After a long summer vacation, I returned to this record in my inbox, sent over by an artist named To the Tide, who also makes music as Silk Static, based in Vancouver, BC. According to the artist, Sleepless Sunrise is meant to reflect those sweet mornings after a night too exciting to consciously close. Seeing the sun rise on those mornings is probably among the last swells in a series of heart gushing or positively delirious moments. It might have been the euphoria of the rave; or that intuitive bond between friends that bordered on the telepathic, keeping them rapt all night long; or just the buzz and unstoppable flutter of a new crush. But the dawn comes nonetheless, bittersweet as it might be.

Sleepless Sunrise is without doubt a romantic record, from the deeply tender and brittle closer “Flourish,” which is my favorite of the six, to the lumbering optimism of “Cathartic Koto” and traipsing serenity of “Thoughts Unclouded.” But as much as this may be a record primarily concerned with capturing the warmheartedness of a morning following a night of human connection, it could probably equally serve as a comfort for those who’ve been up all night for the opposite reasons. It could be a gentle reminder that even those hypomanic lonely nights anxiously flitting from one distraction to another can end in a nourishing cleanse of light and quiet.

Sleepless Sunrise is out now on bandcamp, or for streaming.

To the Tide – “Flourish” (sc)