We’re now sufficiently into January, inching towards the peak of the gloomy mountain that is winter, with summer feeling like a distant memory. For many of us, winter is a time of both retrospection and anticipation. Often, this type of looking-back-while-looking-forward coping mechanism encompasses us in an echo chamber of pseudo-nostalgia. Canada’s Shaina Hayes has garnered all of that lost energy on her latest single, “Sun and Time”, which electrifies the twangy indie folk from her debut LP, coax a waltz.
“Sun and Time” sets a relaxed and lazy tone from the outset, opening with stripped down guitars (a mix of acoustic and refined electric), bass, and bare bones kit set to a sauntering 4/4 beat. The instrumentation accompanies Hayes’ crystal clear vocals, which alternate between double and single track, adding the effect of two Hayeses at the mic, sometimes harmonising, other times singing identical melodies. The instrumentation builds as the track continues, with drums adding more riffs and fills through the second verse. Electric guitar roars into a release of distortion at the final chorus, a much anticipated explosion coming off the refined tension of the rest of the track.
Lyrically, “Sun and Time” is as poetic as it is literary. It’s clear from the opening line that Hayes is talking to someone specific, someone who’s hit hard by the lows of winter: “Holy weary winter this one’s something / I watch you suffering at its hand.” Their memories have passed, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t happen, and can’t be looked back on fondly (“We are fading / But I can still make out your laugh”).
