Signed to Lucy Rose’s newly formed independent label, Real Kind Records, Samantha Crain is a singer and songwriter who overcame many obstacles to reclaim her musicality. At one point in Crain’s life, illness and injury meant that she was facing the possibility of never being able to play guitar again, although a hard-won victory against relentless illness has resulted in a new album, titled A Small Death. Thinking about the new song ‘Pastime’, Samantha Crain reflects: “When I wrote the song, I was living a quiet life (without the ability to play  instruments and perform), and spent my time talk-writing poetry into a voice recorder, reading, walking, watching birds. My life now, with travel restrictions and social distancing, has taken on a similar shape of pause. I felt, then, like I was getting to know myself from scratch, peeling off a costume that I was put in as a child and allowing myself, for the first time, to dress myself and fully lean into my curiosities and sensitivities. While many of these themes explore this journey, there’s also notes of universal human experience, such as that giddy and excitable feeling of new romance. It’s also explored visibly in the self-directed video, where graffiti, dance, florals and balloons all represent the audacious stages of budding love. - Hannah Thacker