When you’re this tired at the end of a Tuesday, something’s gone very wrong. But here’s something that went right: The latest collection of fine sounds from all across the country. Please stand for our newest national anthems:
Skydiggers | One Song At A Time
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Toronto’s Skydiggers just released their new EP Bide Your Time. A stellar collection of six new songs it includes the single One Song At A Time, a heartfelt tribute to Dallas Good of The Sadies. “These songs carry a common mood that is somewhere between wistful and contemplative,” Andy Maize explains. “One Song At A Time is a tribute to our dear friend Dallas Good, whose untimely passing was a huge shock. When we were just about to start recording this new album, we really wanted to honour Dallas… a fine fellow and member of the best band in the land.”
Ruby Singh | Into The Clouds + Fairy Creek Lament
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Juno nominees, WCMA winners and the recent recipient of the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Excellence in Music and Art, Ruby Singh shares two new tracks from his upcoming double albums kraKIN and Polyphonic Garden Suite II. Into The Clouds is the second single from the hip hop LP kraKIN. With mushrooms playing 808s and basslines, melodic percussion and rapid hi-hats created out of the rhythm of a Woodpecker, this bouncing track is infused with the natural world. Joining the fray are biosonified indigenous plants: Horsetail on horns, and wild blueberry and hellebore on ambient and staccato synths. Singh and Datura’s lyrics invite us on a pilgrimage to the mountaintop to contemplate our impact on the environment and invite our imaginations to take flight into what could be possible.”
Fucked Up | Show Friends
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Last week, Fucked Up announced a limited, self-released 7” featuring three new songs: Show Friends, Spot the Difference and What the Sun Saw. Show Friends is “a song about the complex relationships people can wind up having with music and the music business,” says frontman Damian Abraham. “It’s a very conditionally loving business, with all sorts of metrics and benchmarks you need to hit to deserve love. The lyrics are me reflecting back on one of the low times in the band and realizing that I’m not really mentally cut out for this vocation. What happens when the thing you have based your life around starts eating you alive? I wanted it to have the feel of a mid-tour fever dream, replete with: anxiety, exhaustion, temporal dysplasia, and the flood of past wrongs and wrongings. I had written the lyrics during the One Day session but couldn’t get it to come together like it sounded in my head. Jonah and I dusted it off and hacked away at it in my basement until it felt right.”
Brkn Love | Crazy
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Canadian rock outfit Brkn Love have released a new cover of Gnarls Barkley’s Grammy-winning hit song Crazy. Still riding high on the strength of their sophomore album Black Box, the quartet recently wrapped up a slate of North American tour dates supporting Steel Panther. BRKN Love frontman Justin Benlolo shares: “When we were on Shiprocked last year, we kept hearing Crazy being played on the airwaves. At some point, somebody said, ‘Hey, maybe we should cover that!’ I thought the idea was…crazy. Shortly after, I returned to my room and heard all of the parts in my head. It made total sense. We’ve been waiting to show everyone that Brkn Love is not just a rock ’n’ roll band; we are capable of doing so much more. This cover is just a little taste of what our new record is going to sound like. We hope we did it justice!”
Fake Shape | Black Bear
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Fake Shape are an experimental band from Hamilton. They sound is a melange of eclectic influences — a little indie rock, some solid jazz flow, and even the odd twang in the vocals. Chester Edington (guitar and vocals) states that “through actively practising collaboration we — David Baldry (keyboard, synthesizer and flugelhorn), Olivia Brown (bass and vocals), and Mackenzie Read (drums) — are able to write better music.” The resulting music works together as a whole, not in one voice or instrument on the surface, but in juicy layers of well mixed and deeply felt meaningful music. Their latest release is Black Bear, one of their favourite songs to play live, so Fake Shape sought to capture that same level of intensity and energy. Temperamental and expansive, they wanted to bring attention to the space in between the lyrics and allow the sound to develop. Baldry’s trumpet solo shines, supported by Brown and Read’s instrumentals, and is further complemented by an undercurrent of super fuzzed feedback which creates an uneasy kind of crazed feeling.”
Heidi Vincent | Dear ADHD
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Singer-songwriter and guitarist Heidi Vincent wrote this song for people like her who struggle with ADHD and for the world. Her hope is to inspire connection, compassion and cognizance of what life with ADHD is like. “I want to tell you we are ok and we’re not alone.” Heidi’s Dear ADHD pop-country anthem stigma of “life-ing” with ADHD. “The amazing thing about art, music, expression is that it connects our hearts, this song is from my heart to yours!”
