Review: "Reunion" - Cassidy Waring

Family reunions are a mixed bag. Joyful yet melancholy; painful yet bittersweet; but I think most come with a sense of catharsis after the dust has settled, and the fights have been fought. Once the door closes behind you and you can take a deep breath outside. Cassidy Waring’s “Reunion” is a meditation on family reunions and the complexities that come with it. Soft and upbeat, this track is the perfect representation of letting go of that which has worried you or pulled you down. It’s about all the intersecting feelings that eventually culminate in our healing, in our moving past those emotions that have weighed us down for far too long. And even if those moments of clarity are ephemeral, all that matters is that we don’t feel it at that moment. Perhaps we won’t feel it for longer next time.

I absolutely cannot exaggerate how much I love this song. Sometimes, you hear something that just speaks directly to you in both sound and message, and that’s a beautiful thing. “Reunion” is going to be for anybody who likes that folksy, indie, cathartic sound, and tracks that center around freeing oneself from grief and pain. Everything about this track is a treat, a complete sonic delight. You’ve got layers of gentle percussion and a deep, underlying bassline; a delicate guitar and those amazing vocals of Cassidy’s. But my favourite part of the soundscape is this small moment right before the chorus begins for the last time. At 2:05, there is a piano– just for a moment, a handful of seconds– and I think those twinkling keys really heighten the emotion that comes from the final chorus. I like to imagine it symbolizes that rare, liberating moment the song is talking about– that moment when all the pain has left your body and you know you’re going to be okay. The piano is that moment, that short, brief time that everything in the world is right. The message of “Reunion” is that freedom from grief and pain is possible. In momentary glimpses, we don’t have to be captured in its grasp. The track’s refrain “I don’t feel it” is the perfect way to close out the song, repeating and repeating until it fades into nothing. I just adore how “Reunion” frames joy and catharsis. Our pain might be a journey we walk for our entire lives, but there will always be pockets of safety on the road. We won’t be in danger forever, and we won’t be in pain constantly.

Cassidy Waring is a queer singer-songwriter based in Vancouver, British Columbia. With poignant lyricism, she weaves songs that speak with an uncompromising honesty, raw and vivid in their storytelling. She is a survivor of Complex PTSD, and the vulnerability of her performances are a cornerstone of hers; there, she shares her reflections on things like grief, relationships, and trauma. She debuted in 2019 with her single “Nostalgia”. Her debut album Lonesome Reunion dropped two years later in 2021, produced by Jonathan Anderson, and is an intimate telling of her experience with complex trauma. Her latest album If I Had Only Been Better released in April 2025, with “Reunion” being its eighth track. For fans of Lucy Dacus and Julia Jacklin, Cassidy Waring is going to be a fantastic addition to any and all of your playlists. Give the rest of Cassidy’s discography a listen, and don’t forget to drop her a follow, too!

Written By Alexa Leung

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