While Valentine’s Day weekend often leans into romance, contemporary folk artist Wave Of The Flood offers something more vulnerable with “Afraid To Be Loved.” The quietly devastating new single is the ninth installment in an ambitious run of twelve monthly releases, created in tribute to the storytelling power of the 45rpm single and timed to coincide with artist Lindsay Strachan’s 45th year.
Strachan calls the song her most personal to date. Reflecting on mid-life and modern dating, she wrote it for women who feel unseen in love stories. “I realised how many of my friends were quietly giving up on finding love,” she says. “These wonderful women weren’t being recognised in song. This one is for them. It may not change anything, but to be seen is to be loved.”
Musically, the track is marked by restraint and emotional clarity. For the first time in the series, John McCusker appears on both fiddle and accordion, lending fragile warmth to the arrangement. Produced by Kris Drever of Lau, who also contributes guitar, the recording features John McDonald on double bass and was captured by Garry Boyle at The Slate Room Studio, allowing the lyric to sit front and center.
“Afraid To Be Loved” is available now on all major streaming platforms, continuing a project that honors the immediacy and impact of the single as an art form.