Trails singer, Allie O’Manique, will debut at MEGAPHONO festival hosted by NAC

By Kira Locken

Ottawa musician Allie O’Manique says she’s excited to be making her musical debut at the National Arts Centre on Feb. 9 as part of the MEGAPHONO music festival.

The 18-year-old O’Manique, who is from Osgoode, performs under the stage name Trails.

“I’ve always dreamt of playing there, it’s a great stage,” said O’Manique, who will be sharing the stage with fellow performers LUKA and Keturah Johnson.

The performances are part of the fourth-annual MEGAPHONO music showcase festival, which runs from Feb. 8-10. The showcase aims to support Canadian artists through performances and opportunities to improve their creative process. This includes inviting delegates from the music industry who then have the opportunity to meet with performers.

As a partner of MEGAPHONO, the NAC acts as a venue for several of its performances. These are included in the NAC Presents program, which features Canadian artists exclusively.

“As a Canadian presenter, the most important thing we can do is showcase Canadians who are trying to make it in Canada, nationally and internationally,” said Marilena Gaudio, programming and rentals officer for NAC Presents.

Gaudio said that when deciding which performances to feature, the NAC strives to include a variety of artists and styles.

“We like to keep a balance, we want to make sure we’re showcasing women cause that’s very important to us,” Gaudio said.

In March 2017, O’Manique was selected for the first ever MEGAPHONO artist retreat. The retreat includes a four-day visit to Port William Sound studio, about 90 minutes southwest of Ottawa, for a recording session with Evening Hymns’ Jonas Bonnetta.

O’Manique was signed to Kelp Management in October 2017 and is currently working with Bonnetta to produce a debut full-length album. O’Manique said she expects it to be released in the next year.

Whether as a listener or a performer, O’Manique said she has always enjoyed the creative element of music.

“I’ve always listened to music, obviously, and being able to create little worlds with my own sound is something that I’ve always loved,” O’Manique said.

She said there is also a psychological element to songwriting with her compositions offering a method of processing her own experiences.

“As soon as something happens to me, I don’t really process it in a regular way, I always process it in a creative way,” O’Manique said.

Her primary inspirations are her experiences as a woman, nature and dreams, O’Manique said.

Rather than post her tracks under her own name, O’Manique decided to use the name Trails. This was inspired by the nature surrounding her home in Osgoode, a rural part of Ottawa about a 30-minute drive south of Parliament Hill.

“When I started posting music online I was just, like, well this is an opportunity to come up with an interesting name, and Trails was always in my head,” O’Manique said.

Eventually, O’Manique began performing in front of live audiences, starting with her debut performance at Black Squirrel Books and Espresso bar in 2015.

“I guess that was kind of my first step into playing in the city,” said O’Manique.

Matías Muñoz, editor-in-chief of the music news site Ottawa Showbox, described O’Manique as, “a musical prodigy of sorts.”

He said her songwriting “has depth and maturity, the kind that grips listeners and audiences.”

Tickets for O’Manique’s show are $15 or $10 for those with valid student cards.