Canadian-born Laura Roy evokes her coastal memories through the lush neo-soul of her newest EP ‘Tides’.

Now based in London, Laura’s transatlantic move yielded acclaim from BBC Radio 1xtra DJ Jamz Supernova’s Top 5 picks for her ‘Forte’ EP, collaborations with Camila Cabello and Doja Cat, tour with Brit award winner Anne Marie, and an ECMA award from her home province. While these new frontiers and accolades undoubtedly expanded the impact of her artistry, Laura reaches back home to rural Nova Scotia on ‘Tides’. The image of Canada’s east coast tides runs throughout the project, a metaphor Laura intentionally crafts to explore the vulnerability that comes with change and walking away from the familiar. Speaking on the inspiration for ‘Tides’, Laura mused, “it’s a magical thing to look out at the ocean at high tide, and then watch it disappear until it’s as if there was no ocean there to begin with.”

Working with Lianne La Havas and Geo Jordan to flesh out the project, Laura has built polished, varied arrangements from elements of jazz, neo-soul, and the folk of classic 1970s singer-songwriters to support her nuanced vocal. Playing with tone, melody, and cadence, her voice arches and flows from full and warm to a textured whisper. Laura and co-producer Geo Jordan blend her vocal technique with washes of complex harmony for a sleek, sophisticated sound. On album opener and standout ‘Water’, the arrangement contracts to showcase Laura’s strong vocal and expands with orchestral touches of harp and glinting synths, illustrating the expansive feeling of looking out at the ocean. The swirling groove of ‘Don’t Let Me Drown’ and cinematic touches like ‘Houston’s Waves (Interlude)’ round out the atmosphere. On vibrant closer ‘Sunrise’ Laura reflects on what she explains has been a “journey of self discovery,” celebrated by joyful brass and anchored by broad strokes of piano.

In the end, Laura goes back to basics, drawing on nature for another lesson: from the changing of the tides to the movement of the sun, the only constant is impermanence.