“Votive” by The New Pornographers

The New Pornographers are back! The Vancouver icons dropped a brand new single and announced their next album, The Former Site Of.

The new tune “Votive” builds around singers A.C. Newman and Kathryn Calder’s haunting vocals, as the atmospheric track builds to a big finish.

Check out the video, animated by Michael Arthur, below and mark March 27 for the release of The Former Site Of.

Kirk

“Dream Catcher” by Aysanabee

Two-time JUNO award winner Aysanabee has announced that their new album Timelines will be released into the world on March 20th, and new single is out now titled “Dream Catcher”.

The idea of the Timelines EP is that it will feature “stripped-back, reimagined songs drawn from across Aysanabee’s three releases - Watin (2022), Here and Now EP (2023), Edge of the Earth (2025)”.

“Dream Catcher” is from the latest work Edge Of The Earth and is “a sonic journal entry that captures the tension between doubt and determination. On top of guitar, piano, and synth lies Aysanabee’s unmistakably raw vocals, threading together reflections on growth, endurance, and the act of dreaming despite uncertainty”.

I’m excited to hear the project as a whole and which tracks are chosen to be reworked and how they will all flow together!

Christine

“Neon Schoolgirl” by Teagan Johnston

Last week, Teagan Johnston released her latest single with the synth rock power ballad, “Neon Schoolgirl”.

The song features guest vocals from Skye Wallace, and is about the feeling (and eventually overcoming) impostor syndrome, with Teagan sharing, “I first came up with the lyric ‘Neon Schoolgirl’ back in 2016 while watching Lucy Dacus open up for Car Seat Headrest at the Mod Club. Lucy and her band had invited me to the show as we had recently played together, and I was signing to her label at that time…then while watching the Car Seat Headrest set with her band, drenched in the neon stage lights, I felt an overwhelming sense of naivety and the feeling of ‘do I really belong here?’, a sort of imposter syndrome that has plagued me for much of my career. It wasn't just that I was watching the show but they were peers at that moment…and then in that moment I came up with a character for that feeling - a ‘neon schoolgirl,’ shiny and lit by the neon in stage lights but also feeling absolutely clueless and out of place.”

Have a peek at the video below, which was directed by Johnston herself!

Kirk

“Snowblinded” by Bif Naked

Well, the title of this is appropriate right now to every province and territory right now…except us - sorry, Canada!

Bif Naked is coming of a slew sold-out documentary screenings across the country and with it comes a new studio album titled Champion.
The single “Snowblinded”, according to Bif, is “different because it serves as an anthem from my feeling of emotional discontent, snowblinded ultimately is my observation of society numbing themselves. The chorus says you’re so snow blinded!! and I repeat that because I feel people need to wake up!”

I’m hoping that Bif’s documentary gets a wide streaming release (you can view it via Super Channel right now) so you can all check it out (I saw it her in Vancouver), and I cannot wait to hear what shows she has going on in the near future!

Christine

“Dyson” by Common Holly

Montreal 'sincere-core' musician Common Holly gave us the first preview of her upcoming EP this week with the new single “Dyson”.

A song about all the times we have to wait around for things, it starts cheery, but builds in intensity (and anxiety). Brigitte Naggar explains, “Listening back I have the sense that I must have been listening to Jonathan Richman the day I wrote this song. It’s a bit different for me, stylistically and also process-wise. I wrote it in about 5 minutes, sitting by the window, waiting for my Dyson. I was thinking about Beckett and God and the dust in my house, about places where we wait— Montrealers will know all about the SAAQ, our finest purgatory!”

The new EP is called They will draw halos around our heads and you can pick it up on February 27!

Kirk