Alberta-born Métis singer-songwriter Cynthia Hamar is no stranger to the Canadian music scene. With three studio albums under her belt and many kilometers on the road - including a tour across Canada by train (through VIA Rail’s on Board program) - Hamar can execute timeless songs that stand up with the sound of Buffy Sainte-Marie, Tom Waits, and Feist.
With her much anticipated album Joint & Marrow on the way, Hamar shares a new single "Light A Fire" (out August 26, 2022 via Neon Moon Records). The track combines a country groove that switches into a reggae feel under the chorus's sunny refrain "Light a fire, light a fire - inside these bones, inside these bones" Hamar explains her thought process behind the song; "I wrote this feeling extremely burnt out struggling with ambition. I was thinking how a tiny spark can set a whole forest on fire and I wrote the melody attempting to kindle some fresh creative joy inside me.”
Produced by Paul Johnston, and featuring her son Zadok Hamar along with acclaimed Alberta session musicians Chris Andrews, Jamie Cooper, Paul Johnston and Toronto’s Joel Schwartz, “Light A Fire” didn’t initially come together easily in the studio; “This song almost didn’t make it on the album. I was struggling to communicate my vision for the tune and I was close to pulling it feeling deeply exhausted." explains Hamar, "Sunday evening after successfully capturing my main choices Paul cheerfully says lets do “that” one. I knew what he meant; my crazy one that was all feel. The guys were like, “ let's just have fun and we’ll follow you”. We ended up setting up the studio so we were all separate but they could all see me and just let it fly. It ended up being one of my favorites and I’m so thankful I pushed through and allowed that spark to fire up in me again. The theme of the tune was truly manifested in the recording of it.”
https://www.cynthiahamar.com/
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LYRICS
Quiet my mind
let me breathe for a time
I need to get away
I cannot think clear with all the noise in my ears
oh there's colors striving for attention
What was that you said
how’d you raise the dead
I need a bit of reviving
Light a fire light a fire
Inside these bones
won’t you light a fire
It’s been a long long and lonely winter
and I’m so cold
Light a fire light a fire
inside these bones inside these bones
Light a fire light a fire
inside these bones inside these bones
Light a fire light a fire
inside these bones inside these bones
Light a fire light a fire
inside these bones inside these bones
Ooo
Don’t put out the blaze
I need to contemplate
Oh it will be pure pure pure purifying
And I’ll ride this wave
and I’ll face another day
Oh it will be pure pure pure purifying
Tune my heart like strings
Until it learns to sing in the winter as when the summer blooms
I say tune my heart like strings
Until it learns to sing in the winter as when the summer blooms
Light a Fire light a fire
Inside these bones won’t you light light a fire
It’s been a long long and lonely winter
and I’m so cold
Light a fire light a fire
inside these bones,inside these bones
Light a fire light a fire
inside these bones inside these bones
Light a fire light a fire
inside these bones inside these bones
Light a fire light a fire
inside these bones inside these bones
I say
Light a fire light a fire
inside these bones inside these bones
Light a fire light a fire
inside these bones inside these bones yeah
Light a fire light a fire
inside these bones inside these bones
Light a fire light a fire
inside these bones inside these bones
Light a fire light a fire
inside these bones inside these bones
Light a fire light a fire
inside these bones inside these bones
Light a fire light a fire
Bones inside these bones
Light a fire light a fire
inside these bones inside these bones
Light a fire light a fire
inside these bones inside these bones
