It’s Friday afternoon. I’m on the patio. The weather is just right. A G&T is close at hand. The weekend looms. What more could anyone want? Well, how about a slate of the latest and greatest videos from Canadian artists of all styles and stripes? Done and done. Bottoms up:
Cut Cult | Dinosaur
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Nova Scotia’s Cut Cult share their newest single Dinosaur — a grimy, groove-laden track driven by a monstrous baritone guitar hook and an experimental spirit that’s equal parts N.E.R.D. and noise-punk. Anchored in raw live energy and a loose, unconventional vocal take, Dinosaur distills the chaotic charm of a rehearsal tape into something big, heavy, and undeniably fun. Cut Cult is the latest boundary-pushing project from Brian Borcherdt — he of Holy Fuck, Dusted and more. Reuniting with original Holy Fuck drummer Loel Campbell (Wintersleep, Broken Social Scene, Billy Talent) and longtime collaborator Matt McQuaid, the trio explore sonic ideas unbound by the limits of past projects. Rounding out the group is Mairi Chaimbeul, contributing psychedelic harp and synth textures. Written and recorded in a rural cottage, Dinosaur emerged during late-night jam sessions, home-cooked meals, and full-band hangs. With its head-nodding 808 pulse and bassy swagger, the song quickly became a band favourite though it lacked a final vocal take. That changed when Borcherdt unearthed a scrappy rehearsal recording and laid it over the session. The timing worked thanks to the shared BPM and the spirit was just right.”
Dust Cwaine | Little Plans
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Vancouver drag performer and indie pop-rock musician Dust Cwaine returns with their electric single and video Little Plans. Produced by Josh Eastman (Kylie V, Turunesh), Little Plans is the lead single from Dust’s forthcoming album Twin Lakes, set for release later this year. Emotionally charged and buzzing with energy, the driving synth-rock track channels the all-encompassing feeling of a new romantic connection. “Little Plans is a T4T love story that celebrates the joy of trans love,” said Dust. “I wrote it in my living room with my friend Charlie Kerr. I was excited about the new person I was seeing, and this potential for transformation and magic seemed to be all around me. I told him I was so in love that every time I saw this person, I refused to wash my hands after they left so the scent would linger. That excitement of new love, and that particular power that T4T love brings, can take the everyday minutiae of your life and transform it into something you would have never thought was possible.”
Georgia Harmer | Eye Of The Storm
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Georgia Harmer’s sophomore album Eye Of The Storm is an empathetic exchange between past and future selves, and a deep breath of life into the veins of relationships over time. Where Harmer’s 2022 debut Stay In Touch chronicled introspection and growth, the heart of Eye Of The Storm lies in the deeper matter of self-realization and understanding. It seeks to answer questions of what to carry, what to leave behind, and what to follow forward. Soft and intimate, the just-released title track traces the toll of emotional labour — the quiet weight of holding space for someone else’s pain. In pure tones, Georgia’s unforgettable voice leads this melodic exercise in catharsis, with the gentle cacophony of her band subsuming the toil within. “Eye Of The Storm is about the feeling of carrying the weight of someone else’s well-being on my shoulders,” says Harmer. “It’s about the feeling of responsibility and helplessness towards the problem of someone else’s sadness. It’s about emotional labour and my default willingness to take on the feelings of people around me, whether it even helps them or not. And how the weight of that can hold me back from my own life.”
Strange Plants | Hot Tonight
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Strange Plants channel sweltering summer nights and psychedelic heartbreak on Hot Tonight, the shimmering, dancefloor-ready focus track from their self-titled debut album. From tales of love and loss to meditations on modern life and mortality, Strange Plants (produced by Robbie Crowell, who’s worked with the likes of Sturgill Simpson and Deer Tick) is a genre-blurring collection of 12 songs with a strong sense of identity and a deep commitment to storytelling. Whether channeling MGMT, Jack White or Supertramp, the Halifax band’s vision is clear: Create music that feels good, hits hard, and sticks around. Written in the aftermath of a brutal breakup and tracked in the sticky heat of a Nashville studio, Hot Tonight is an uptempo psych-pop gem soaked in disco shimmer and gritty rock edge. With its retro groove, warped textures, and key-changing finale, the track balances emotional weight with cathartic energy — equal parts pain and redemption. Or as the band call it: “A breakup song you can dance to.” “Right after the breakup, I was lying in bed at the peak of summer, just hot and bothered,” shares songwriter Matt Brannon. “No AC, no peace of mind. That’s where the title came from. I just kept staring at the ceiling.”
Vivek Shraya | When I’m Overcome
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “When I’m overcome with feeling / I have to break free from words and just sing.” An inveterate writer, Vivek Shraya knows that fewer words can carry more weight. These first lines of her new album New Models serve as both a thesis to the transcendent sonic experience to come, as well as an invitation to leave the burden of self-assuredness at the door. Don’t overthink; just listen. Just feel. Set for release on Oct. 9, New Models is “me grappling with the state of the world over the past four years and eventually realizing that language, particularly English, had become so contorted and weaponized that the only way I could grieve, rage, and find comfort was to let go of it,” says Shraya. “How do you express the horror and helplessness of witnessing progress being rapidly undone — in words — when all you want to do is scream or cry?” When I’m Overcome began as wordless vocalizations sung through a Vocoder, which “pushed me in a whole new direction because of how it allowed my voice to expand, multiply and take up space — like a different kind of scream or cry,” says Shraya. “When I’m Overcome was the first song I built through these explorations and became a blueprint for the songwriting on the rest of the album.”
Purity Ring | Many Lives + Part II
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Trailblazing electronic pop duo Purity Ring release boundary-pushing experimental single Many Lives alongside the accompanying track Part II, a grounding moment of stillness woven around classical guitar from mj and Corin. Many Lives opens to an choral layers — reminiscent of Kenji Kawai’s Ghost In The Shell soundtrack — woven into holographic digital keyboards, high-tempo breakbeats, and a flowing current of vocals threaded with haunted vocoders, evoking the sense of an epic journey through a distant memory. The lyrics ‘house of a dream, walk into me / leave me behind, within between below’ captures the bittersweet feeling of being left behind while evoking a dreamlike state of contentment. Part II offers a moment of stillness centered on classical guitar, signaling a peaceful reconciliation of what’s to come. Purity Ring say: “In a lot of ways, Many Lives and Part II is the epicenter of things we’ve been working on recently. It’s like the sun we’ve been orbiting around for the past few years. It feels pitch black and impossible, but also has in it all the things we can make out of that. We’re just really excited about making music at this point in our career and we felt a kind of vastness and possibility when making this.”
Forester | Daredevil Youth
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Edmonton punks Forester channel late-night longing and the raw edge of memory in their latest single Daredevil Youth. Fueled by adrenaline, angst and aching nostalgia, the track is a shout-along anthem to the reckless abandon of being young, alive, and utterly unbreakable. Honest and unpolished, Daredevil Youth doesn’t try to dress youth up in sentimentality — it drags it through the mud, slaps on a crooked grin, and raises a glass to everything that shaped us, scarred us, and made it all worth it. “This one is quite literal,” says pianist Keenan Gregory. “It’s an anthem to our younger years, and being wild and free. The time we’ve spent playing music together has left its mark on each of us — it’s been formative.”
Sourwood | Wrong Carolina
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Following their debut On the Road, Waterloo’s progressive bluegrass collective Sourwood return with Wrong Carolina, a rhythmically complex and narratively playful second single that blurs the lines between heartbreak and highway maps. The track explores the chaos of mistaken direction — both geographically and emotionally — fueled by one of the band’s most memorable musical arrangements to date. “It started with this story (that bandmate Liam Lewis) told me,” says frontman Lucas Last, recalling a tour mix-up where Liam’s band mistakenly arrived at a South Carolina venue — only to find out they were booked at a bar of the same name in North Carolina. “He was also going through a rough patch with someone named Caroline, so I just mashed those together: wrong place, wrong time, wrong person.” Wrong Carolina plays with the ambiguity of place and person, letting the title line hit with layered meaning. “We wanted the lyric to feel deliberately unclear — ‘I was in the wrong, Carolina’ vs. ‘I was literally in the wrong Carolina,'” Lucas explains. “It’s simple, but the ambiguity is where the real emotional weight is.”
Galamba | Sea Shack
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Montreal guitarist/bassist and composer Galamba unveils his vibrant new single Sea Shack, a groove-rich instrumental that dances between Afro-Brazilian tradition and genre-blurring innovation. Driven by joyful interplay between vocals, guitar, and percussion, Sea Shack pulses with warmth and movement from the very first beat. The song draws its roots from Ijexá, an Afro-Brazilian rhythm not often heard in 3/4 time. The choice to use this odd meter, along with funky rhythmic hits inspired by Fela Kuti and a wah-soaked guitar solo, highlights Galamba‘s commitment to honouring tradition while reimagining it through a modern, genre-defying lens. Inspired by a reunion of friends at the festive Gaspésie hostel that gives the track its name, Sea Shack reflects the spontaneity, connection, and celebration of that moment. Opening with a bold, rhythmic intro, the piece flows into an exuberant exchange of melody and groove before dissolving into an emotive, vocal-like guitar solo that soars above lush harmonic textures. A standout in the song is the collaboration with Camille Bertault-style guest vocalist Bianca Rocha, whose performance brings an unmistakable sense of joy and soul to the recording, and keyboardist Manoel Vieira, whose Wurlitzer adds a playful, Donato-esque flair.”
Con The Artist | Peach
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “South African/Canadian multidisciplinary Con The Artist returns with Peach, a playful, sultry alt-pop anthem that doesn’t take itself too seriously but still hits all the right notes. Combining alternative, indie, and quirky pop sensibilities, Peach is both a summer bop and a mission statement: embrace the weird, lean into joy, and maybe bite a little ass while you’re at it. Originally written for another artist who was unsure about the track’s cheeky theme, Peach stuck in Con’s head like a stubborn hook. Rather than let it fade, he claimed it for himself and in doing so, unlocked a new level of creative freedom. “Because it wasn’t meant for me, I approached it differently,” he says. “I played around more, tried things I wouldn’t normally do, and let it be a little weirder in the production. It felt freeing.” That sense of experimentation pulses through every beat of the track, from its off-kilter production quirks to the undeniably catchy chorus that’s as sweet as it is suggestive. Peach might sound like a joke at first glance, but under the tongue-in-cheek delivery is a deeper lesson about creative liberation and letting go of self-seriousness.”
Ken Yates | Sidewinder
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “I feel like there are songs on this record that I had to live my whole life so far to write,” reflects Ken Yates on his new album Total Cinema. “That’s a cool feeling after doing this for a while — to have songs that still surprise you and feel like you had to earn them.” This atmospheric depth permeates Total Cinema, an album that captures an artist who has found clarity in making “the exact record I wanted to make.” After years of determined evolution and a creative breakthrough with 2022’s Cerulean, Yates has crafted his most immersive and dynamic work to date — a widescreen vision that embraces both the shadows and light of human experience. Yates is now sharing the release-week single and opening track Sidewinder. It’s a “love letter to someone who insists on doing life the hard way, where everything feels like an uphill battle, refusing shortcuts not out of pride, but out of principle,” he says. “It’s for those who are carving their own path and questioning the life that is presented to them as the right way to do things.”
Victoria Staff | I Still Think You Might
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “With a storyteller’s instinct and a singer’s sensitivity, Victoria Staff returns with I Still Think You Might, a coy and frustrated indie-pop single about a love that refuses to cleanly let go. At once wistful and wounded, the track captures what it’s like to live in the shadow of something unresolved. “Isn’t it always men?” Staff jokes. “I learned in university that since 1960, two-thirds of popular songs are about romantic love, and 75% of those are sad. This is the only time I’ve ever used my neuroscience degree since I got it.” But the track dives deeper than textbook heartbreak. I Still Think You Might explores the emotional mess that lingers when two people move on but still can’t quite forget each other. It’s about the tension of not knowing whether someone will stay gone or show up again, unannounced. “It’s about how sticky relationships are,” says Staff. “The frustration, the silence, and the nerve-wracking idea that someone could choose to break it.”
Ambre Ciel | Pièce No. 8
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “For Ambre Ciel, the composer and singer from Montreal, her debut album Still, There Is The Sea represents a beginning, a first, and she says an imperfect attempt, to create this other world that was living in her mind. “On a personal level, I was searching for silence. I had just finally moved to a quiet apartment in Montreal and for the first time, I had all the time and space to hear silence and create, being solitary and living in the intangible world of possibilities.” The songs and compositions on the album are an attempt to create beauty, offer escapism and to engage with the world in a way that is meaningful and authentic. “Music is mysterious and powerful,” explains Ciel. “You don’t always know how you feel and then just by improvising at the piano there’s a transfer operating and the opaqueness of your emotions translate in a music that can be as emotionally complex and inherently constructive.” Along with the album, Ciel is sharing the cinematic and dreamy Pièce No. 8. Opening with signature delicate piano motif, later accompanied by emotive sweeping strings, this Philip Glass-esque song, blends neo-classical influences to create a contemplative allure.”
