I went to see one of my favourite bands last night. Some dumbass in the crowd kept throwing beer at the lead singer, so after the third infraction he put down his guitar, dove off the stage, tussled with the moron, stole his glasses, went back onstage wearing them, gave the loser the finger, tossed away his specs and recommenced rocking. That’s how you deal with that. And here’s how I deal with the best new Canadian music of the past few days: By putting it all together into this mighty roundup. Don’t make me come out there:
Autogramm | WannaBe
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Autogramm, the synth-driven power-poppers from Vancouver, have just announced their latest LP Music That Humans Can Play with the single and video WannaBe. Their first album in two years will be released Nov. 17. Influenced by the likes of The Cars, Go-Go’s, Gary Numan, 20/20 and Devo, Autogramm have delivered an album that will fit in easily into the ’80s section of your record collection, with songs that could be on the soundtrack of Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The video for WannaBe was shot and directed by Jeffry Lee in East Vancouver. The greenscreen video captures the band on superimposed digital static in true ’80s fashion. Drummer/singer The Silo explains, “WannaBe began as a way to say to the most important person in my life that I will stand beside them no matter what their direction, self-opinion, or physical state of being. Upon further reflection, I thought it could apply more broadly to all of our relationships in life: it’s a declaration of love and support to any friend, child, or lover who is going through a change in their self-perception; the idea that gender, occupation, size, skin, are all merely physical manifestations of being and will never matter as much as the person underneath it all.”
Ash Molloy | Viv
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Reminiscent of ’90s alt-icons like Fiona Apple, Ash Molloy is vulnerable, raw, and unfiltered in her approach. A multi-instrumentalist with a degree in neuroscience, she’s full of surprises as she bares it all with her deep-cut takes on sexuality, body shaming and life as a woman. Not fitting the mold in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Ash is an absolute force of an artist, making a name for herself with her unique vocals, cutting lyrics, and sheer tenacity to get her message and music out into the world. The majority of the music for Viv was already written for a woman by that name. Ash had never met her but loved how her name looked so she kept it. Now she has a song and a tattoo on her body named after a woman she only wound up meeting a month ago. It’s a song about losing yourself in the summer and that feeling you get when you’ve drunk a little too much and start looking at people a bit differently.”
Moonriivr | Midnight At The Garden Hotel + The Hypnotist
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Moonriivr are sharing two more tracks from their upcoming debut album Vol 1., set for release on Nov. 8. The first track, Midnight At The Garden Hotel, imagines the last hours on Earth. Living through this era where the morning news, or even the colour of the sky, feels tinged with the whiff of apocalypse, Garden Hotel attempts to take a sober, but hopeful, look at our present state. “The recording of this song was a very special experience,” says Gavin Gardiner. “Camped out at the Robertson family farm north of the city, we turned the three-car garage into an ad hoc recording studio, going so far as to drag a fridge-sized 24-track tape machine along with most of the gear from the All Day Coconut studio… It was a hot July night, the air was thick and the music was flowing. After only a few takes we had what would become the album version. I almost didn’t want to admit we had it because the rush was so strong I wanted to sing it all night.” For the second track, The Hypnotist, Gardiner says “I planted myself firmly in the Lars Kepler universe, and their book of the same name. Here I imagined myself as the famed but damaged detective Joona Linna. I offer up organs and limbs as a token of a flawed love, my heart, my hands, my fingers too. Before long I stepped out of my own body and was looking down on the world, a daunting place to take stock of all the pain and joy your own small existence has cast upon the world.”
Status/Non-Status | Surely Travel
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Next week, Status / Non-Status pack up the van and head out for a run of shows in Quebec and Ontario. In an almost nostalgic nod to the road, the band are sharing the video for Surely Travel, the title track from their most recent LP. “This video is a journey through memories, comprising family videos as well as photographs taken during the last year of touring the album Surely Travel,” says songwriter Adam Sturgeon. “In some ways, it is a diary or scrapbook that has weathered over the passage of time. These films have aged as well as our bodies from all this time on the road. Surely Travel is a heartfelt and nostalgic visual trip that serves this song and the feelings we leave behind in transit, the emotional baggage we carry along with us, and the hope and optimism we seek to find with every new destination we reach.”
Louie Short | Good To Me
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “‘Saccharine or sinister. What does the giver gain?’ Another brilliant and thoughtful quote from Louie Short attached to Good To Me, the Toronto indie songwriter’s second single in 2023. Like Daniel before it, Louie offers up a warm and whimsical record reminiscent of the styles of ’70s icons like James Taylor and Carole King. Louie is the architect and contractor of the music, voyaging solo writing through mix, a modern man of tremendous wit and skill. Still, what does the giver gain?”
Charlie PS | Down To The Devil
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Vancouver rock singer Charlie PS has a sound that can be described as a sonic melting pot. Inspired by everyone from Stevie Nicks and Ann Wilson to Grace Potter and ZZ Ward, Charlie borrows elements of strong vocals and energetic riffs and uses them to create her own blended sound rooted in modern-rock. Prompted by a tendency to consider the worst case scenario, Down To The Devil is the latest single from her upcoming EP, Even If It Kills Me. The main hook, “Take my oh-weary soul, Take me down, down to the devil,” came to her after watching prison shows and noticing a recurring theme of southern influenced soundtracks. The chain sound was captured by continuously dropping an industrial chain on the studio floor until it made just the right sound to use as a sample, in order to call back to the inspiration.”
Jeremy Voltz | Running Away
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Toronto singer-songwriter Jeremy Voltz has unveiled his sophomore album Running Away, a theatrical and hard-hitting exploration of courage, both within ourselves and our relationships. The record is a collaboration with producer and artist Oliver Charles, blending two sonic worlds: Voltz’s indie-soul sound and Charles’ impactful, gritty pop production, interlaced with dark harmonies and virtuosic vocals. “We both wanted to create something exciting and almost beyond us, like a soundtrack for an epic action movie that doesn’t exist yet,” says Voltz. “What we came up with I like to call ‘battle songs for the empathetic.’ Running Away’s title track opens the record, crafting a gentle portrait of a woman that Voltz knew who felt trapped in her life. “We recognized that in each other. It’s all we really had in common,” he explained. “Running away was her fantasy, it kept her going. From her parents, her life, everything. She just had to get out. And I felt that too. I think we all do sometimes.”
Elliott BROOD | Rose City
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “With a familiar 1, 2, 3, 4… Elliott BROOD count in a new album cycle, Town & Country, that explores the people and places that shape our lives, wherever we call home. On Part 1, Town, Elliott BROOD rumble and rock over a map of all the towns and cities that are home to our experiences and imaginations, histories and future plans. In true Elliott BROOD fashion, Town begins with Rose City. While Windsor doesn’t compete with the likes of Asbury Park or Butcher Hollow for the most famous hometown in music history, its bridges and bars have inspired some of the band’s most beloved songs and albums. With its deep late summer porch party and rolling rodeo rhythm, Rose City continues this fascination and tradition. A song is always the fastest way home.”
Bankes Brothers | C’est La Vie
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Victoria four-piece The Bankes Brothers — brothers Nelson and Morgan Bankes on vocals and guitar, lead guitarist Carson Cleaver and drummer Gray Oxley — are readying the release of their debut In Waves EP, a six-track shot of dopamine spilling over with irresistibly catchy melodies, exhilarating vocals, and joyous indie-rock instrumentation. Produced and recorded by indie legend Steve Bays (Hot Hot Heat, Zolas, Mounties), In Waves culminates the band’s wide-ranging influences in a way that defies sonic parallels, yet remains welcomingly familiar. C’est La Vie, the third single to be shared, drew inspiration from artists like Paul Simon, Talking Heads and Little Joy to take on more of a lo-fi character that helps distinguish the song in the collection. The Bankes Brothers approached the lyrics with a more phonetic approach to tell a story that also gets listeners moving.”
Marcus Lowery | Time, Time, Time
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Marcus Lowry is a singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer based in Montreal. Since earning his Bachelor’s degree in jazz performance from the University of Montreal in 2017, Marcus has worked with a wide array of Canadian and international jazz, folk and pop artists, such as Belle Grand Fille, Diane Tell, Alex Le Blanc, Aaron Dolman, Marthe Halvorsen and many more. The title track of Lowry’s debut album, Time, Time, Time, uses evocations of a withering autumn to embody the album’s overarching theme of grappling with the inevitability of change. The song is reminiscent of artists like Nick Drake and Daniel Rossen, and exemplifies Lowry’s unique style of impressionistic folk that cross-pollinates the singer-songwriter tradition with strings, woodwinds, layers of effects and field recordings.”
Malade | Give Up
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Introducing Malade, the gloss-pop project of Montreal-based singer, songwriter and producer Camille Brown. R&B groove meets crafty pop in this playful, maximalist endeavor. Give Up, produced by her longtime friend and engineer Damien Muller, is Malade’s latest single and most earnest girlpop effort. A hot pink earful, the track exudes post-breakup acrimony, which Malade’s vocals express almost as a mockery. Countermelodies shimmer atop a gloating bass and textured drums. “I’m on the other side of a time where I had to let go of some relationships that weren’t serving me,” she reminisces. “The hyperfeminine pop persona that emerged from that pain was almost like a guardian angel, or a shield to me. The next few releases from this project really reflect that sugar coated, lacquered coping.”
Jerry Leger | Slow Night In Nowhere Town
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “On his new album Donlands, internationally acclaimed Toronto singer-songwriter Jerry Leger has teamed up with legendary Canadian producer/engineer Mark Howard (Lucinda Williams, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Neil Young), whose trademark atmospheric sound adds an entirely new dimension to Leger’s approach. Named after the street in Toronto’s east end where it was recorded, in what once was the Donlands Theatre, Donlands presents Leger as he’s never been heard before. Today he Jerry shares the second single from Donlands, Slow Night In Nowhere Town. “To me, this song has a cinematic quality,” he says. “I see bright neon lights and no one around. It has a windshield wiper rhythm, which I think is perfect for the atmosphere of the track.”
The Hood | Run This Hood
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Creating one of this fall’s most anticipated original drama series, Julien Christian Lutz (Director X) unveils the original soundtrack for Robyn Hood, with the release of Run This Hood by The Hood (feat. Tia Bank$, SLM, Bouff). The pulsing track opens the series’ first episode, setting the dark, dramatic tone of the scripted series that premieres Sept. 27. The Hood are a fictional hip-hop group at the centre of the series.”
Tristan Rene | Light Up Garden
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Tristan Rene is a sonic whisperer, a conjurer of ethereal melodies grasped from the collective consciousness, brought forth in a singular voice that’s at once reverent and deeply resonant. His voice is of the world, channeled through his family’s vast origins. Born in Montana to a Jewish West Indian mother and a Mallorcan father, he was raised in Washington D.C. before making his way to Montreal, where he was drawn to the city’s poetic energy and gothic aesthetic. Light Up Garden was born from a guitar melody one summer ago in Mallorca. Tristan was sitting on the terrace of his father’s house, singing and playing guitar without any real intent. Lo and behold, the rest of the song came to him when he was alone again in Montreal. Tristan affirms: “Loneliness is the truth behind my music.”
