Welcome to the place where I weave song, story & community to explore our sense of belonging & connection.
The Water
My first music release in 8 years.
Recorded live in my community Yoga Studio, with The Sweetwaters Women’s Choir.
8 years ago, it felt like I was retiring from the music industry. I was wrapping up almost ten years of extensive national & international touring and years of connecting with diverse communities through my own songs and stories. I’d traversed stark and heart-filled desert Country, made temporary homes in the mountains, along coastlines and deserts sands. Yet, after a lifetime of chasing the sun, I somehow landed in the soft valleys of North East Victoria, navigating the deep depths and unexpected complexities of solo mamahood.
Without any capacity to put my feelings into music or pen to paper, it truly felt like I was cruelly forced to put down the one tool that had kept me alive throughout my formative years. My language of survival was gone and I had to learn and lean into a completely new way of being. I was scrambling for a new operating system - curiously, one that just couldn’t make room for music.
Having lived through harsh and beautiful Seasons that have reshaped both my life and my voice, songwriting and performing now feel so different. I’m not on my own. I’ve grown into a skin that also grows community spaces and experiences from the ground, up. That’s where The Water rose from.
The Water: a song woven with feminine power and born from the learnings of belonging. A song written as an ode to the land I now call home. A home that I share with my beautiful boy, kind giant doggo, and an inspiring, supportive community of incredible women and folks of all ages. There is life in this song. There is life when we gather with intention, curiousity & kindness.
Music in Community
Over the last two years of tending to these old church hall walls, I am watching roots grow deep as a welcoming community space for both creative practice and embodied expression. I don’t see separation between art and the community practices within my yoga studio. Both are spaces where our complex and beautiful shared humanity sits at the heart of it all - and that is a tender, wild and wondrous thing.
My music offerings centre on connecting and supporting community.
Here are a few ways I might show up for you and our collective:
Embodied Vocal Sessions (ages 5+ to adults!)
Yoga & Live Music
Creative Embodiment facilitation/workshops
Therapeutic African Drumming Facilitation (ages 5-13)
Retreats / Trauma-informed wellness gatherings
House concerts & intimate listening shows
Songwriters-in-the-round & collaborative events
If you’re interested in including live music in a gathering or event within your community, you’re very welcome to get in touch!
Meet
Nestled in the north-east Victorian hills of Dhudhuroa-Waywurru Country, Candice McLeod is a compelling folk songwriter whose music confronts both beauty and breaking with unguarded grace.
After spending eight years touring nationally as an independent artist, Candice released her debut album in Alice Springs (NT) in 2017. Following the birth of her son and several years away from music, she re-emerged as a trio at her hometown Yackandandah Folk Festival in 2023. Resilience is written not just in her songs, but in her bones.
In Spring 2024, Candice was invited back to Central Australia to perform at the world-renowned Desert Song Festival for a second time. She has also performed at the National Folk Festival (ACT), Cygnet Folk Festival (TAS) and Folk Rhythm & Life Festival (VIC).
Joined by powerhouse female musicians Mezz Coleman and Gabby Vening, the trio are affectionately known as Candice McLeod & The Sweetwaters. Together they weave a soulful fabric of sound, singing songs of fracture, womanhood and the tender awe of being alive.
Their forthcoming self-produced album was recorded live in Candice’s yoga studio in Yackandandah - a historic church hall growing roots as a welcoming community space for both creative practice and embodied expression. The first single from the album, The Water, was released in March 2026, with a second single to follow in late June.
Community Reflections