From Georgetown to the Heart: Ontario Folk Singer Aynsley Saxe Unveils Soulful New Single “Stranger to Myself” Ahead of Summer Shows and Fall Album
Aynsley Saxe’s music carries the warmth of home and the weight of change. With the release of her acoustic folk single “Stranger to Myself” on June 6, the Georgetown, Ontario-based singer-songwriter invites listeners into a quiet, intimate world shaped by heartbreak, resilience, and emotional clarity. The track is the first release from her upcoming sophomore album A Thousand Stars, due out in fall 2025.
Co-produced with Christian Turner at Mill Town Sound in Milton, ON, “Stranger to Myself” features just acoustic guitar, bass, and Saxe’s voice, creating a stripped-down atmosphere that draws the listener in. “I wanted it to feel like I was playing this song in my living room,” Saxe explains. “The production is intentionally sparse because the lyrics needed space. I was working through disorientation and trying to understand the version of myself that was left standing after everything changed.”
Saxe, who began playing piano at age six, brings years of songwriting and performance experience to this release. She wrote her first song at 18 while living on a farm in New Zealand. Since then, she’s written music that spans environmental engagement, jazz-tinged fun, and deeply personal reflection. Her 2019 duet “Beautiful Tomorrow (A Song for Our Planet)” was recorded with 20 local youth and co-funded by the Town of Halton Hills. Her debut single “Stop, Drop & Roll (The Fireman Song)” gained attention through a province-wide Saskatchewan Firefighters Calendar commercial.
“Stranger to Myself” highlights a shift in tone for Saxe. Built on themes of isolation and emotional survival, the song unfolds like a diary entry. “I’m trying out this new life, baby / Like a new pair of jeans that don’t feel right just yet,” she sings. Another lyric—“barbed wire love”—has struck a chord with live audiences, many of whom approach her after performances to share how it resonated.
Listeners have described the song as “haunting,” “beautiful,” “truthful,” and “powerful.” One wrote, “It’s revealing and speaks of a story that many of us can relate to.” The feedback affirms Saxe’s choice to let the rawness stay in focus. “I’m handing the world pieces of my heart and soul,” she says. “It feels more personal than comfortable.”
Saxe’s upcoming album A Thousand Stars will continue this thread. Its songs explore emotional rebuilding, romantic longing, spiritual growth, and moments of reflection. With an English and Film degree from Western University, and creative past lives as a professional clown, Reiki Master, and ski instructor, Saxe approaches songwriting with a wide lens and a deep well of experience.
Her hometown roots run deep—she still lives in Georgetown and frequently performs throughout the Halton Hills region. She’s slated to appear at several local shows this summer, offering audiences a preview of her new material.
Hi Aynsley! Good to meet you! Care to introduce yourself to the readers for those not familiar with your music?
Thank you so much, and I appreciate the opportunity to introduce myself. I’m a Georgetown, Ontario-based acoustic-folk sounding singer-songwriter, and I’ve been told I have a knack for taking listeners on emotional rollercoasters. My main instrument is the piano that I’ve played since I was 6, and that instrument feels like home to me; however, I’ve also picked up the guitar recently, which I’m loving. My sophomore album, A Thousand Stars, is coming out in the Fall and it explores the heights and crashes of romantic love. I went through some significant personal storms in my life to create the songs on this album, and I’m very excited to release it to the world. My hope is that listeners will find connection, healing, and light in the dark from my music.
You’ve said “Stranger to Myself” feels like a song played in your living room. What’s in that imaginary room—besides a guitar?
My ideal living room would be in an early 1900s, slightly modernized, cottage-type space with a grand piano, an acoustic guitar, and a large stone wood-burning fireplace. The living room would be spacious but cozy and surrounded by trees overlooking a beautiful lake. Listeners would be sitting in comfortable chairs or couches, leaning against large turquoise plush cushions, and they’d be able to wrap themselves in fuzzy warm blankets if they felt like it. There would be skylights in the room so we could look at the stars. I’d invite listeners to take a deep dive into the vast and beautiful world inside themselves while listening to my music. They would surface feeling more in tune with themselves and more in touch with their heart.
You’ve gone from singing about the planet and firemen to heartbreak and spiritual growth—do these themes feel connected in your mind, or do they come from totally different versions of Aynsley?
The themes that I write songs about seem to pick me. I don’t feel like I have a lot of control over inspiration or where my songs come from, and I think if I did have control, that wouldn’t be as much fun. For me, one of the exciting parts about songwriting is not knowing where a song is going to go when I begin writing it. I’ll have an inkling of the mood I’m feeling, but I won’t know the twists and turns that occur, and sometimes songs start in one place and then become an entirely different song as I keep writing. Very often, I’ll write three or four different songs and then amalgamate the parts that feel like they’re supposed to be kept into one song.
I usually don’t start out with a plan for the songs I write, except for when I wrote “Stop, Drop & Roll (The Fireman Song)”. For that song, I wanted to create a catchy, fun song that was different than the other sadder and heavier songs on my first album, Take Me As I Am. I wanted to lighten things up. As I made that intention, I suddenly thought of the hook “Stop, drop and roll with me,” and the song came together quite quickly while I was laughing.
When I wrote “Beautiful Tomorrow,” I would wake up in the middle of the night with this feeling that I had to record the song immediately. It was as though the song wouldn’t leave me alone, and it felt like there was a huge urgency with it. This was in February 2019, and it was like the song was pounding on my head and heart, asking to be recorded. It was a feeling I’d never had before with any song I’ve written. The urgency made sense once 2020 came around because getting 20 youth together to sing background vocals on the track probably wouldn’t have happened if we’d waited.
With respect to whether the songs feel to me like they come from different versions of myself, I’d say no. The songs come through me, and I just try to get out of their way. But some songs I write are much more personal than others. Music is where I feel liberated to explore topics that I feel called to, whether they lean into personal territory or are just for fun.
You’ve been a professional clown, a Reiki Master, and a ski instructor. Which of those past lives sneaks into your songwriting the most?
I’ve had a bit of an eclectic job history through the years for sure haha! Before I answer your question, I have to say that you wouldn’t believe how many adults are afraid of clowns. And I was a very friendly clown with long pink hair. I didn’t consider myself intimidating, but many adults would see me and bolt. Maybe they’d seen too many scary clown movies. I was a professional clown for a few months over the summer when I was 19, and it helped me on the performing front as I was in front of kids and adults, making balloon animals in large plastic red shoes, waddling around like a penguin for hours, and trying to keep everyone entertained and smiling. It was a lot of fun and very tiring. I have new respect for clowns, having been one myself. haha
I would say that being a Reiki teacher has had the most influence on my music of all my careers. Reiki has helped me grow my intuition enormously, and that is now a sense that I use constantly with my music and with my life. I’d even say my intuition is as active as my sense of hearing. Intuition has helped me write songs, get gigs, find the right firemen to attend my first album release party, etc. Also, after I experience a Reiki session, I often feel inspired to sing or finish lyrics that I’ve been working on. I also feel like I’m meant to be sharing healing vibes with listeners through my music and Reiki complements that intention.
You’ve stayed rooted in Georgetown—how has that small-town sense of place shaped your sound and your stories?
I grew up in Georgetown, but after going to university in London, I lived in Toronto for 15 years, so I have a bit of a city mouse/country mouse thing going on. I moved back to Georgetown about 10 years ago, and I’m very happy here. It’s surrounded by beautiful hiking trails and close enough to Toronto that you can get there easily, but you have the benefits of a small town with a close-knit community and breathing space that I really love. As I’ve been getting ready to launch my new album, this town has really embraced my dream, and people have been so helpful with wanting me to perform at their locations and supporting me in whatever way they can. I wrote the songs from my first album when I was living in Toronto, and for my upcoming album A Thousand Stars, the songs were written while I was living in Georgetown. I have spent countless hours walking my dog while listening to various versions of my songs and thinking about which tweaks to make, and it feels like I’ve almost been threading my new songs into the sidewalks and wind here.
Upcoming Show Dates:
- June 14, 2025 – 3 PM – Terra Cotta Local Musicians Event
- July 3, 2025 – 4 PM to 7 PM – Acton Outdoor Market
- July 5, 2025 – 1 PM to 3 PM – Halton Hills Helson Gallery
- July 11, 2025 – 5 PM to 10 PM (exact time TBA) – Palooza, Main Street Festival, Georgetown, ON
- July 17, 2025 – 4 PM to 7 PM – Acton Outdoor Market
- August 11, 2025 – Acton Leathertown Festival (time TBA) – Acton, ON
- August 14, 2025 – 4 PM to 7 PM – Acton Outdoor Market
- September 11, 2025 – 4 PM to 7 PM – Acton Outdoor Market