The only way to end this project: Begin Again.

It's here. Our latest- and last installment.

Damn. Every time I write like this, I'm at a complete loss for words- a rare occurrence for me, as well you know by now. I always feel like things on the internet arrive as if they've manifested spontaneously, but I've been trying to compose this one for weeks.

When I set out to realize this project, I knew exactly as much about making a record as any first-time artist does, which is nothing. I sent an earnest request out into the world - an ask for belief in me, for celebration, for your trust and support. To be seen, heard, believed, and invested in. Like so many messages in bottles, that love and support came back to me, in all manner of contribution.

For the past year, I've tried to return them in kind, in conversation with the sun: I couldn't have anticipated how it would unfold; how the songs would evolve, how the seasons would change me. I couldn't have anticipated the surprises, or the setbacks. I couldn't have anticipated the heavy-lidded late nights turned early mornings troubleshooting upload quality and download codes. I couldn't have imagined the joy of listening to the mastered recordings, brought to life by the most extraordinary artists I know. I couldn't have imagined how much your words of encouragement and excitement about this music could mean to me. Thank you.

I have had my heart broken open so wide this year I've thought all the music I had would spill out and be lost. I haven't always known what to say or do, so I hope you'll forgive those moments of radio silence. It has not always been easy, or timely, or at all what we expected- and still. Still.

This last installment was celebrated live over the Summer Solstice weekend, and released digitally on August 1 ( the midpoint between the Summer Solstice and the Autumnal Equinox). Now it's coming to you with more gratitude and love than I've ever felt in my whole life:

Here's the Final Installment of Brighter Days. It's called Begin Again.

Wade still invites us to seek the light, Keep your Silver Shined invites us to honor our boundaries toward a whole and true love, Sun Station invites us to hope, & love ourselves, from a low place looking up. Begin Again takes the energy and abundance of summer, and encourages us to risk, and ourselves to be vulnerable. Courage comes from the latin cor, meaning 'heart forward.' This last EP is so joyful, it's bursting like a berry on the vine. A true and unapologetic celebration of all the goodness our growing provides, and a recommitment to Aliveness- using all we have to be here, now. This Is It!

Use the download code to purchase it on Bandcamp, and check out the beautiful artwork by Ellen Truong that accompanies it. I'll be announcing a special pre-order for 12" Vinyl, as well as new merch on September 23.

I carry the first line of a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke like a little gem in my pocket: I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world. As we approach the Autumnal Equinox, one year since we started this journey, I notice the ways we've grown and expanded, how this music has stretched and reached across worlds (we're in 75 countries worldwide, holding steady with over 30,000 monthly listeners). We're returning to where we started, changed by what we've said 'yes' to for a year. More capable, more in love with the world, more ourselves than we've ever been.

I can't begin to know what the next cycle looks like for this music, I am learning to let go my expectations to leave as much room for possibilities as I can. It's no small thing to come so far. I am honored and grateful to be on the path with you. I'm saying yes to whatever the next circle brings. To every single person who made this record possible: Thank You. We did it. Long Live the Light.

xoxoxo,
Samantha