Where to be this weekend

Ottawa bandleader Shannon Rose is a fine songwriter. Her carefully etched vignettes start from that well-worn path (love land) and spiral out into pretty melodies that put her achy, parched vocals front and centre. She puts her songs to a folk-pop bed, which is played by her band The Thorns (get it?).

She released her debut disc, Sing Me A Song, in 2008 and will launch a string of seasonal works this weekend. The first is a five-song EP called Winter.

“These EPs will allow me to be busy with music all year,” Rose says. “I love every aspect of being a musician, and releasing a new album every three months will keep me in a happy loop of writing, rehearsing, recording and performing.”

The EPs feature the talents of Ottawa musicians Steve Matylewicz (guitar), Dean Watson (bass), Tim Watson (drums), Michael Schultz (horns and piano), Adam Fogo (strings), and Stuart Lee (strings). Both the lyrics and the melodies resonate with the theme of winter.

“The seasons are all so different and they all have different feelings associated with them,” Rose says. “Winter is cozy and pretty and magical, but also a little lonely and reflective, and I wanted some of that to be captured in the songs.”

Saturday, Feb. 12. 9 p.m., $6. Elmdale Tavern, 1084 Wellington St. West.

Sound Seekers is published weekly at OttawaMagazine.com. Read Fateema Sayani’s culture column in Ottawa Magazine. Subscribe to the print edition here.