Crack open a beer, loosen your tie / belt / laces and exhale: It’s time to wrap up another week with a new crop of great singles and videos from the finest fare Canada has to offer. See you on the flippity:
Skinny Dyck | Out Of Control
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Skinny Dyck — the artistic alias of Western Canadian artist Ryan Dyck — just announced Easygoing, his sophomore LP. It finds him moving a few steps away from the country environs he once inhabited. But fear not twang fans; rather than replacing the sound, he and his collaborators have created their own hybrid. Or as Dyck puts it, “I still like to collect my mail at the old shack off the highway, but I no longer want to live there exclusively.” Recorded in basements and ad-hoc environments by Skinny and co-producer Aladean Kheroufi, the album’s diverse textures are well-balanced by twangy guitars and steel alongside less-expected elements like synth hooks and congas. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as Kheroufi applied some of the old-school, minimalist techniques he picked up while interning at Daptone Records years ago. And that sprightly, jazz-inflected lead guitar work comes courtesy of Winnipeg’s Austin Parachoniak, who helped bring a whiff of Merle Haggard’s ’80s band to the mix.”
Nadjiwan | Reservation Road
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The year 2024 marks the 30th anniversary of Nadjiwan, the musical project and alter ego of Marc Meriläinen. During that time, the Toronto singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer has amassed an impressive body of work that reflects his heritage as a member of the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation Cape Croker, along with his love of alt-rock in its various forms. The milestone will be marked this fall with a new album The Mission, with its latest preview being Reservation Road, a country-inflected single featuring a duet between Marc and Thunder Bay Indigenous artist Natasha Fisher. Marc explains, “This song was inspired by the many times we drove down ‘Reserve Road’ on the rez when we were visiting family or attending powwows. I have fond memories of all the numerous birthdays and weddings — and sometimes funerals — that happened there. This road has been travelled by many and has many stories to tell. My song is just one of those stories.”
Craig Robertson | Nest And Hide
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Following the release of New Brunswick By Noon, the first single from his new album Running The Other Way (out Sept. 20), Craig Robertson is sharing Nest And Hide, a beautifully poignant reminiscence of his childhood, containing strong echoes of Gordon Lightfoot. “I wrote Nest And Hide specifically about my mom,” Robertson says. “She was terrified of birds, loved Elvis, Hitchcock movies and magazines. It’s all in the song.” It’s now been a decade since Robertson released his debut solo album, and during that time the Canadian singer-songwriter has made five more recordings that have found him grow into one of the most compelling voices within the roots music community. Robertson’s latest collection is another major step forward — 10 new songs that explore complex personal territory, set against the backdrop of Canada’s vast landscape.”
Leeroy Stagger | Count To Ten (Acoustic)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Victoria alt-country musician Leeroy Stagger has just released his new album 3 AM Revelations. To celebrate, he also released the video for the album’s second single Count To Ten, which was filmed this summer on Hornby Island. But even though he is known for his prolific songwriting, Count To Ten is not a Leeroy Stagger song. “This is Dennis Ellsworth’s song,” says Leeroy. “He wrote it with my tone in mind and when I heard it, I knew I wanted to record it. His version is very different from what I did with it. I feel akin to Dennis’ music because it feels like it lives in my mind as well. I don’t know what this song is about to him, but for me, it’s a meditation in gratitude and an observation on how much beauty exists in the world when you shut off the noise.”
Billie Zizi | Neon Dream
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Edmonton singer-songwriter Billie Zizi is releasing a new song from her dynamic and vulnerable new LP Levitate, due Oct. 25. The tune begins as an innocent sounding lovelorn folk song before the track’s guitars build into an assertive storm of emotion. “I wrote this tune as a bridge for another song,” Billie says. “But my co-producer Austin Parachoniak said that we should make it into its own song and I’m so happy he did. We recorded with no click and it kind of has a rawness and off-the-cuff emotional abandon that I really like. It’s my favourite tune on the record for that reason. I love the simplicity of a single repeating refrain and Austin’s solo is exactly the type of thing I’d love to hear at a late-night festival set. The tune is about the spectre of loss that we all have and the ghost of love that lives in the dreamscape of the mind.”
Kylie Fox | Sequoia
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “New Brunswick singer-songwriter Kylie Fox is happy to be sharing her second album Sequoia. Developed with her band and ECMA-winning producer Daniel Ledwell, Sequoia is deeply rooted in the Canadiana elements that have characterized Fox’s career, while also exploring folk-rock and jazz-pop fusion. The album could be described as ’70s Sesame Street meets Sharon Van Etten. “The 11 songs that make up Sequoia are reflections on gratitude in relation to the women in my life, my environment, my relationships, and myself,” says Fox. The title Sequoia refers to the source of inspiration for the project which struck upon a news story that told of firefighters working throughout the night to prevent a tree from burning in a forest fire. “It resonated with me how severely nature and time have been taken for granted,” concludes Fox. Like Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi, the collection of songs on Sequoia acknowledge moments when something was taken for granted, while also functioning as pieces of gratitude in and of themselves in how they uplift and celebrate love and life.”
The August Arrival | Whisper
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Yukon indie-folk band The August Arrival share their laid-back, ’80s-influenced single Whisper. Led by songwriter and vocalist Sara MacDonald, The August Arrival is a solo project supported by friends, incorporating contributions from an array of musicians who slide in and out of the lineup. Whisper is the second single from their forthcoming album Hillsides. On the surface, the song feels energetic and easygoing, but if you dig further, you’ll find a deeper meaning underneath. “Whisper is a song about witnessing a loved one struggle,” says Sara. “Writing this song was meaningful in many ways. It gave voice to the intense emotions that can surface when someone close to you faces hardship, which allowed me to gain some distance from those feelings. Additionally, the process of writing the song affirmed my commitment to doing everything possible to help that person. Ultimately, through writing Whisper, I came to believe that it was all going to be OK.”
Good Group Thanks For Coming | It’s A Game
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Toronto’s Good Group Thanks For Coming want to take all of the music they love and blend it together into something new. It’s a music of everything, lovingly curated to share with everyone. They make musical sandwiches, music soup, music pizza; all your favourite music simmered in an indie-rock roux and served on a platter from your local dive bar. It’s A Game, the band’s innovative and layered latest single, has simultaneous intentions. An ode to gaming, internet humor and learning to cope, the song is loaded with metaphors that liken life to playing games and even has little games written into itself. Production-wise, It’s A Game utilizes all three singers of the group sharing lead vocal duties. During a writing brainstorm, they thought of ways to make it more interesting than just trading verses leading to the game style composition. Each chorus expands by an extra line that references the verse that immediately came before it.”
Tara Van | Glow
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Toronto pop singer-songwriter Tara Van’s work gives glimpses of her internal world. She is generous in her self-disclosure. As a textbook ADHD oversharer, you can feel her weather report: Sun-soaked, overcast, stormy etc. She lets herself express the mess. Her approach is as gutsy and bold as it is tender and vulnerable. She’s inviting you in. Listen to her diary with care. It’s best enjoyed by an open heart. Her new single Glow embodies the feeling of vibrancy and joy that you feel when you are living as your most authentic and unguarded self. Though the motivational song seems like it might be talking about someone else bringing out that glow in you, the truth of the song is actually that you are bringing out that glow in yourself and admiring how far you have come and how free you feel after dismantling your walls.”
Kim Beggs | Alive And Well In My Dreams
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “For the next preview of her seventh album Beneath Your Skin, Kim Beggs offers Alive And Well In My Dreams, a beautifully heart-wrenching ode to lost loved ones. Beneath Your Skin is due out Sept. 20, and displays Beggs’ talents as never before. Familial history, survival, and the natural world are themes she explores throughout its 13 songs. Each is an interpersonal conversation between Beggs and her continually growing audience, making Beneath Your Skin the most dramatic album of Beggs’ career to date. Having recorded with some of the most intriguing names in Canadian roots music over the course of her career, Beggs travelled to Montreal to record Beneath Your Skin with Howard Bilerman (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Leonard Cohen) at Hotel2Tango studios. It was an overdue reunion for the pair, who worked together at the Banff Centre for the Arts during an inspiring singer-songwriter residency.”
Harley Olivia | You’re Not Ready
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Harley Olivia is a Toronto artist who crafts an energetic blend of rock and pop. Formerly a globe-trotting flight attendant, she swapped her wings for the stage and fully committed to music. Since then, she has launched multiple singles, showcased at Canadian Music Week, been crowned the winner of Jack Daniel’s Supporting Act Competition, and collaborated with Juno-winning producer Siegfried Meier. The way Harley commands the stage with her feisty stage presence has earned her the opportunities to open up for acclaimed artists such as Sumo Cyco, Softcult and Terra Lightfoot. The main theme of her debut EP, Hiding Little Pieces, is overcoming heartbreak and getting yourself out of a dark place. The single You’re Not Ready is an empowering, catchy pop-rocker with influences of harder ’80s edge to convey resolve in the lyrical meaning. The inspiration for the track was realizing a romantic partner was not ready for healthy and stable commitment and opted for games and self servitude instead.”
