Folk singer-songwriter Shaina Hayes today unveils a live session in which she performs the song Heat Wave. The original version of the track is taken from the album Kindergarten Heart, released in February 2024 via Bonsound.
Shaina Hayes has also announced her next Montreal show, which will take place at the Fairmount Theatre on April 19th, 2025. Tickets are on sale now.
Inspired by Shaina’s experience farming through one of Canada’s hottest summers on record, Heat Wave wraps listeners in a hazy, intensifying soundscape. Tension builds to a fever pitch before the haziness breaks into clarity when relief from the heat wave finally does arrive.
Shot by Marc-André Dupaul, Heat Wave's live session brings together Shaina and her band, with visuals and lighting designed by Flavie Lemée and Myriam-Sophie Deslauriers. The video aims to parallel the essence of the song, evoking the suffocating and relentless nature of life’s struggles and the perseverance it takes to make it out the other side, explains the singer-songwriter.
Watch and share the Heat Wave live session via YouTube.
With the release of her sophomore album, Kindergarten Heart, Shaina Hayes garnered attention from Consequence, KCRW (NPR), The Line of Best Fit and Under the Radar, as well as an enthusiastic review in UK magazine Uncut. Since then, she has performed at various festivals, including FEQ, Le Festif! and Festival BleuBleu. She also opened for Elisapie and Daniel Bélanger a number of times. The singer-songwriter is currently nominated for English Songwriter of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Award and Folk Album of the Year at the GAMIQ.
Kindergarten Heart is available on LP, CD and digital.
Shaina Hayes’ latest album, Kindergarten Heart, is the 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 record’s artwork, thanks to Lawrence Fafard’s pictures. 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 honouring one’s memories and the people they contain.
About Shaina Hayes
Raised in Shigawake, in the Gaspésie region of Québec, Shaina 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 Québec and opening for bands like The War on Drugs and The Barr Brothers. While she still maintains some engagement with her farming endeavours, Shaina Hayes has made the shift to devote herself fully to her music before the release of Kindergarten Heart in February 2024.