Vancouver Island musician Laura Kelsey is known for her powerhouse voice and dynamic performances. She has opened for amazing artists like Jeff Martin (from The Tea Party) and Terra Lightfoot; and she’s also gone on tour with rocker Matthew Good.
With vocals like Evanescence’s Amy Lee and a timeless vibe like Stevie Nicks and Florence + the Machine, Laura’s songs feature captivating soundscapes and mystical lyrics, which are showcased on her debut solo EP Hunting Season, released in April 2023.
“Your Stormy Ways” was the first single from the EP, followed by “Beyond the Tide,” “Hunting Season” and “Die in Your Dreams.” She also released three additional singles in 2022: “Grabbing a Ghost” (produced by Winston Hauschild); and “the cold makes you” and “fog the mirror” (produced by Paul Cimolini).
Laura began singing and writing for bands at a young age in and around Vancouver, B.C., Canada, and moved to the Interior where she started performing as a solo artist. She released “Run Outta Road” in 2011, written with guitarist Peter Thorne, and a filmed a music video by HunCity Productions that premiered at the South Cariboo Theatre.
In 2014, she was the lead vocalist for a symphonic metal band nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award (Best Hard Rock/Metal Album of the Year). That same year she released “My Time,” a single with all proceeds going to WAVAW (Women Against Violence Against Women) in Vancouver. In 2015, she wrote and organized a 10-song rock musical — Modern Banshee and the Limbic Landwalkers: the pool, the moon & the string — that premiered at the HR MacMillan Space Centre.
Throughout the years she has released various home recordings including the 2018 single “Love is a Spell,” featuring pianist Scott Arkell; Otta Sotta: the End of the Ocean? (2019), a six-track collection of songs inspired by the ocean and the conservation work of Farley Mowat (all proceeds go to Sea Shepherd); and From the Woods (2020), a collection of songs that were written while living in a cabin in the Cariboo.
As an acoustic act she has played in cafe and bar venues across B.C., as well as at festivals such as Desert Daze (Spences Bridge), 39 Days of July (Duncan), Hoot Stock (Forest Grove), the Vancouver Island Exhibition and Islands Folk Festival (Cowichan Valley); and, in 2018, opened for Jeff Martin (The Tea Party) in Nanaimo. She’s also performed at the Rickshaw Theatre, Railway Club, Lana Lou’s and many other venues fronting bands like Vancouver funk/blues group Dispell and more.
Laura is a member of SOCAN, MusicBC, the Nanaimo Arts Council and is a juror for FACTOR Canada; and she is currently in studio recording a full-length album to be released January 2026. Her most recent film series — a docuseries exploring the world of sound, music and vibration called Found in Sound — is available on Telus Optik TV, with season two premiering Sept. 23, 2025.
Poetry
Laura’s debut chapbook west coast shorts was published by above/ground press in May 2022. Poems by Laura have also appeared in publications such as The New Chief Tongue, The Carnegie Newsletter, Stone Pacific Zine, Sea & Cedar, pocket lint, Sad Girl Review, Wordstorm and periodicities.
Film
Along with producing many of her music videos, Laura enjoys working in film. Her short film tub, starring Maggie Bugg and Thomas Mitchell, won audience favourite in the 2021 CineCentral One-Minute Mobile Movie Awards. In 2022, Laura received a TELUS Storyhive grant to produce an eight-part miniseries called New Home, New Music, which profiled musicians who have immigrated to Canada and who now live in Nanaimo. Her most recent project is Found in Sound, a docuseries supported by TELUS Storyhive that explores the potential positive effects that sound, music and vibration have on people. Season one is now streaming on TELUS Optik TV and season two will premiere in fall of 2025.
Laura Kelsey 