Photo: Gaelle Leroyer

Edwin Raphael shares brooding new single “Time to Sink” from upcoming EP

Montreal-based singer/songwriter Edwin Raphael has shared his new single “Time to Sink” off his forthcoming five-song EP Staring at Ceilings, due out February 26 via Dine Alone Records.

Speaking about the ballad “Time to Sink,” Raphael says, “…it’s probably one of the darkest but honest songs I’ve written. This came from a place of hopelessness and bitterness at oneself. However the song also reflects an openness to see it for what it is. It’s a void you’ve been avoiding, it’s an answer you always knew but were scared to dive into.”

The track starts on a somber note, with Raphael offering up solemn words over single guitar strums; “I’ve been feeling so out of this place.” Yet more layers of instrumentation are added on — beds of humming keys, driving percussion — slowly shifting the song’s tone to one of self-awareness and appreciation.

“[The song] is really a tipping point of finally looking under the veil that was most obvious,” Raphael says. “In many ways I’m glad I wrote this song, I signify it as a moment in time that’s very important to me. I think there’s a lovely and beautiful weightlessness to that last second you feel before hitting the water in a dive, I think this song encapsulates that split second.”

“Time to Sink” follows the singles “Sea of Things” and “Mild Sanity (feat. Juletta)”. All three are from Staring at Ceilings, which is out on February 26 via Dine Alone Music and produced with Marcus Paquin (Arcade Fire, The National, Local Natives).

You can find Edwin Raphael on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.