Three women, plenty of harmony, too many instruments to tell, and one astounding album.
This is the story of the self-titled debut release from Three Wheels Turning, a trio of local singer/songwriters known for their healing harmonies, intricate instrumentation, and heart-full words.
Micaela Kingslight, Samara Jade, and Aimée Ringle make up this super group of songstresses, each artists in their own right who collaborate with numerous other local musicians.
While their name might conjure up the image of a tricycle to some, that metaphor doesn’t fit with the rotation of their vocals.
“As a band, that’s not who we are because there’s not a front man,” Ringle said.
Instead, they’ve brought songs written individually which the group evolves and supports, each taking a turn as the metaphorical big wheel.
“So far our album has been like, ‘Here’s my song, I’m singing lead, and ya’ll are the support.’ So in that way, song by song, this album might be the one that has that the most,” Ringle said.
“Who knows what’ll happen for our writing process if it gets even more collaborative,” she added.
EARLIEST TWIRLS
The three first came together at The Palindrome in the summer of 2019 to open for the band Mad Hallelujah, who are friends of Jade.
Despite having all met individually years before through uniquely auspicious circumstances, it was the first time Ringle and Kingslight had shared a stage.
“I’d played with them individually before, but not all together, so beforehand we got together to just run some of our songs figuring we’d add some harmonies,” Jade said.
“Literally in the parking lot,” Kingslight threw in.
Magic was made on that stage and their friends wanted more, pestering them to perform together again. They managed one more show in February 2020 at The Keg and I just before the world shut down.
During the peak pandemic years, however, they held together, growing tighter through a musical retreat in Neah Bay in January 2021.
“It was a room about like 10-feet-by-15-feet, maybe smaller, and we all brought all of our instruments. Samara brought a piano. There was like 10 instruments sprawled all over the ground,” Ringle said.
“We had 46 strings, I think,” Kingslight added. “If we could do more things like that, I think we would do more collaborations. It’s just a matter of time.”
The next month, they returned reinvigorated to the Keg and I with a crowd hungry for the live music everyone had been missing.
“It was packed and you could tell there was this starvation of dopamine and serotonin. And everyone was just like, ‘Oh my God!’ They were really happy to receive us,” Ringle said.
GOING ‘ROUND AGAIN
After that stupendous success, they began working on the album later that summer.
Each brought an equal number of tracks to the table. Then inspiration hit.
“We were trying to do three each, then I wrote ‘Heart of the Source’ right before we started recording the album,” Jade said.
“And we were all like, ‘Duh,’” Ringle added.
Jade was also responsible for producing the album, adding layers of sound to the vocals and instrumentals they’d recorded.
“The bone tracks, we did those together, and then so much of the rest of it was on Samara to bring together,” Ringle said.
Camelia Jade — “No relation,” Samara said — captured their harmonies in Kinglight’s home studio before Samara Jade got to work.
She gathered an array of sounds including electric guitar, piano, organ, and electric bass; hired Crag Kellberg to play upright bass, as well as Sage Coy on cello, and Megan Drollinger on fiddle.
“It was bedroom production,” Jade said.
“But I really enjoyed the process of listening to a song and letting myself hear what I hear the fullest expression of the song being, letting myself dream into that a bit, and letting myself play around with adding different instruments.”
While Jade may have been able to work from home, as many these days now know, that doesn’t mean it was easy.
“Sometimes it can be hard to get going. But once I get going and it reaches a certain point things start to click into place and I can’t stop doing it and I’ll stay up all night or all day,” she said.
Still, each of these artists has new things they’re learning alongside the others.
“I’m wanting to up my game for the sake of the band,” Ringle said.
“We’re always evolving. Being able to shift with that is really important,” Kingslight added.
Not only do they push each other to improve, they feel safe enough to say when something isn’t working.
“We’re like musical accountability buddies, too,” Jade said.
THE CIRCLE OF LIFE
The security of their songwriting process is tied with spiritual threads.
“We all honor the path of spirituality and there’s a lot of overlap between all of us,” Jade said.
“Music is a very inherently spiritual thing. Like for me, it’s inseparable from my spirituality. That’s something we all have in common with our music,” she added.
Witnessing each other and themselves as their music develops has been an education all it’s own.
“There you are. There’s that part of your heart, there’s your instrumentalism brought to bare to share it. It’s this way that I as a person have been able to let myself be known in this world,” Ringle said.
“And it’s a really great way to find your people,” she added.
Playing at enigmatic venues like the Northwest Herbal Fair has allowed them to showcase this integral aspect.
“They were there for it, they were there for the full arc,” Ringle said.
The free-spirited crowd connected with not only their upbeat songs, but those that explored deeper truths, too, like “Heart of the Source.”
“It’s about connection, togetherness,” Kingslight said.
The awe-filled faces staring up at them settled their connection.
“Those are definitely our favorite kinds of gigs: places where we can be received in our authenticity and artistry and not feel like we have to just entertain people, but feel like we’re guiding people through an experience with their hearts opening,” Jade said.
“It feels like musical ministry,” she added.
To experience their ethereal exhortations, catch them returning to where it all began at The Palindrome at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8 for an album-release show. CDs will be available at the event and digital copies can also be purchased online at threewheelsturning.bandcamp.com.