Songs of the Week: May 05 - 11, 2025

“Try a Little Tenderness” by Peter Dreams

Hot off his role in the incredible Ryan Coogler flick Sinners, Peter Dreams has released a cover of the classic “Try a Little Tenderness”.

A follow-up to his debut solo album, Peter Dreams and MOONRIIVR, the song is a perfect fit for the July Talk frontman, with a burst of soul and his distinctive vocals.

You can check out the song below, or pick up his album now, or find him in a couple songs on the Sinners soundtrack! Seriously, the movie (and the music in it) is so good, go see it when it returns to IMAX this weekend.

• Kirk

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“The overpass” by Amy Millan

With her new album out at the end of the month, Amy Millan is sharing one more single off the album with “The overpass”

The song is a gorgeous, contemplative single looking back at Amy’s youth in Toronto. She elaborates: “When I was 22, my first boyfriend’s mom died. It was a shock, it happened fast. The night of her funeral, a group of us went over the Bloor viaduct in Toronto and a couple of us got on the ledge and walked across what could have been a deathly end. There was no protection from falling off and below is a hundred feet directly onto the highway. It was famous for suicides in Toronto until they finally put up protective wiring a few years ago. That night still haunts me with the thought of what an idiot I was. As weird as aging is, being in my 20s was a stupid time. Kissing all my friends to figure out which one was the one. It was all very unruly and I felt mostly lost. Turning 30 was the best thing that ever happened to me. I never believe people when they say “oh the good old days” so my sardonic sarcastic feeling on that notion finally made it into a lyric.”

Watch the video below, Directed by Sara Melvin, and catch Amy when she heads out on tour this fall, including a date here in Vancouver on October 20th a the Fox Cabaret!

• Kirk

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“The Evil That You Know (Let it Go)” by Twin Rains

This is the guitar solo I needed today!

Toronto’s Twin Rains is back with more new music, hot on the heels of the release of their song “Quick Sickness”.

“The Evil That You Know (Let it Go)” was inspired by a storm, says one half of the band Jay Marrow: “This tune started as a wall of sound of guitars and drums that felt like a loud thunderstorm, so the synthy break was created to mimic the calmness of the storm’s eye. It ended up really working and now my favourite moment is when the storm crashes back in for the final chorus.”
“This song—and a lot of our work, actually—examines self-deception,” added singer Christine Stoesser “I don’t think I’ll ever run out of things to say on that subject.”

Let’s hope there’s more where this came from!

• Christine

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“coloured lights” by Yawn

We’re a month out from the debut LP of Yawn, the new project from Julia McDougall, and are getting another taste with the “coloured lights”.

The new single is an upbeat dreamy synth-pop tune, and McDougall says it’s a “party song for existentialists. It’s a song dedicated to the lonely and the weary, for everyone who’s ever wondered if they might always be alone—even in a crowd. In the song we meet some familiar characters at a party; the loud guy joking and telling stories on the balcony with a lit cigarette in his hand, the best friend who knows something is wrong. Ultimately, we realize that some things never really find a resolution - you can be left questioning the same things forever and sometimes there’s nothing else you can do but dance.”

wish i could’ve is out on June 13th and Yawn will be doing a quick jaunt through BC next month, including a show on Jun 21 at Green Auto.

(Also, I am really digging the pixel art for the single!)

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: March 24 - 30, 2025

“Make Way For Waves” by Amy Millan

Last week Amy Millan shared another tease of her upcoming solo album with the latest song, “Make Way For Waves”

The beautiful, twitchy song was the first collaboration between Millan and the album’s co-writer/co-producer Jay McCarrol (of Nirvana the Band the Show fame), and Amy says:

“This song has a very special place in my heart. It’s the first song Jay and I collaborated on and was initially titled ‘gentle beginnings.’ It is the song that launched our relationship and the making of this album. The first verse was an old Stars demo sitting in a hard drive cemetery. I never forgot it and my attachment to the sentiment of the verse lyrics. I sent what I had to Jay and told him it needed a chorus and obviously a second verse. A few weeks later, he sent the song back completed and with this punch in the gut chorus that made me fall out of my chair. We were off. Lyrically I was seeking to articulate how difficult patches in life can influence you to blow it all up or throw in the towel. I was clinging to the idea that with some patience and reflection maybe calmer waters eventually return like the cycle of the moon. Mourning time passing is a right of passage, and the forlorn can make a beautiful hook. Trying not to let fear find a home in my heart.”

Amy’s new album I Went To Find You comes out May 30 on Last Gang Records, and you can check out the gorgeous hand-drawn animated video by Gaia Alari below!

• Kirk

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“Get Dumber” by PUP

My favourite part of the video for this song is when the saxophone lights up a mini saxophone weed pipe.

Honestly I’d love to just leave it at that, but I’ll tell you more about PUP’s new single “Get Dumber”.
The track will appear on the band’s upcoming album Who Will Look After The Dogs? which is out in just over a month on May 2nd.

The song features band bud and collaborator Jeff Rosenstock and has a hilarious story behind it that singer Stefan Babcock relates below:
“I wrote ‘Get Dumber’ in Jeff’s basement. I was house sitting for him while he was on tour. I recorded the first demo for it on his guitar using his mics and his computer. Maybe because the ghost of Jeff was in the room with me, I always imagined our voices on this song together, so I was very happy when he agreed to sing on it. 
We recorded the vocals together, in the same room, facing each other. What that means is, we both had to nail it at the same time because we couldn’t really cut between takes. On the first take, he forgot a line in the second verse and said “ahhhhhh, lyrics” instead. I couldn’t finish the take because I was laughing too hard. Anyway, he practiced singing the correct lyrics but then we decided those lyrics kinda sucked and he should just stick to “ahhhh lyrics” because it’s funny and the song is called Get Dumber.”

And, like all PUP videos, this one is worth the watch.

• Christine
  

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“Take It Easy” by Total Fucking Darkness

Speaking of side projects from members of Stars, Total Fucking Darkness dropped their latest single, a thumping rave anthem antithetically called “Take It Easy”.

And you know what, I love everything about this blurb in the press release, so I want to just copy it verbatim:

Written in real-time, “Take It Easy” was born from pure spite. Torquil Campbell (a man who once played a badger in a cartoon) wrote the lyrics while listening to the track for the first time—a feat that continues to baffle even his bandmates, Stephen Ramsay (tall and just on this side of handsome) and Tom McFall (English studio genius and synthesist whose engineering credits include the likes of REM, Bloc Party, Twin Shadow, Regina Spektor). And then, of course, there are the sheep.

Still no word on an album from the trio, but if you’re in Montreal you can attend the inaugural Total Fucking Darkness party on May 29th at Newspeak.

Kirk

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“Listen2me” by Foxwarren

Having new Foxwarren land in my inbox was unexpected and super exciting!

Foxwarren (which is made up of Andy Shauf, Avery Kissick and Darryl Kissick, Dallas Bryson, and Colin Nealis) announced that their new record, 2, will be released on May 30th!

The first track “Listen2me” had be swaying and bobbing along from the first few notes, and warranted an immediate re-listen (I see the irony with the song title).

In addition to the song, you'll really want to see the video produced for it (created by Winston Hacking) as it involves actual miniature sets and stop-motion animation cut outs!

• Christine

Songs of the Week: February 10 - 16, 2025

“Wire Walks” by Amy Millan

It’s been 15 years(!!) since the last solo release from Amy Millan, but now the Stars co-founder has teased a brand new album with the first single, “Wire Walks”.

Anchored by her unmatched voice, the new song is a beautiful, lilting tune, with Amy explaining: “Getting older is a trip. You assume you’re gonna grow out of feeling like you might fall down a hole any minute, but for me the feeling continues to hover,” continuing to so say, “I reference Stars’ ‘Ageless Beauty’ here with the lyric ‘I lied when I said that time would catch your head.’ I thought when I was younger time would mend all wounds, but I was wrong, it does not. Turns out they stick around! So what I have learned with my sage years is to stop trying to dodge and outrun the hard feelings. Embrace the difficult bits, the footprint that made me what I am. When outrunning isn’t working, I might need to lean into what I’ve always been.”

You can check out the etherial video below — Luca Tarantini — and pick up the new album I Went To Find You when it’s out on May 30, via Last Gang Records.

• Kirk

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“Hallways” by PUP

Toronto’s PUP have announced that their next album, Who Will Look After The Dogs, will be released on May 2nd.

Lead singer Stefan Babcock says the song “Hallways” was the first song he wrote for the new album which has the lyric that ended up being the album title.
“Within days of announcing our last album, coincidentally titled The Unraveling of PUPTHEBAND, my life unexpectedly imploded. I wrote the lyrics for 'Hallways' while all that was going on. It was a weird fucking week," says Babcock. "The title of our new record, Who Will Look After The Dogs?, is what I wrote at the top of the page, the very first thing written for this album. I think it’s devastating, but in a ‘holy shit this is overdramatic’ kinda way. At least in context of the line that comes before it. That’s what makes it funny to us. That overblown stuff we all say in our dark moments can be hilarious once you've cooled off a bit. I don’t know if anyone else thinks it’s funny, but sometimes you gotta laugh at yourself. It's the only way out of the abyss. Trust me.” 

I cannot wait to here more from one of my favourite bands! And you definitely need to watch the accompanying video for “Hallways” below - which sees the band becoming one with furniture and appliances.

• Christine

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“Listening Party” by Odds & Limblifter

Ahead of their co-headlining show at the Commodore this week, Odds and Limblifter have gotten together for a brand new single, “Listening Party”.

It’s exactly what you would hope & expect from the pair of 90s alt-rock powerhouses, who describe the collab as “in the spirit of Max Webster and Rush creating "Battle Scar,” two crack bands are forged into one.” and say the song is “a dedication to the raw symphony of the natural world — a breezy manifestation of friendship, music, and the great outdoors.”

Have a listen below, or pick up the Limited Edition Square Shaped Flexi 7" from Limblifter’s bandcamp, and make sure you’re at the Commodore this Friday night!

• Kirk

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“Oulalala” by Omega Mighty

Ear-worm Alert!

This track landed in my inbox on Valentine’s Day (convenient, as it’s a love song) and I’ve been humming “Oulalala” for the last several days.

Omega Mighty says her new pop track “is for the lovers…the ones who believe in love, or desire to be loved but also want to keep the relationship fun and exciting. It's a cheeky flirtatious bop, but it's also an empowerment song with a reminder to go for what you want!"

Gotta love love!

• Christine