Two and a half years after releasing his 2020 album Nothing Is Lost, Luca Fogale returned Friday with his stirring Run Where the Light Calls EP, a project he officially announced just earlier this week.

While the Canadian singer has been keeping fans on their toes with a string of new singles, including last September's "Evergreen," the standout "Worthy of Love," which was Variance's  "Big Obsession" pick when it was released in January, and most recently "Proof," the eight-track release, out now on Amelia Recordings, has been brewing for some time.

Fogale chatted recently with Variance ahead of the EP's release, reflecting on the inspiration and growth since his last project and how both love and faith influenced the new music.

"I feel like I've always had questions about free will and about fate, about destiny and how that plays into our lives," says Fogale, speaking with Variance over Zoom. "About karma and whether things happening for a reason. I feel like I've had enough things happen in my life that I haven't been able to understand, that I don't believe the idea that things happen for a reason. I feel like we sort of roll the dice each time that we interact with something and that's how it works out."

The singer, who acknowledges his song "Worthy of Love" can be reflective of his relationship with his partner or with a friend, says it's also indicative of his faith and how his views have evolved since growing up in the Catholic church.

"Part of my story is a lot about my spirituality, growing up and being a part of the Catholic faith, and then leaving that," he says. "So much of my music is a reflection of the last 10, 12 years, but I find myself using sort of the same size of language that I heard in scriptures. I don't intend on doing it. But many times in writing a love song, it ends up being something that could be interpreted as a religious song, if that makes sense."

He continues: "I think sometimes I struggle lyrically to differentiate between partner, friend, family, God—all these things that I love and that make me feel loved. I do think so much of it has to do with my upbringing."

As for the title, Run Where the Light Calls, Fogale says its a nod to the fact that much of the new music is centered on a "kind of hope in spite of something." He adds: "It's about this idea of leaving nothing behind. There's a line in the title track, 'If there is nothing left inside these walls, let yourself fall. Run where the light calls.' So it's about looking around and recognizing that there's nothing left for me here. So I'm going to try to rise from this situation, rise from this hole where I've been stuck in."

Says Fogale: "And I also understand I'm not the only one. But I know that feeling of hopelessness and like with a lot of things in my own life right now, it's about showing up, showing up for the people in my life who are struggling or who are vulnerable, or being an image of hopefulness in a dark place." ■

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Hear the full EP now.