Photo by Monse Muro

In her own words, Thanya Iyer describes “Low Tides” — the lead single from the Montreal experimental songwriter’s third studio effort, TIDE/TIED — as “a story about finding our way through our lowest moments with the quiet strength and hope needed to carry us forward when everything feels impossible.” If there ever were a reason to shout “Preach!” during these tumultuous times, it would be statements of assurance like that. And preach Iyer does, in her own multi-faceted sonic language. Expanding on the earthly, meditative folk terrain of her 2020 breakthrough, KIND, into an expanded universe where the ebbs and flows of life’s waterways meet celestial jazz openings in the cosmos to places better, her creative collaboration with Daniel Gélinas’s untethered drumming alongside all of that inner noise of the head being collected by the syncopated pop arrangements of multi-instrumentalist Pompey makes the listen feel boundless against any negative resistance. “I know I’m scared to take the leap / So I place my faith and jump,” Iyer sings. In this instance, the reward of doing just that sounds like another breakthrough.

Thanya Iyer’s TIDE/TIED will be released April 30th on Topshelf Records.