• News

• All

Aug 01, 2023 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Shervin Lainez

Canadian folk singer/songwriter Taylor Ashton’s new album, Stranger To The Feeling, came together on the road, over the course of a 4,000 mile cross-country roadtrip. The record is a map from coast to coast, traced via a series of field recordings and novel locales, and featuring old and new collaborators including Rachael Price of Lake Street Dive, Buck Meek of Big Thief, Theo Katzman of Vulfpeck, and others. The album is out later this month, and ahead of the release Ashton has already shared a pair of new singles, “Strong Hands” and “Honey.” He’s back today with another new track from the album, “Beauty Sleep,” premiering with Under the Radar.

Much of the album acts as a reflection of physical space, whether recorded in a Brooklyn park, a trailer in Wyoming, or in the desert of Joshua Tree. “Beauty Sleep” is no exception. Ashton wrote it with Courtney Hartman, who he previously worked with on their 2018 collaborative album, Been On Your Side. They recorded the track at Hartman’s house in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, playing together in her living room while it was in the midst of a gut renovation. The resulting track captures the pair’s effortless chemistry and winsome charm, encapsulating the gentle ease of settling in with a longtime friend. Lyrically, the track reflects on sleepless, anxious nights, but Ashton and Hartman lighten the weighty lyrical matter with breezy percussion, bright guitar lines, and sun-lit harmonies. It feels lithe and playful in the way that good company always brightens a dark day or restless night.

Ashton says of the track, “I gave my producer Jacob Blumberg a folder with about 200 songs in it before we made this album, and ‘Beauty Sleep’ was one of his favorites. I was a little shy about it being too “fun” and not “cool” enough, but I followed his instinct and it has become one of my favorite songs on the album and one of my favorites to play live, thanks to Jacob picking it out of the bunch.

I wrote the song during a bout of insomnia a couple years ago. Now that I have a three-and-a-half-month-old baby, I can see now that I did not yet know the true meaning of that word. I still love making my band sing, ‘Everybody dies!’ Not to be morbid—more like glad to be alive.”

Check out the song below. Stranger To The Feeling is out everywhere on August 18th via Signature Sounds Recordings.