After announcing her signing to Bonsound last month, folk-pop singer-songwriter Shaina Hayes now releases “New Favorite”, the first single from Kindergarten Heart, her sophomore album due for release on February 23rd, 2024.
In “New Favorite”, Shaina Hayes looks back at the sparkle of new love and attempts to coax this feeling into the present. Driven by a simple, persistent guitar melody, the song’s verses accumulate momentum as the rhythm section swells, giving way to a lush vocal-heavy chorus that makes you feel as though you’ve slipped through the looking glass.
Shaina Hayes uses Kindergarten Heart to explore the concept of purposeful remembering; honoring memories by pulling them forward, often to let them inform the present. As the album’s first single, “New Favorite” serves as a playful introduction to this greater theme.
Kindergarten Heart is her follow-up to to coax a waltz, released independently in 2022, and her first release with Bonsound. 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 all memory, 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.
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 out on February 23rd 2024.
Check out the list below or click here for full details on Shaina Hayes’ upcoming shows.
Tour dates
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
30/03/2024 Québec City, QC – Théâtre Petit Champlain
04/04/2024 Montréal, QC – Le Ministère (album launch show)
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
