After garnering praise from KCRW and Consequence with her single New Favorite, released in November 2023, Shaina Hayes returns today with Sun and Time, a song dedicated to those who've had any kind of encounter with the winter blues. This is the second single off Kindergarten Heart, due out via Bonsound on February 23rd. The album launch show will take place at Le Ministère, in Montreal, on April 4th, 2024. More shows are scheduled across Quebec in the spring.
Stream Sun and Time on all digital platforms.
Kindergarten Heart is available for pre-order (vinyl, CD or digital) now.
With Sun and Time’s lyrics, Shaina Hayes summons the warmth and buzz of summers past, and urges the listener to hang tight while another one makes its way around. Drum-forward and built around a moody, strumming electric guitar, the song ventures a little farther into the realm of indie-pop, while maintaining Hayes’ signature tender, folky charm.
Sun and Time is accompanied by a music video created by Flavie Lemée and Charles-David Dubé using stunning footage captured during Shaina Hayes’ 2023 summer tour of Québec. Like the lyrics to Sun and Time, the video is a nostalgic nod to sunshine and summertime.
Watch and share the music video for Sun and Time via YouTube.
Kindergarten Heart is Shaina Hayes’ follow-up to to coax a waltz, released independently in 2022. On both albums, the singer-songwriter worked with Francis Ledoux and David Marchand (from the band zouz) who co-produced the record. Together, the three worked to gently weave elements of nostalgia, wonder and lightheartedness into this collection of songs. The result is a sophomore album which is both whimsical and earnest, and whose soothing charm is also reflected in the design of the record.
After the gray monotony of the pandemic, Hayes realized that it was going to take a focused effort for her to be able to tap back into joy and play. During this period, the initial theme of Kindergarten Heart began to take shape: the rekindling of childlike wonder. During the making of the album though, the theme evolved to encompass memory more broadly, not simply of childhood. In its final form, the album is about the act of looking back, either through an active lens to inform the current moment, or through a more passive lens, as a means of honoring these memories and the people they contain.
About Shaina Hayes
Raised in Shigawake, in the Gaspésie region of Québec, Hayes grew up listening to singer-songwriters like Feist, Joni Mitchell and Regina Spektor, traditional country artists like Hank Williams and Dolly Parton, and modern country stars including Shania Twain and The Chicks. After studying agricultural sciences at McGill University in Montreal, she returned to her rural hometown to record and co-produce her self-released debut album, to coax a waltz, which came out in April 2022. Following the release of her album, she started recording new songs, while also performing across Quebec and opening for bands like The War on Drugs and The Barr Brothers. While she still maintains some engagement with her farming endeavors, Shaina Hayes has made the shift to devote herself fully to her music ahead of the release of her album Kindergarten Heart due on February 23rd, 2024.
Tour dates
20/01/2024 Sherbrooke, QC - Théâtre Granada (Supporting Elisapie)
15/02/2024 Saint-Eustache, QC - Le Zénith Promutuel Assurance (Supporting Elisapie)
24/02/2024 Laval, QC - Salle André-Mathieu (Supporting Elisapie)
16/03/2024 Gatineau, QC - La Basoche
22/03/2024 Maskinongé, QC - Magasin Général Lebrun
23/03/2024 Brossard, QC - Le Club Dix30
29/03/2024 Drummondville, QC - Espace Mandeville
04/04/2024 Montréal, QC - Le Ministère (album launch show)
06/04/2024 Québec City, QC - Théâtre Petit Champlain
19/04/2024 Lévis, QC - Vieux Bureau de Poste
20/04/2024 St-Hyacinthe, QC - Le Zaricot
03/05/2024 Ste-Geneviève, QC - Salle Pauline-Julien
04/05/2024 Longueuil, QC - Cabaret Jean-Louis Millette
16/05/2024 Trois-Rivières, QC - Salle Louis-Philippe Poisson