If you are the person who created that online-gambling commercial with people talking about how much they enjoy “playing” with themselves, I have a personal favour to ask: Please kill yourself. OK, that’s harsh. How about this? Take a good long look in the mirror, ask yourself if that’s really how you want to spend your precious time on this planet, and then find a new job. That’s a win-win, right? Coincidentally, so are these new videos and singles from Canadian artists of all styles and stripes. Are you ready to play?
Jackie And Her Brother | Just The Rain
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Growing up is a funny thing. Jackie and Mark Andrade make emotional, reflective music from their home studio with a DIY sound and aesthetic. The name, Jackie And Her Brother, is a simple way to describe their dynamic and their shared love for catchy, pop-inspired bands that they listened to across different decades as they grew up. Their new song Just the Rain is about a blissful moment in time. You can remember the smell, the sounds, the sights. You took the risk, you lived the adventure and now it’s time to drive home. And during that drive, there’s nothing left to do but to be. Your heart, head and spirit are in the same place… all at once. With that you can let your senses play with that simple moment that will soon become a beautiful memory. A memory you only get to revisit properly if you were fully present in it. “Some of the lyrics are from a memory I have of my drive across Canada last year,” says Jackie. “We were driving along the Icefields Parkway in the shadow of these giant beautiful mountains and we could see sunshine all day, but behind us there were dark clouds following and finally when we stopped to rest, the rain took over and we knew it was time to go home. We were content with all the amazing sights and it was time to just reflect back on all the awesome moments we’d had.”
Grizzly Coast | Washed
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Grizzly Coast (aka Alannah Kavanagh) has been sharpening her songwriting, growing her loyal following, and tightening her live show in Toronto, supporting acts like Fast Romantics and Begonia. Her music successfully blends dreamy guitar-rock sensibilities with a trademark thoughtful lyricism. Her new single Washed is a powerful rallying cry against indifference and stagnancy, urging listeners to take control of their lives and reject passivity. Born from a spontaneous and collaborative jam with her husband Kyle, the track captures the essence of embracing action. The song’s message is a reminder to confront apathy and take control of your life.”
Quarterback Baby | Cheerleader
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Jamaican-Irish singer-songwriter and producer Quarterback Baby, also known as Quinn Bates, is set to release his album Hypersexual Heartbreak. It’s an electrifying project that explores the intricate relationship between heartache and libido, revealing how these emotions can coexist and conflict. Since his emergence in 2016, Quarterback Baby has shared stages with Empress Of, Daniel Caesar, Rebecca Black and Baby Tate. During the pandemic, he honed his skills in self-production, evolving into a multifaceted performer and studio mogul. With influences spanning R&B, house, dance, and hyperpop, his unique sound features ethereal vocals intertwined with gritty distortion. This new album dives deep into the emotional rollercoaster of a breakup, presenting a playful yet poignant exploration of desire and heartbreak. It’s a celebration all around.”
Thunder Queens | Summertime
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Thunder Queens turn up the seasonal heat with their latest single Summertime. Packed with surfy riffs, high-energy drums, and bass lines fat enough to slice a juicy watermelon, this catchy track is Thunder Queens’ most playful to date. “We wrote this song for fun one March break under our surf band alter-ego The Sea Gals, originally on piano, guitar and bass. We wanted to make a bright danceable song that felt like some of our unforgettable beach day memories with our best friends.” Recorded and mixed by Ian Blurton and mastered by Ryan Dahle, this track is pure punk attitude with a splash of hot weather and triple-scoop cones.”
Sam Weber | Void
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “B.C.’s Sam Weber (now living in L.A.) is continuing his string of single releases leading up to his album Clear + Plain, a meditative collection of intuitive songwriting due Aug. 23. New single Void is a gently rollicking journey that muses on Weber’s time spent in New Mexico. Its stripped-backed instrumentation (glimmers of piano, guitar, and brushed drums) creates space for the great skies of this southern state to appear in our minds’ eye. The laidback nature juxtaposes a story about Weber coming dangerously close to losing his life on the state’s highways. “Driving north on the 25 highway, we were looking at emergency vehicles headed south in the opposite lane. I turned back to our lane and there was a car inside of 100 feet driving toward us on the wrong side of the road. I grabbed the wheel… and ripped it into the passing lane, and we teetered on two wheels and almost rolled the car and died. I think some of that near-mortal energy… made its way out of me in Void.”
Chasing Luma | Nervous
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Luke MacDonald is Chasing Luma. A multi-hyphenate project defined by introspection, he explores some of life’s most challenging yet fulfilling themes via beat-driven alternative pop. Balancing the energy of modern electronic music with the wistful nostalgia of contemporary indie music, his music evokes emotion in equal parts through both story-telling and sonic excellence. Luke has always been really into the 2000s era of pop — born in 1998, his earliest musical memories come from that time. As he was finishing up his new single Nervous, he realized how much of the song’s DNA felt like the music from that time, but brought into the modern era of sonics — Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus comes to mind. “I never like to dive too deep into the meanings of my songs, because I think it’s really beautiful to be able to assign whatever meaning feels appropriate to yourself as the listener,” he says. “Generally, this song can kind of be viewed as revisiting old vices or situations and getting in your own way by indulging in things that don’t serve you anymore, even if you’re self aware about it being wrong for you.”
Dave Whitty | Where I Belong
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “One minute, St. John’s singer-songwriter Dave Whitty is cracking his audience up with tales of misadventures with friends, and the next he’s conjuring profound feelings of nostalgia or pain with stories of love, friendship and the things that make Newfoundland special. With over 15 years of experience playing shows and three albums since 2012, Dave has molded a one-of-a-kind vibe. His songwriting combines a distinctly East Coast sound with modern themes that resonate, and his guitar style is self-taught, using a mixture of strumming, flat-picking and fingerpicking immediately recognizable as his own. Dave is sharing the second single from his upcoming fourth album Long Way To Go (due in September). Where I Belong was loosely written with his grandparents in mind and for anyone who’s had to leave to go away for work. Being from the most easterly point in North America, Dave’s known of many people who have to travel far away to work. It’s not easy to always leave your loved ones, so this song is about that feeling of wanting to get back to your home… or where you belong.”
Kinley | Marrying Me
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “I live in the adorable city of Charlottetown and I hear church bells all the time and this became the inspiration for Marrying Me,” says Kinley. “I started to think about all my friends who got married and all the weddings that I’ve played for and observed a lot of them didn’t work out. It also made me think about myself and how I grew up thinking that of course I would get married and how beautiful it would be but I realized I was only imagining the romance and the fabulous white dress and being surrounded by friends and family. I never imagined the reality of marriage past the glamour. That’s when I came up with the chorus of the song. My reality hasn’t included marriage and it may or may not be in the cards but it is no longer an expectation because my reality is a life filled with love and rich experience.”
