Today, celebrated songwriter and guitarist Terra Lightfoot shares a new single, “Cross Border Lovers”, the debut single from her forthcoming album, Healing Power, out October 13, 2023 via Sonic Unyon Records. The single arrives alongside a video co-directed by Lyle Bell and Lightfoot herself.
“This is a song for all the lovers during the pandemic that might not have been able to be together,” Lightfoot explains. “I played a show in Calgary where two separate couples came up to the merch table, one after another, and shared stories of being separated in different countries for months while pandemic restrictions were strict. Both couples used to listen to a specific song of mine to feel connected to each other. Of course, I was touched. And because they came up one after the other, their situations really struck me. I wrote the words “cross border lovers” on the back of my merch settlement sheet that night. At a friend’s cottage a month later, I sat down to write, looked at those words, and the song and melody fell out so quickly I could barely write it.”
Healing Power Lightfoot showcases her considerable clout as a pop songsmith, delivering a dozen stunning tracks that together represent a career high. The album is her third outing with producer Gus van Go, and it is tribute to her creative ambitions and capacity that the collaboration is yet another quantum leap in her artistic development.
“There was a sense of freedom, both personally and creatively, that struck me while I was writing this record,” Lightfoot says. “Once I got back into the studio with Gus, having already made two records with him, there was an undeniable comfort and workflow that we just fell into. We are super-productive together in the studio. I also seem to get my best vocal takes with Gus behind the board. We built this record pretty quickly together with the band on call whenever we needed them.”
The album delivers the peerless pop-rock album that fans have long known that she always had in her. The set captures the crackling chemistry of the core live trio — most of the album finds Lightfoot backed by bassist Elijah Abrams and Blue Rodeo’s Glenn Milchem on drums. This compact and capable team of players reinforces the strengths of Lightfoot’s remarkable material. From hand-clapping head-turner “Cross Border Lovers” through the cinematic ballad “Out Of Time” that closes it, Lightfoot’s artistic range is again on full display, and her musical talents never short of dazzling. A buoyant pop-rock record at its core, Healing Power is a prismatic tour de force from the charismatic rocker.
