Songs of the Week: May 05 - 11, 2025

“Try a Little Tenderness” by Peter Dreams

Hot off his role in the incredible Ryan Coogler flick Sinners, Peter Dreams has released a cover of the classic “Try a Little Tenderness”.

A follow-up to his debut solo album, Peter Dreams and MOONRIIVR, the song is a perfect fit for the July Talk frontman, with a burst of soul and his distinctive vocals.

You can check out the song below, or pick up his album now, or find him in a couple songs on the Sinners soundtrack! Seriously, the movie (and the music in it) is so good, go see it when it returns to IMAX this weekend.

• Kirk

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“The overpass” by Amy Millan

With her new album out at the end of the month, Amy Millan is sharing one more single off the album with “The overpass”

The song is a gorgeous, contemplative single looking back at Amy’s youth in Toronto. She elaborates: “When I was 22, my first boyfriend’s mom died. It was a shock, it happened fast. The night of her funeral, a group of us went over the Bloor viaduct in Toronto and a couple of us got on the ledge and walked across what could have been a deathly end. There was no protection from falling off and below is a hundred feet directly onto the highway. It was famous for suicides in Toronto until they finally put up protective wiring a few years ago. That night still haunts me with the thought of what an idiot I was. As weird as aging is, being in my 20s was a stupid time. Kissing all my friends to figure out which one was the one. It was all very unruly and I felt mostly lost. Turning 30 was the best thing that ever happened to me. I never believe people when they say “oh the good old days” so my sardonic sarcastic feeling on that notion finally made it into a lyric.”

Watch the video below, Directed by Sara Melvin, and catch Amy when she heads out on tour this fall, including a date here in Vancouver on October 20th a the Fox Cabaret!

• Kirk

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“The Evil That You Know (Let it Go)” by Twin Rains

This is the guitar solo I needed today!

Toronto’s Twin Rains is back with more new music, hot on the heels of the release of their song “Quick Sickness”.

“The Evil That You Know (Let it Go)” was inspired by a storm, says one half of the band Jay Marrow: “This tune started as a wall of sound of guitars and drums that felt like a loud thunderstorm, so the synthy break was created to mimic the calmness of the storm’s eye. It ended up really working and now my favourite moment is when the storm crashes back in for the final chorus.”
“This song—and a lot of our work, actually—examines self-deception,” added singer Christine Stoesser “I don’t think I’ll ever run out of things to say on that subject.”

Let’s hope there’s more where this came from!

• Christine

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“coloured lights” by Yawn

We’re a month out from the debut LP of Yawn, the new project from Julia McDougall, and are getting another taste with the “coloured lights”.

The new single is an upbeat dreamy synth-pop tune, and McDougall says it’s a “party song for existentialists. It’s a song dedicated to the lonely and the weary, for everyone who’s ever wondered if they might always be alone—even in a crowd. In the song we meet some familiar characters at a party; the loud guy joking and telling stories on the balcony with a lit cigarette in his hand, the best friend who knows something is wrong. Ultimately, we realize that some things never really find a resolution - you can be left questioning the same things forever and sometimes there’s nothing else you can do but dance.”

wish i could’ve is out on June 13th and Yawn will be doing a quick jaunt through BC next month, including a show on Jun 21 at Green Auto.

(Also, I am really digging the pixel art for the single!)

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: April 28 - May 04, 2025

“Olive Garden” by PUP

I got so excited when I saw that PUP announced a tour to support their new album Who Will Look After The Dogs?, and then I saw that they’re touring with Snotty Nose Rez Kids and my little brain exploded. That’s going to be a hell of a tour and you can count on me being at one of the shows on November 24th at The Pearl, and 25th at the Commodore (ugh, that’s so far from now!).

The latest track off of the album is “Olive Garden” - yes, about the chain restaurant - and the band even did a release party on the first of May with a whole Olive Garden theme.
About the song itself, lead singer Stefan Babcock says:
“This is a very stupid, but also wonderful song. The band gets all the credit for turning it into something really special. Zack (who plays drums) heard my cute little acoustic guitar demo and decided we should try and make it as heavy as possible. Which is objectively, a very annoying thing to suggest. But you know what, I’m glad I kept my stupid mouth shut, because it works. There’s a real magic in the way these sweet vocal melodies are bludgeoned by a wall of disgusting, grinding, detuned guitars. The whole song is kinda upsetting and uncomfortable but also, catchy and fun. And I don’t care what anyone says, ‘Olive Garden’ rhymes with ‘Grandma in a coffin’ –  listen to this crap and tell me I’m wrong."

• Christine

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“Dreaming” by The Darcys

The Darcys tour with The Blue Stones starts up again this week, and I can’t wait to see them when they play Vancouver on June 6th.

The band also announced a new EP, I Must Be Dreaming, with a few different versions of the track “Dreaming”, and a cover of Dua Lipa’s song “Don’t Start Now” that SLAPS (here’s the Spotify link).

I can’t wait to hear all new new music from their album Rendered Feelings live next month too!

• Christine

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“Take It On” by Georgia Harmer

Last week, Georgia Harmer released her third single of the year with “Take It On”, a slow-burn introspective piece driven by her raw vocals.

Harmer explains the song is “about the way I see myself, and the ways I have assumed others see me. It’s about the emotional labour of taking on conflict around me - and creating it internally - sometimes for the sake of having something to solve, to worry about, and noticing how that habit has weighed me down. This song is me holding a mirror up and being very honest about what I see.”

Hopefully we get news of a new album soon, but until then you can watch the video below, directed, shot, and edited by Nora Rosenthal.

• Kirk

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“eau miroir” by Ambre Ciel

I know there is less than zero chance this song was written & recorded for me, specifically… but everything about the new track from Ambre Ciel — from the haunting vocals to the beautiful piano to the sweeping orchestral arrangement assisted by Owen Pallett — is square in my wheelhouse.

“eau miroir” is the second single from the Montreal singer’s recently announced debut album still, there is the sea, which immediately shot up the list of my most anticipated albums of the year.

Have a listen below, and grab the album still, there is the sea when it’s out on June 6 via Gondwana Records.

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: April 21 - 27, 2025

“Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl”
[Broken Social Scene cover]
by Maggie Rogers and Sylvan Esso

Broken Social Scene’s breakthrough album You Forgot It In People will be celebrated next month with the release of ANTHEMS: A Celebration of Broken Social Scene's You Forgot It In People.

The album is a track-for-track tribute to the iconic record, with each song covered by a different artist, including the likes of Toro y Moi, The Weather Station, serpentwithfeet, and many more! First out of the gate is a synth-pop interpretation of the classic “Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl” by Maggie Rogers and Sylvan Esso!

Rogers says “‘Anthems’ is one of those songs that fundamentally changed my life. There’s something about the lyrical repetition that functions as a sort of mantra within the song and it made me understand at a very early point in my creative life that music could be a form of meditation. Broken Social Scene has long been one of my all-time favorite bands and covering it with my dear friends Nick and Amelia from Sylvan Esso was an absolute joy beam dream.”

Have a listen below, and click here to presave the album and check out the full list of artists!

• Kirk

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“Backstab The Rat Race” by Cancer Bats

I needed something loud to wake me up this morning and Cancer Bats delivered.

The new track, “Backstab The Rat Race”, is a B-side release from their album Psychic Jailbreak and was released as a thank you to fans after their outpouring of support.

On April 21st while the band was touring in the US, they woke up to find their van and trailer were stolen. This included “instruments, customized gear, merchandise, personal items, and even the van’s catalytic converter” (the van was recovered). Their GoFundMe campaign helped keep them on the road and set them back up, as well as some of the companies they’ve worked with over the years.

There’s a special place in hell for people that steal from touring bands, and I really hope they manage to find their sentimental items at least. In the meantime, listen to the track below and if you want to donate click here (anything above what they need will be going to providing quality musical instruments to youth in remote Northern Canadian communities).

• Christine

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“Enough” by Common Holly

The more I hear from Common Holly, the more I am looking forward to the upcoming album, Anything glass.

The latest single, “Enough” is a beautiful (and existential) look at the contrast between light & dark, as Brigitte Naggar explains, “This track represents a spikier part of the record,” offers Brigitte. “It pokes out with sharper edges and a bit of noise. It speaks to the process of imagining that there could be such a thing as 'enough-ness,' and asks us to answer—enough for who? And for what?”

She goes on to add, “This song took a few forms. Was it an indie rock track? I didn’t really want it to be. A little acoustic number? A tiny bit 90’s hip hop? It certainly wanted to be silly and fun. We toiled with how to make it fun, interesting, weird, cool, but also warm? And relatedly, it offered a narrative of self doubt, of ambition, of perfectionism, and of ultimately shrugging it all off.”

Check out the video, and keep an ear out for Anything glass when it’s out on June 13.

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: April 14 - 20, 2025

“Crazy Streets” by Ewan Currie

These are the vibes I needed going into this week!

Frontman for The Sheepdogs, Ewan Currie has announced a solo venture and an upcoming album, Strange Vacation, and has put out the first track “Crazy Streets”.

The mellow vibes of both the track and the visualizer below hit exactly right for me this morning. Currie say the song “came from that feeling of being imposed upon by the city I was living in. Life just felt chaotic. You come home expecting to relax and find some solitude, but for me, that wasn’t achievable. It’s sort of a shout-out to big city living.”

• Christine

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“Cat Guy” by Propagandhi

Propagandhi is back with “Cat Guy”, the second single to their upcoming album At Peace.

The sardonic anthem proves the band is an sharp as ever, with frontman Chris Hannah explaining “From my songwriting perspective, the two things I was thinking of was capturing a little bit of Judas Priest’s Firepower LP as if SNFU’s Chi-Pig was writing the lyrics.”

At Peace is out May 2nd, and check out the feline friendly lyric video for “Cat Guy” below!

• Kirk

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“Take It To The Limit” (Eagles Cover)
by Leif Vollebekk and Angie McMahon

I love a good cover song, and especially so when it is a completely reimagined version of the original, and that is exactly what’s going on with this cover of The Eagles song “Take It To The Limit”.

Leif Vollebekk spontaneously recorded the song with Australian singer-songwriter and musician Angie McMahon during his last trip to Oz and I’m glad they did because it’s beautiful.

• Christine

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“A.ajax” by Peach Pact

Last week, Toronto’s Peach Pact released the lead single off their upcoming debut album, Die Hydrated.

“A.ajax” is a punk banger that confronts “society's fixation on status and identity”.

The song also comes with a rad DIY stop-motion video directed by Peach Pact and animated by claymation artist Adrian Venti! You can watch below, and mark June 13 for the release of Die Hydrated.

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: April 07 - 13, 2025

“Might” by Bells Larsen

Ahead of his upcoming album, Blurring Time, Bells Larsen has released his latest single, “Might”. The song, along with the rest of the album, aligns with the timeline of his transition. The press release goes into detail, elaborating “Larsen intentionally recorded his previous “high” voice and instrumentation in 2022, waited for his voice to drop after beginning testosterone, then asked frequent collaborator and longtime friend, Georgia Harmer to write vocal arrangements for his new “low” voice, helping him harmonize with his past self — an intentional, multilingual act of surrendering to change.”

You can pick up the album on April 25th via Royal Mountain Records, however Bells also shared some bad news last week. Just a couple days after releasing “Might”, he cancelled all scheduled US shows, explaining with the following:

Hi everyone - I hope you’re as well as can be.

I have to cancel all of the American shows on my spring tour (Boston, NYC, Beacon, LA, San Fran, Healdsburg, Arcata, and Merced). Refunds will be available at your point of purchase. I received an email on Tuesday from the American Federation of Musicians stating that I am no longer able to apply for a Visa because US Immigration now only recognizes identification that corresponds with one’s assigned sex at birth. To put it super plainly, because I’m trans (and have an M on my passport), I can’t tour in the States. I hesitate to include a “right now” or an “anymore” at the end of my previous sentence, because—in this sociopolitical climate—I truly don’t know which phrasing holds more truth. The irony of this announcement falling exactly two weeks before the release of my album, which is about my transition, is not lost on me.

You can read the full statement on Instagram here.

• Kirk

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“Cut The Brakes” by Dan Mangan

In March Dan Mangan announced his next album Natural Light which is filled with “love songs about a society on the brink of collapse” - sound more and more poignant every day…

His latest track “Cut The Brakes” is the second track off the new record and “attempts a brief history of human evolution,” says Mangan. “We came from plants in the water. We made up stories, built monuments, had a lot of sex, and nobody is driving the bus.”

Excited for more new music and I cannot wait for the Vancouver show (but I suppose I’ll have to!) on October 3rd at the Vogue Theatre - click here for tickets.

• Christine

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“Leave Tonight” by Two Hours Traffic

I can already see myself swaying along to this one at a venue with a beer in my hand - it’s just so Two Hours Traffic.

This quote from lead singer Liam Corcoran gives me a hint at why: “another one of our countless attempts at writing a classic pop song, similar to what we grew up hearing on the radio in the late 80s / early 90s.” The story is of a doomed romance, and it’s easy to see why it fits into that 80s/90s vibe.

The band only has a few Ontario dates right now for a tour, but you’ll see me first in line if they make it out to Vancouver anytime soon.

• Christine

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“Sharpshooter ” by The Halluci Nation

I knew the latest EP from The Halluci Nation was a wrestling themed concept album, so a new single named “Sharpshooter” was not entirely unsurprising.

But what was shocking was guest vocals from The Excellence of Execution himself, Bret “The Hitman” Hart!

Bear Witness explains, “We are so excited for everyone to hear this project. It's been a dream of ours to bring this concept to life since we finished our Suplex EP. Kicking off this EP with a track that features such an Icon like Bret "The Hitman" Hart still doesn't feel real!”

With Tim “2oolman” Hill adding, “Bret is the greatest pro wrestler of all time and we have so many memories watching him over the years, so there is no one better to help us tell our Path of The Baby Face story. He is such a great guy and has been so supportive of this song from start to finish.”

Path of The Baby Face EP is out April 25, and you can check out the video, by ComboBravo, below, which features appearances by Damian Abraham, Mo “Kid Chocolate” Jabri, and Sebastian “The War Chief” Wolfe.

• Kirk

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Songs From The Gang - A Celebration Of Joel Plaskett by Various Artists

In honour of Joel Plaskett’s upcoming 50th birthday — and his 30+ years making music — a whole host of Canadian’s finest created a tribute album… in complete secrecy! Songs From The Gang - A Celebration Of Joel Plaskett is a double album that was released last week and features the likes of Arkells, Sloan, City and Colour, Frank Turner, Jenn Grant, Rose Cousins, Mo Kenney, The Sheepdogs, Alan Doyle, Matt & Jill Barber, Bahamas, and loads more, delivering unique cover of Plaskett classics. And better yet, you can watch his reaction to the surprise on instagram!

It was a tough pick, but on first listen my favourite of the bunch was “Nowhere With You” from Mi’kmaq musician Alan Syliboy & the Thundermakers, who blended Joel’s original lyrics with Mi’kmaq translations!

• Kirk

Christine chiming in here with HER favourite track from the album (which, give that whole thing a listen, because this was hard to pick!). I really love the Arkells cover of “Come On, Teacher” as it goes so well with Max’s voice and the “Drunk Teenagers” one is all kinds of fun…
But the Two Hours Traffic cover of “Deny, Deny, Deny” from Three (which I think is my fav album of Joel’s) was so great - it starting with a can being cracked and the “Let’s freaking do this” just made me laugh.

• Christine

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“Cavale” by Coeur de pirate

Coeur de pirate is back with a brand new single, “Cavale”! The new single is the title track to her upcoming seventh album, and is a soaring indie-pop anthem that will absolutely get stuck in your head for the rest of the day.

Cavale is out some time this fall, and explores “themes of longing, regret, and tangled love - hallmarks of Cœur de pirate’s lyrical world. Set against a driving, euphoric beat, the single channels the spirit of Springsteen, turning escape and return into an exhilarating sonic journey.”

She’s also got a handful of tour dates for later in the year (mostly out east, so fingers crossed for a Vancouver date!) and then a lengthy European tour next year.

• Kirk

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

“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

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“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

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“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

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“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

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“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

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“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: March 24 - 30, 2025

“Make Way For Waves” by Amy Millan

Last week Amy Millan shared another tease of her upcoming solo album with the latest song, “Make Way For Waves”

The beautiful, twitchy song was the first collaboration between Millan and the album’s co-writer/co-producer Jay McCarrol (of Nirvana the Band the Show fame), and Amy says:

“This song has a very special place in my heart. It’s the first song Jay and I collaborated on and was initially titled ‘gentle beginnings.’ It is the song that launched our relationship and the making of this album. The first verse was an old Stars demo sitting in a hard drive cemetery. I never forgot it and my attachment to the sentiment of the verse lyrics. I sent what I had to Jay and told him it needed a chorus and obviously a second verse. A few weeks later, he sent the song back completed and with this punch in the gut chorus that made me fall out of my chair. We were off. Lyrically I was seeking to articulate how difficult patches in life can influence you to blow it all up or throw in the towel. I was clinging to the idea that with some patience and reflection maybe calmer waters eventually return like the cycle of the moon. Mourning time passing is a right of passage, and the forlorn can make a beautiful hook. Trying not to let fear find a home in my heart.”

Amy’s new album I Went To Find You comes out May 30 on Last Gang Records, and you can check out the gorgeous hand-drawn animated video by Gaia Alari below!

• Kirk

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“Get Dumber” by PUP

My favourite part of the video for this song is when the saxophone lights up a mini saxophone weed pipe.

Honestly I’d love to just leave it at that, but I’ll tell you more about PUP’s new single “Get Dumber”.
The track will appear on the band’s upcoming album Who Will Look After The Dogs? which is out in just over a month on May 2nd.

The song features band bud and collaborator Jeff Rosenstock and has a hilarious story behind it that singer Stefan Babcock relates below:
“I wrote ‘Get Dumber’ in Jeff’s basement. I was house sitting for him while he was on tour. I recorded the first demo for it on his guitar using his mics and his computer. Maybe because the ghost of Jeff was in the room with me, I always imagined our voices on this song together, so I was very happy when he agreed to sing on it. 
We recorded the vocals together, in the same room, facing each other. What that means is, we both had to nail it at the same time because we couldn’t really cut between takes. On the first take, he forgot a line in the second verse and said “ahhhhhh, lyrics” instead. I couldn’t finish the take because I was laughing too hard. Anyway, he practiced singing the correct lyrics but then we decided those lyrics kinda sucked and he should just stick to “ahhhh lyrics” because it’s funny and the song is called Get Dumber.”

And, like all PUP videos, this one is worth the watch.

• Christine
  

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“Take It Easy” by Total Fucking Darkness

Speaking of side projects from members of Stars, Total Fucking Darkness dropped their latest single, a thumping rave anthem antithetically called “Take It Easy”.

And you know what, I love everything about this blurb in the press release, so I want to just copy it verbatim:

Written in real-time, “Take It Easy” was born from pure spite. Torquil Campbell (a man who once played a badger in a cartoon) wrote the lyrics while listening to the track for the first time—a feat that continues to baffle even his bandmates, Stephen Ramsay (tall and just on this side of handsome) and Tom McFall (English studio genius and synthesist whose engineering credits include the likes of REM, Bloc Party, Twin Shadow, Regina Spektor). And then, of course, there are the sheep.

Still no word on an album from the trio, but if you’re in Montreal you can attend the inaugural Total Fucking Darkness party on May 29th at Newspeak.

Kirk

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“Listen2me” by Foxwarren

Having new Foxwarren land in my inbox was unexpected and super exciting!

Foxwarren (which is made up of Andy Shauf, Avery Kissick and Darryl Kissick, Dallas Bryson, and Colin Nealis) announced that their new record, 2, will be released on May 30th!

The first track “Listen2me” had be swaying and bobbing along from the first few notes, and warranted an immediate re-listen (I see the irony with the song title).

In addition to the song, you'll really want to see the video produced for it (created by Winston Hacking) as it involves actual miniature sets and stop-motion animation cut outs!

• Christine

Songs of the Week: March 17 - 23, 2025

“Without You” by Aysanabee

Multiple JUNO-winning artist Aysanabee is back with new music and an album announcement!

Edge Of The Earth is set to be released on June 20th and the theme of the album is“situated on the dividing lines drawn by decisions and choices made in critical moments. The songs of this collection, many borne out of conversations with friends, lovers and self, reflect on the emotional crossroads and precipices that catalyze major life changes.”

The first track “Without You” mourns the loss of his granfather, Watin (which was also the name of Aysanabee’s first album") and the accompanying video was filmed on the Naotkamegwanning First Nation - showing off the cold and frozen winter.

His voice is so powerful and cuts right into you, and I cannot wait to hear more from the album to come!

• Christine

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“Little Light” by Georgia Harmer

Last week, Georgia Harmer released her second single of the year with a song for the spring in “Little Light”.

The new tune is a gentle hymn featuring Harmer’s gorgeous voice, and she explains the song “is an homage to a very peaceful place out in the country where I lived for a few months, and a new love taking root. It's a very hopeful song, about being led to inner solace, and feeling like the blinds are being opened to let the light in a little bit more than they'd ever really been. It's a song about tranquility and reverence, for the place I was in, physically and emotionally, and trying to take in the beauty that surrounded me and let it seep inward enough to make me feel like I could be part of it.”

No news on if there’s a album on the way, but here’s hoping for more soon!

• Kirk

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“Disease with No Name” by Matias Roden

Vancouver’s Matias Roden is diving deep into existential dread with his latest single “Disease with No Name”.

Drawing inspiration from a his own struggles with chronic pain and frustration of being dismissed by doctors, and Roden says “I wanted this song to feel both intimate and grand—like you’re sitting alone with your thoughts, but they’re expanding beyond the room, beyond the city, into something huge and uncontainable”

Take a listen with the video — directed by Peter Faint — below!

• Kirk

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“odessa (she-side)” by pssyclwz

I love a good cover song, and what’s even more interesting is a cover from a completely different perspective. Which is what Toronto’s pssyclwz has done with Caribou’s classic “Odessa”, making a haunting “she-side” from a brand new point of view.

She elaborates, “"Odessa" was a song I've always wanted to cover, but I knew it had to be more than just a copy. I tried everything from live instrumental to acapella versions, but it was producer Samuel Kochany's beat that really brought this concept to life. I wanted to honour the original, but also add my own spin. Using my voice to replace some of the instrumental components was ambitious, but we didn't give up on the idea, and I'm really glad we stuck with it.”

Have a listen and watch the lyric video below!

• Kirk