Songs of the Week: June 16 - 22, 2025

June 23, 2025 by Christine McAvoy in Song Of The Day, Songs Of The Week

“Babe, We'll Find a Way” by The Dears

It’s been a minute since we’ve heard from The Dears, but what better way to celebrate 30 years as a band than a new single!

“Babe, We'll Find a Way” is a classic, soaring Dears tune, with singer / guitarist Murray Lightburn explaining, “The music came down all at once, strings, guitar – melodies. It was so strong and vivid. It pines for the breakthrough, we know it’s there! It’s so tangible. When that happens, inner strength takes over. There’s a motivation, a reason to get out of bed. You can feel the sun on your face and maybe a little later a smile will take over.”

The band also announced they signed with Next Door Records as well as a spat of tour dates out east, so hopefully we’ll be hearing more from them real soon!

Kirk

“Magic Mountain” by Twin Rains

Toronto’s Twin Rains is back their third single of the year “Magic Mountain”. The name comes from a novel by Thomas Mann that the band’s Christine Stoesser read during the pandemic.
She says: “The Magic Mountain, in my understanding of it, is this intangible place where all the ideas and themes of your life culminate, like the proverbial hill you’d die on. The song’s lyrics were inspired by a charismatic figure in my life who led followers up one mountain—only to turn around and do a complete 180 and lead a following up an opposite path. The song became a meditation on the way our ideas shape not only our own lives but the lives of those around us and ultimately the earth itself.”

Accompanying the song is a black and white video that shot in Sedona of a cloaked figure walking through the rock formations (which I’ve learned from the press release are said to be “energy vortexes” -hmm!). Check it out below!

Christine

“Moose Jaw” by haftu

If you weren’t aware, I’m a chatty person and will talk to strangers and bartenders wherever I go - I always choose the seat at the bar….
Well, I’m in Ontario right now, and I stopped by Halo Brewing with my laptop to do some work, and ended up talking it up with the server and his friend. The server was wearing a band shirt, so naturally I made a mental note to look them up later.

Cut to the next day and I’m set up in the sun on my brother’s patio with my work and throw them on. The mellow sounds of Toronto’s haftu were the perfect soundtrack for my morning cup of tea in the sunshine. I listened through their debut EP CONFETTI (released in December 2024), and their two other singles and wanted more.

The track “Moose Jaw” jumped out to me with the funky opening that melted into a mellow slow jam with dreamy vocals - perfect for the hazy Toronto day around me.
If they ever head to Vancouver, I’ll be there in a hurry.

Christine

“Traded In Your Name” by The Deep Dark Woods

Last week The Deep Dark Woods not only dropped their latest single, but also announced their next full length album!

“Traded In Your Name” is a mesmerising track that frontman Ryan Boldt says was “originally written during the Changing Faces sessions, but it never quite came together the way I wanted. I remembered it during a day of recording for the new album—we ran through it once or twice, and that was it. Evan Cheadle added a beautiful harmony on the chorus—probably my favourite harmony ever recorded on one of my songs.”

You can check out the visualizer below, and mark October 3rd for when The Circle Remains releases on Victory Pool Records!

Kirk

“Quviasukkuvit (If It Makes You Happy)” by Elisapie

In honour of National Indigenous Peoples Day (which was June 21), Inuk singer-songwriter Elisapie released a brand new cover & performance of “Quviasukkuvit (If It Makes You Happy)”, filmed at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Much like the covers off her album Inuktitut, the Sheryl Crow classic was translated to Inuktitut for a gorgeous rendition, which you can watch her perform among works by Inuit artists featured in ᐆᒻᒪᖁᑎᒃ uummaqutik: essence of life, a display of selected pieces from the MMFA’s collection of Inuit art.

Watch the video below, and keep an eye out for Elisapie as she hits the festival circuit this summer, including a stop at the Vancouver Folk Fest.

Kirk

Songs of the Week: March 31 - April 06, 2025

April 07, 2025 by Christine McAvoy in Song Of The Day, Songs Of The Week

“Quick Sickness” by Twin Rains

Toronto’s Twin Rains is back with their first music since their album Laws of the Universe was released back in 2023.

The new single “Quick Sickness” was created while singer Christine Stoesser was sick and isolated with COVID, and felt she was “overdosing on the internet” (we’ve all be there!).

She says: “Spending the whole day online only made me feel sicker and more isolated, so I swore off the internet for the second day of my isolation. That night, I heard the chord progression of the song in my head while I was trying to sleep.”

The song is a dreamy pop song that, unless you listen closely to the lyrics, you might just get swept away with the guitars and beat.

Christine

“Ballad of the Last Payphone” by The New Pornographers

Last month, The New Pornographers surprised everyone by releasing a pair of new singles on a 7” vinyl, through A.C. Newman’s substack, Ballad of a New Pornographer.

Now the band has released the lyric video for one of those songs, “Ballad of the Last Payphone”. The single is a melancholic reflection of the titular payphone, with Newman explaining: “This song was inspired by a Raymond Carver story called “Fat” and tells the story of a person visiting the last payphone in NYC where it currently sits, in the Museum of the City of New York. The narrator doesn't know why they are so fascinated by it, but to us it should be obvious. Obvious to me, at least.”

Check out the video below, animated by Michael Arthur, and head to Newman’s substack where you can become a member & order the vinyl that includes the b-side “Ego Death For Beginners”

Kirk

“Elevator Love Letter” (Stars cover) by Noble Oak

I’ve been excited by the current series of cover songs to celebrate 20 years of Last Gang Records, and none more so than the newest: Noble Oak interpreting the Stars classic “Elevator Love Letter”.

The video includes Patrick Fiore of Noble Oak intercut with pictures and footage from Stars outstanding 25 year career as he delivers a gorgeous version of the song. He notes: “Like so much of the early Last Gang catalogue, the first two Stars records were mainstays in my late high school/early university listening world. I remember first hearing ‘Elevator Love Letter’ in my friend's apartment and instantly being hooked by everything about the song, from the swirling reversed guitar lines to the brutal honesty of Amy and Torquil's words. It brings both me and the teenager in me immense joy to be able to offer up a recreation of this wonderful piece - I'm pretty sure he wouldn't believe it if I told him he'd be doing that one day.”

Other covers of the project include a pair of Metric songs, Maia Friedman’s take on “Love Is A Place” and Dear Boy covering “Combat Baby”; Low Hum’s reinterpretation of “Romantic Rights” by Death From Above 1979; Alice Ivy’s take on MSTRKRFT’s “Easy Love”; Anand Wilder doing the New Pornographer’s “Challengers”, and Cadence Weapon & Dan Only doing “Ungirthed” by Purity Ring.

Kirk

“Ruby” by The Deep Dark Woods

Whoa, this new track (“Ruby”) from The Deep Dark Woods just gave me a flashback to 2011 and their song “The Place I Left Behind”.

Like most everything we get from DDW, it’s a very moody and melancholic, but always has more depth behind it. Lead singer Ryan Boldt says he “wrote it during a strange and difficult time, after the sudden loss of my dear friend and tour manager, Kiko, and just before my daughter was born. It was a mix of heartbreak and anticipation that I will never forget.”

The band’s yet-to-be-announced record should be out in late 2025, and they also released some tour dates, including a stop on October 24th in Vancouver at the Fox Cabaret.

Christine

“help myself” by Yawn

I feel like it’s been a long time since I’ve heard from Julia McDougall, so I was excited to find a brand new song from her new project Yawn in my inbox.

“help myself” is actually the second single released in as many months, and is a wonderful dream-pop jam from the Vancouver singer, which challenges toxic positivity & the pressure to be the “best version” of ourselves.

Julia elaborates “It’s about the various kinds of doubt and darkness that we face, and how the constant noise of social media and mainstream culture dulls our ability to love ourselves. It was inspired by social media ads I was served during the early, frantic days of COVID isolation that were promising me that now was the time to finally ‘get ripped’. It seemed detached from our lived reality that in the middle of a global pandemic, we were being force-fed so-called wellness ads that completely overlooked the psychological and emotional impact we were all facing. The song is about our relationship to ourselves, and how our media consumption habits make it easy to go about our lives without truly connecting to who we are. It’s also about the struggle to find meaning in the mundanity of everyday life – standing in grocery store lines, going to work, going to a work out class, scrolling all the while – and how sometimes it’s impossible to make sense of how the sum of all of these things add up to a life.”

The new single comes with an announcement of Yawn’s debut album, wish i could’ve, which was produced by Jo Hirabayashi (of Jo Passed) and will be available on June 13th!

Kirk

“Aegean Blue” by Common Holly

Last week, Montreal’s Common Holly teased her latest album Anything glass with a brand new single, “Aegean blue”

The gorgeous piano paired with Brigitte Naggar’s ethereal vocals are exactly up my alley, with Naggar explaining, “Aegean blue is a reckoning in meaninglessness and unending pursuit. The words came in a moment of change and of re-evaluating. This song sits squarely in the album’s theme of orienting toward what matters most, doing things differently when they aren’t feeling right.”

Check out the contemplative video below, and mark June 13 for the release of Anything glass!

Kirk

Songs of the Week: April 08 - 14, 2024

April 15, 2024 by Christine McAvoy in Song Of The Day, Songs Of The Week

“The Banks of the Lough Erne” feat. Erin Rae by The Deep Dark Woods

We have another new track from Broadside Ballads Vol. III, the upcoming album from The Deep Dark Woods.

The song “The Banks of the Lough Erne” is their take on an Irish emigration song - which goes by many names: “Rambling Irishman”, “Lough Erne”, “New York Bay”, and “An Irishman From Monaghan”, just to cite a few.

Of the song, frontman Ryan Boldt say he “first heard it by the beautiful Irish singer Dolores Keane and her group De Danann. I thought Erin Rae, one of my favourite current singers going, would do a wonderful job singing the song, making it sound less Irish and more American. Our voices work very well together and I hope we can make more music together in the future.”

Christine

“Exhale” by iskwē | ᐃᐢᑫᐧᐤ

This past Friday, iskwē | ᐃᐢᑫᐧᐤ released her much-anticipated album nīna, and with it dropped a new video for the breathtaking album-closer, “Exhale”.

The whole album is deeply personal & autobiographical, with iskwē sharing about "the song: “I needed to remind myself that I am vibrant, that I hold life in me. I am an artist, a creative, confident and soft. I needed to remind myself that I hold love in my being. It was time I remembered these pieces in me which had been dormant for some time. So now I start again, to rebloom. To be reborn. To look at myself in the mirror and exhale. It’s time for me to breathe out…”

You can check out the video for “Exhale” below — directed by iskwē herself — and pick up the new album nīna in all the usual places!

Kirk

“Pull Yourself Together” by Basement Revolver

Also released this past Friday (it was a busy day for albums!) was the new, deluxe version of Basement Revolver’s sophomore LP, Embody.

Embody (Expanded) features a pair of new songs to go with the original 2022 release, including “Pull Yourself Together”, a dreamy song about songwriter Chrisy Hurn’s experience with really bad panic attacks at parties.

They say, “It makes me sad for baby Chrisy who was afraid that everyone was judging them or thinking negative thoughts towards them or their body. It has taken a lot of work to get to a place where I don’t panic in party-like settings anymore.”

Kirk