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 “Red Skies.” A study in restraint, reverence, and resilience, Silver is a collection of five soul-stirring songs that feel both timeless and startlingly present. With textures as gentle as moonlight and lyrics carved from deep personal renewal, the EP is Hooey’s most intimate and focused work to date.
“Red Skies” opens the project like a quiet meteor streaking across the morning—its lyrics evoke the image of birds lifting before a storm, revealing a truth that’s been waiting to be named: “Always thought that I was scared of dying / turns out I was just afraid to live.” That single line, repeated throughout the song, encapsulates the raw emotional clarity Hooey brings to her craft.
“These songs came out of a healing process,” Hooey shares. “I hope they resonate with those seeking a reminder of their own resilience.”
Listen on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/album/2032s7k2RtaOBaTd21AKNS?si=ELHFwaoqTRmwb6a7ThJaNw&nd=1&dlsi=7d254cc7f9af4865
Rooted in the acoustic landscape of her Vancouver home—and written on the same guitar she’s had since her teens—Hooey’s songs on Silver honour cycles of nature and emotion: growth, rest, release, renewal. The project conjures quiet Northern Ontario nights under the Perseids meteor shower and Georgian Bay’s dusky hues, with every track inviting the listener inward.
Produced with care and intuition by Jeff Zipp, Silver benefits from a sonic palette that’s lush yet uncluttered. Hooey is joined by a tight-knit group of collaborators including Yamil Chain-Haddad (bass), Darryl Havers (organ), Geoff Hicks (drums), and Scott Smith (guitar/pedal steel). Each player offers restraint and warmth, giving space for Hooey’s voice to rise and glow like the full moon she sings of in “Red Skies.”
There’s a natural elegance to her delivery, one that recalls early Sarah Harmer or Gillian Welch, while planting its feet firmly in the present. In “Red Skies,” she sings of the dual pull of light and darkness, of fear of vanishing and choosing to stay: “It was a wild force like a white horse / pulling the stars down to me.” The language is mystical but rooted in real, lived experience.
Born in London, ON and now based in Vancouver, BC, Hooey’s deep Canadian roots hum beneath each melody. Her sense of time and space feels organic, even meditative, offering solace for anyone needing stillness in a noisy world. “Silver isn’t about arrival,” she says. “It’s about the journey back to connection.”
With “Red Skies” now available across all platforms and the full EP arriving with quiet force, Samantha Hooey reintroduces herself not as a newcomer but as a deeply felt presence returning home. The songs don’t shout—but they stay with you long after the last note.
https://samanthahooey.bandcamp.com/album/silver