Jason Sinay has long been known for his collaborations with rock legends like Keith Richards, Neil Young, and his work with the Dirty Knobs. Now, Sinay is stepping into the solo spotlight with a powerful new project. 

His latest single “It Was You” is a poignant track that marks a significant moment in Sinay’s music career. 

Written over many years, starting when Sinay was just 21, the song is a deeply personal narrative about love and heartbreak. Inspired by a friend’s broken engagement over what Sinay perceived as a trivial matter, the song captures a broader, timeless view of romance. 

With influences from Bob Dylan and Neil Young’s Crazy Horse, “It Was You” blends classic Americana with Sinay’s unique voice, delivering raw emotional vocals through its introspective lyrics and evocative melodies.

Today, we speak to Jason Sinay to find out more about the creative process behind the music video for “It Was You,” directed by the visionary George Mays. The video is designed not only to highlight Sinay’s transition to a solo artist but also to visually represent the song’s emotional and personal themes.

Featuring striking imagery of Los Angeles and dream-like visual effects, the video mirrors Sinay’s reflections on his past and his artistic growth:

Tell us the story of this song?

I have been writing “It Was You,” since I was 21.

This friend of mine was engaged to this gorgeous, amazing girl … and they called off their wedding over some bull ___. I couldn’t understand it, so I had to write a song about it.

“It Was You” isn’t about this isolated incoupling, though; the Dylan and Crazy horse-flavored track encapsulates Sinay’s long view of romance.

Why did you choose to visualize it specifically in this way?

In collaborating with visionary music video director George Mays (My Morning Jacket, Amos Lee, The Dirty Knobs) — our priority when making the video for “It Was You” was first to establish myself as a solo artist and contemporary song writer. 

For years I have played with the best of the best as a guitar player and session musician.

With “It Was You” we really wanted to make a statement that looked and sounded authentically Jason, the song writer.

Our second goal was to craft a performance to deliver the song with an ice cold confidence, both in the vocal and guitar parts. 

We rehearsed the vocal so that I am looking direct to camera eye line, allowing the audience to feel the power of the lyrics, and the guitar parts we rehearsed to allow me to feel free to express the music visually.

What inspired this video (visuals, storyline, etc.)? 

We decided that, sub-textually, the Hollywood Hills would represent an objective view of my life as someone who grew up in Los Angeles, and the street shots with the car would represent the darker subjective view of my subconscious mind. 

I have collected a life time of memories growing up in Los Angeles and the lyrics could echo many people and places that I knew intimately while growing up in these exact neighborhoods.

We chose hilltops that look out over places where I have lived, and deliberately drove by iconic locations form the past in my Mustang. 

The visual effects in the video we created in camera by placing prisms and diopters in front of the lens. Our intention here was to create a dream like visual motif one often experiences when remembering the past. 

What was the process of making this video?

We spent several days discussing our intentions for the video, one day rehearsing, one day scouting, then a day improvising the video by letting ourselves be free to experiment with my performance.

I explored the edge of my comfort zone in this performance by tapping in to the emotion behind the lyrics, which brought out a powerful rendering of the song. 

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As Jason Sinay steps into his own spotlight, “It Was You” stands out for his journey to solo artist. With The Mountain on the horizon, this single not only shows his refined songwriting but also sets the stage for what promises to be a much anticipated album.

The collaboration with George Mays has not only brought Sinay’s song to life but also has solidified his place in the contemporary music landscape.

Keep up to date with Jason Sinay on his Website. 

Stream music on Spotify and YouTube.

After a 10 year vanishing act, JUNO-nominated roots rockers Cuff The Duke‘s comeback album, Breaking Dawn (out September 6th), reflects frontman Wayne Petti‘s process of coming to terms with his mental health, capturing the various stages of his journey. The musical interludes throughout the record serve as a representation of the ever-present anxiety that Petti has learned to navigate. At the same time, the songs themselves offer a sense of relief and catharsis.

On the record’s nostalgic new single, “Leaving It All Behind,” Petti comes to terms with his decision to put the band on hiatus, which meant abruptly not playing music anymore and how that left him scrambling to figure out his next move.

Recorded over two years, Breaking Dawn showcases the band’s growth and maturity, both as musicians and as individuals. The collaborative effort of Petti and his talented bandmates (Paul Lowman, Andrew Johnson, François Turenne, and Thom Hammerton) has resulted in a work that is deeply personal but distinctly Cuff The Duke.

1. Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically? 

The song is about one chapter in life ending and another one beginning. Not being sure about the new direction and mourning the ending of the previous chapter. It felt like it would be a good song for a video because to me it felt like a driving song. 

2.What was the inspiration behind this video (visuals, storyline, etc.)? 

The video is quite on the chin. A visual representation of taking off and “leaving it all behind.”

3.What was the process of making this video?

My good friend Nick Hind got up at the break of dawn to shoot the video. We attached a camera to the back of his motorcycle and he started driving. We changed the colouring of the video to add a little depth to the visual. 

One minute, St. John’s singer-songwriter Dave Whitty is cracking his audience up with tales of misadventures with friends, and the next he’s conjuring profound feelings of nostalgia or pain with stories of love, friendship, and the things that make Newfoundland special. 

With over 15 years of experience playing live shows and three solo albums released since 2012, Dave has molded a one-of-a-kind vibe. His songwriting combines a distinctly East Coast sound with modern themes that resonate and his guitar style is self-taught, using a mixture of strumming, flat-picking and fingerpicking which is immediately recognizable as his own.

Following on the heels of “Ducks in a Row,” Dave is now sharing the second single from his upcoming fourth album, Long Way to Go (due out this September 2024). “Where I Belong” was loosely written with his grandparents in mind and for anyone who’s had to leave to go away for work. Being from the most easterly point in North America, Dave’s known of many people who have to travel far away to work. It’s not easy to always leave your loved ones, so this song is about that feeling of wanting to get back to your home… or where you belong. 

I wrote this song very quickly one day while exploring different guitar tunings. There’s a guitar track in the tuning of CGDGGD and another in standard tuning. This recording also features some incredible Canadian artists. Joshua Van Tassel (percussion), Kendel Carson (fiddle), Todd Lumley (piano/organ), and Chad Murphy (electric guitar). – Dave Whitty

Growing up is a funny thing. The dream pop duo known as Jackie and her brother’s new song, “Just the Rain,” is about a blissful moment in time. You can remember the smell, the sounds, the sights. You took the risk, you lived the adventure and now it’s time to drive home. And during that drive, there’s nothing left to do but to be. Your heart, head and spirit are in the same place…all at once. With that you can let your senses play with that simple moment that will soon become a beautiful memory. A memory you only get to revisit properly if you were fully present in it. 

Some of the lyrics are from a memory I have of my drive across Canada last year. We were driving along the Icefields Parkway in the shadow of these giant beautiful mountains and we could see sunshine all day, but behind us there were dark clouds following and finally when we stopped to rest, the rain took over and we knew it was time to go home. We were content with all the amazing sights and it was time to just reflect back on all the awesome moments we’d had. 

– Jackie Andrade

Luke MacDonald is chasing luma. A multi-hyphenate project defined by introspection, chasing luma explores some of life’s most challenging yet fulfilling themes via beat-driven alternative pop. Balancing the energy of modern electronic music with the wistful nostalgia of contemporary indie music, chasing luma evokes emotion in equal parts through both story-telling and sonic excellence. At once deeply personal and universal to boot, chasing luma makes sincere music that prompts us to seek our own truth.

Luke has always been really into the 2000’s era of pop – born in 1998, his earliest musical memories come from that time. As he was finishing up his new single, “nervous,” he realized how much of the song’s DNA felt like the music from that time, but brought into the modern era of sonics – “Teenage Dirtbag” by Wheatus came to mind when thinking of 

I never like to dive too deep into the meanings of my songs, because I think it’s really beautiful to be able to assign whatever meaning feels appropriate to yourself as the listener. Generally, this song can kind of be viewed as revisiting old vices or situations and getting in your own way by indulging in things that don’t serve you anymore, even if you’re self aware about it being wrong for you. – chasing luma