Photo by Michelle Mercado

Romance, especially in our modern age, can be an exhausting endeavor that you really need to want. All of the second-guessing behind someone’s true intentions, the situationships that can unfold, subsequent disappearing acts and ghostings – who has the energy for that? But it doesn’t have to be like that either, and that’s where the idealistic longing to keep trying comes into play. “But Not Kiss”, a new standalone single and the first new music from Faye Webster since 2021′s acclaimed I Know I’m Funny haha, puts the Atlanta songwriter right in the middle of those conflicted feelings. “I want to sleep in your arms, but not kiss / I long for your touch, but don’t miss / Don’t want to regret any of this,” her voices leers over outstretching twang in longing to have it both ways, for self-preservation’s sake. It’s the stammering after thinking those things out loud that keeps the struggle of the emotional mind firmly without a solution, though. Stuck in the middle, Webster gets that it’s nice to have somebody, but sometimes you’re better off being at arm’s length, too.

Faye Webster’s “But Not Kiss” single is available now on Secretly Canadian.