“I lay a flowеr once a week for you and me”
If cuffing season is not panning out how you had hoped, here is a song to bring you some comfort — enter Saya Gray’s latest single H.B.W (an acronym of the chorus lyric “Heartbreak Wake”). Following the release of the country-accented “SHELL ( OF A MAN )” last month, this single carries the promise of a debut album. In H.B.W, Saya Gray finds herself in a fever-dream-like state, as her vocals carry the lyrics with gentle grace underpinned by a resonant, trembling bassline. Confronting feelings of grief and the loss of control, her confessional lyrics lay bare her vulnerability and strength.
The lyrics speak to the fleeting nature of existence, where time becomes both an abstraction and a force beyond control. “My life flies over my head sometimes” along with “Are you more lonely than last year?” conjure an image of detachment, unable to seize its swift and unrelenting motion. These lines evoke a sense of fragile self-awareness, much like the interplay of mechanical precision and delicate organic elements in the accompanying visualiser.
A soft monochrome world folds into itself in this scene. On the left, a fragile assemblage of sheer fabric lace and feathers, lay like a whispered secret, balancing precariously on a spindly mechanism, as if caught mid-flight or mid-thought. On the right, Saya leans, weary yet graceful, hands heavy with metallic rings and bracelets. The video’s contemplative nature is underscored by the hypnotic, cyclical motions of the machine, which captivated us with its delicate interplay of contrasts—an unexpected harmony of the industrial and the ethereal.
Across her three previous EPs—“19 MASTERS”, “QWERTY I” and “QWERTY II”—she’s introduced the world to a sound that’s as vivid as it is vulnerable. Now we can’t wait to discover what her debut album, set to be released on February 21 2025, holds, as her musical textures reveal themselves more intricately with each listen.
Images courtesy of the artist
Words by Veronica Tlapanco Szabó
