P.E.I. singer recalls rape on new album, hopes song encourages other women

A Prince Edward Island singer-songwriter has released a song about being raped after her high-school prom, saying she hopes it encourages others to share their own stories.

“It’s a letter to the guy that raped me,” Kinley Dowling said of her new song, “Microphone.”

“He was a year older than me and I barely knew him at all and it really, really kind of ruined me for years. I’ve been trying to figure out how to deal with my emotions.”

Dowling, who recently released her debut solo album “Letters Never Sent” under the moniker KINLEY, said writing about it has helped her work through those difficult emotions.

“People don’t want to bring it up… because it’s a really hard thing to talk about and you don’t ever want to feel those feelings ever again,” said Dowling, who has played violin for Newfoundland indie ensemble Hey Rosetta! for nine years.  “But you have to let them out to allow yourself to be able to get over it and move on with your life.”

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The song paints a picture of a boy taking the hand of a girl and leading her to a field, where she was sexually assaulted despite repeatedly saying no.

“You are a pirate in the night; You took something that was mine; How do you live your life thinking this is all right? And if you come to my show I think you should know; I’m gonna call you out for the rest of my life; You are smeared on my mind; I’ve got a microphone,” Dowling sings.

She said she has already received many messages from people who say her song inspired them to open up about their own experiences for the first time

“It really boils my blood that people are getting away with sexual assault,” the 33-year-old musician said. “Everyone has a story and we shouldn’t try to hide it. You should speak it so it can be stopped.”

Dowling said she sent the song to her assailant in an email, saying: “It’s been 15 years, but I haven’t forgot. If you hear this song on the radio, it’s about you.”

She has not received a response.

The unnamed perpetrator is not the only recipient of a musical letter from Dowling. Each song on the album is a letter to someone, or something, different — not all as dark as “Microphone.”

“Golden Days,” for example, is a letter to her favourite place in Prince Edward Island: Lakeside Beach. Dowling said after watching the funeral of legendary Atlantic Canadian folk singer Stompin’ Tom Connors, she was inspired to write about her home and the beauty of the Island.

She said she has music videos in the works for at least three tracks, but doesn’t intend to play them for a live audience.

“I just get really uncomfortable playing my own music,” Dowling said. “I’m just not meant for the spotlight. My whole plan was always just to make this record.”

— Follow (at)AlyThomson on Twitter.

Aly Thomson, The Canadian Press