London, ON/Vancouver, BC Singer-Songwriter Samantha Hooey Returns With “Pink Skies” and EP, Silver
Canadian singer-songwriter Samantha Hooey has emerged from a twelve-year recording hiatus with a luminous, introspective new EP titled Silver, led by the radiant single “Pink Skies.” A examine in restraint, reverence, and resilience, Silver is a set of 5 soul-stirring songs that really feel each timeless and startlingly current. With textures as mild as moonlight and lyrics carved from deep private renewal, the EP is Hooey’s most intimate and centered work so far.
“Pink Skies” opens the undertaking like a quiet meteor streaking throughout the morning—its lyrics evoke the picture of birds lifting earlier than a storm, revealing a fact that’s been ready to be named: “At all times thought that I used to be terrified of dying / seems I used to be simply afraid to stay.” That single line, repeated all through the music, encapsulates the uncooked emotional readability Hooey brings to her craft.
“These songs got here out of a therapeutic course of,” Hooey shares. “I hope they resonate with these in search of a reminder of their very own resilience.”
Rooted within the acoustic panorama of her Vancouver house—and written on the identical guitar she’s had since her teenagers—Hooey’s songs on Silver honour cycles of nature and emotion: development, relaxation, launch, renewal. The undertaking conjures quiet Northern Ontario nights beneath the Perseids meteor bathe and Georgian Bay’s dusky hues, with each monitor inviting the listener inward.
Produced with care and instinct by Jeff Zipp, Silver advantages from a sonic palette that’s lush but uncluttered. Hooey is joined by a tight-knit group of collaborators, together with Yamil Chain-Haddad (bass), Darryl Havers (organ), Geoff Hicks (drums), and Scott Smith (guitar/pedal metal). Every participant presents restraint and heat, giving house for Hooey’s voice to rise and glow like the complete moon she sings of in “Pink Skies.”
There’s a pure class to her supply, one which remembers early Sarah Harmer or Gillian Welch, whereas planting its ft firmly within the current. In “Pink Skies,” she sings of the twin pull of sunshine and darkness, of worry of vanishing and selecting to remain: “It was a wild pressure like a white horse / pulling the celebrities right down to me.” The language is mystical however rooted in actual, lived expertise.
Born in London, ON, and now primarily based in Vancouver, BC, Hooey’s deep Canadian roots hum beneath every melody. Her sense of time and house feels natural, even meditative, providing solace for anybody needing stillness in a loud world. “Silver isn’t about arrival,” she says. “It’s in regards to the journey again to connection.”
With “Pink Skies” now out there throughout all platforms and the complete EP arriving with quiet pressure, Samantha Hooey reintroduces herself not as a newcomer however as a deeply felt presence returning house. The songs don’t shout—however they stick with you lengthy after the final observe.
Hello Samantha! Good to fulfill you! Care to introduce your self to the readers for these not acquainted with your music?
Good day! I’m a singer/songwriter primarily based out of Vancouver, BC. The style of my music leans into the Americana/Alt-Nation vibe. My focus has at all times been on trustworthy, heartfelt lyrics, and my hope has at all times been to create a sense of reference to these listening.
After a 12-year hiatus, what was the second—or feeling—that instructed you it was time to create Silver?
Music was at all times there percolating within the background, and I knew I might come again to it in a extra significant method when it was time.
When the chaos of the pandemic began to dissipate, I felt an enormous weight being lifted. Together with that got here seeing stay reveals once more and the gorgeous music that was occurring within the Vancouver scene. It actually impressed me to re-engage. With that being mentioned, particular shout out to Marin Patenaude and absolutely the magic she shares. Her album Sight Unseen positively added a spark to my spirit.
“Pink Skies” opens with a strong line: “At all times thought that I used to be terrified of dying / seems I used to be simply afraid to stay.” When did that lyric first come to you, and what does it imply in your life right this moment?
I knew I needed to write down one thing that captured the change in perspective that comes together with private development. The road wrote itself, and when it got here out, I spotted that it actually reduce to the core of what I had skilled for a few years. Once we undergo troublesome chapters in life, it’s straightforward to turn out to be wired to worry or anticipate the worst-case situation. After doing a variety of deep internal work, I started to see the flip aspect, and was capable of make motion ahead in life. That line (and actually the file in its entirety) is a mirrored image and celebration of that progress.
There’s a vivid naturalism all through Silver, from meteor showers to full moons. How does your connection to Canadian landscapes affect the best way you write and sing?
Nature and the cosmos have at all times felt like a sigh of aid. Their vastness gives a lot perspective, but additionally acts as a reminder of how we’re all linked. This has at all times given me respiratory room in my busy thoughts. It permits house for true reflection and gives a way of freedom for all my ideas and emotions to come back to the floor. These are factors I consider whereas singing, to assist hold me feeling grounded and unrestricted, in order that it hopefully all flows out as supposed.
Now that Silver is out on the earth, how do you see this new chapter of your artistry unfolding—and what does coming again to music by yourself phrases really feel like?
It appears like coming again to an outdated relationship, however as a a lot more healthy and grounded particular person. I actually simply need all the things to unfold in its personal pure method. Greater than something, I’m simply grateful that these songs had been lastly dropped at mild.