uxbridge Music Hall on Thursday, Jan. 29, beginning at 7:30 p.m.

“I’m excited for this concert because a lot of the songs are about me and me observing other people at that period,” Ross-Barris explains. The period she’s referring to is the COVID-19 pandemic, when much of the world was experiencing isolation and shut-downs.

“Song two, for example, “Up in the Night,” is about a friend of mine who lives here in Canada, and his partner lives in the States. Normally they go back and forth to be together, but when the border closed, they were separated, and this brought up so much pain of not being with someone you love, and the pain of people who were separated because of the pandemic.

“Curtains of Light” may have been inspired by the pandemic, but it offers more than doom and gloom.

The album is described as “blending jazz, choral, neo-soul, spoken word, and folk elements into an album of exciting new music that crystallizes deeply human stories of disconnection, longing, and beautiful resilience born from the last few challenging years.”

Alongside the music and stories are familiar sounds — Ross-Barris recorded a storm through her bathroom window and uses the track. There are also sounds from Elgin Park, and of Ross-Barris walking through the snow after dropping her children off at school.

There’s more than one local musician on the album, as well. Amy Peck, music teacher at Uxbridge Secondary School, plays alto, tenor and baritone saxophone on the album, and the Third Avenue Jazz Ensemble, USS’s jazz band, is opening for Ross-Barris on Jan. 29.

“I’m so proud that Third Avenue is opening for us, it’s so full circle,” says Ross-Barris.

Tickets for the Jan. 29 concert are $35 for adults and $20 for those 18 and under. Tickets are available either at the door or through starticketing.com