Toronto-based Japanese-Canadian maestro Saya Gray has announced her official debut album, previewed today by lead single "SHELL ( OF A MAN )."
SAYA arrives February 21 via Dirty Hit. It follows the artist's pair of QWERTY EPs, as well as the 2022 mixtape 19 MASTERS — a great Canadian album you might have missed that year.
"I move fast. Transition quick, hit change! My documentations have barely kept up," Gray said of the record. "My mind & body caught up for this album. I had to calm down for this record. I had to document the clean up. Remnants as I move from places, people & patterns. We only have ourselves at the end of it all!"
She continued, "This is a record for your transitions (emotional, spiritual & physical), for your heartbreaks and journeys from point A to B. An album to drop the shit you don't want and to pick up what you need."
According to press notes, SAYA is the result of the enigmatic singer-songwriter having "sanded and fine tuned the rough edges of records past into more cohesive works of melodic folk songcraft." Its logarithmic-spiralling lead single "SHELL ( OF A MAN )" is a twangy testament to this new approach; check it out below, where you'll also find the album tracklist.
SAYA:
1. ..THUS IS WHY ( I DON'T SPRING 4 LOVE )
2. SHELL ( OF A MAN )
3. LINE BACK 22
4. PUDDLE ( OF ME )
5. HOW LONG CAN YOU KEEP UP A LIE?
6. CATS CRADLE!
7. 10 WAYS ( TO LOSE A CROWN )
8. H.B.W
9. EXHAUST THE TOPIC
10. LIE DOWN..