Rachael Sage wraps us in a soothing prelude to her upcoming album “Canopy”

The new single from Rachael Sage, “Canopy,” arrives like a deep exhale, warm, welcome, and still needed. Releasing this tender title track from her forthcoming studio album, the alt-folk-pop singer-songwriter provides a respite in sonic shape, a reminder that beauty and peace are never far, even as the world spins into the unknown.

Out in mid-May, “Canopy” is the first offering from a full-length due later this year. If it’s any indication, Sage is working on something intimate but expansive and personal, resonant with more people than just her. The single unwinds with refined instrumentation and Sage’s signature vocal timbre, part velvet, part vulnerability, as she sings of holding on and holding space.

“Canopy” doesn’t grab attention so much as it extends a gentle invitation to the listener from the first few notes. The song is slow to unfurl, with the arrangement painted in dusky keys, tender strings, and a rhythmic pulse that beats like reassurance. It doesn’t tout or boast; it whispers, cradles, and remains. This isn’t so much a song as a refuge.

Most striking is how Sage combines hope with heartache, threading strength into every note. There’s a quiet power in the lyrics, a sort of emotional architecture that allows you to lean in and stay awhile. “Canopy” doesn’t make out that things are easy; it just reassures that they don’t have to be done solo.

The stunning music video accompanying it, equally rich in visual storytelling, complements the song’s themes of shelter and tranquility. Cinematically streamlined, Sage turns in more of a performance than a presence, soft but grounded, gentle but steadfast.

As the first salvo from the yet-to-be-released Canopy album, this is what a lead single should be: it tells us where we are, shakes our souls, and leaves us wanting more. If this is the hug Sage gives us now, we can only imagine the warmth and wisdom that the hug will provide us with over the next hundred years. For everybody craving a little reprieve, a musical exhale, or just a lovely song to get by on, “Canopy” is here, arms outstretched.