Songs of the Week: February 05 - 11, 2024

“Sun Shadows” by Brandon Wolfe Scott

Hot off the heels of the latest Yukon Blonde album & tour, Brandon Wolfe Scott is back with another solo release, “Sun Shadow”

The new song has the chill, throwback vibes that Scott is known for, and he explains:“In this song, the lyric 'shadows from the sun...they follow me', is a metaphor referring to where there's light or hope, there is usually a darkness lingering. I see this as a generational issue, where we can see the light and the hope, but the shadows of the world's grief are often overpowering. I see people of my generation becoming consumed, burnt out, and hopeless. It feels like being in the shadow of the sun, and I wanted this song to stand out in this cynical world as a reminder to appreciate the small things in life that bring you joy. To take moments to breathe and find solace in everyday life as we must continue to bear witness to the evolving situations humanity is facing.”

Watch the video for “Sun Shadows” below, and catch Brandon opening for Sam Roberts Band in Vancouver on February 24th & 25th, and in Kelowna on the 27th!

• Kirk

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“Sleep On The Floor” (Lumineers) by Dan Mangan

While Dan Mangan is prepping for his European tour dates to support his JUNO nominated and Polaris shortlisted album Being Somewhere, he gave us a recording of his Lumineers cover.

“When I got word I’d be touring Europe supporting The Lumineers last year in June, I knew I wanted to cover one of their songs,” says Mangan. “They have so many hits but ‘Sleep On The Floor’ was always the one I’d crank when it came on the radio. Wes has a distinctive and strong vocal approach, and I thought it would be interesting to attempt the song with a whisper. Rather than wide open chord changes, a simple piano plodding along keeping pace. The song is about escape, and as somebody who has literally spent a fair amount of time sleeping on floors and couches around the globe, I wanted to explore the sonically comforting elements of my own nostalgia from a life on the road.”

It’s very unique take on the song - check it out below!

• Christine

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“Burial Ground” by The Decemberists

It’s been six years(!!) since we heard new music from The Decemberists, but last week they dropped “Burial Ground”, along with a string of North American tour dates.

The new song features The Shins’ James Mercer on vocals (what a pairing!) and Colin Meloy says "'Burial Ground' is in that time-honored popsong tradition, a paean to hanging out in graveyards. The melody hook came to me in a dream and I hummed it into my phone on waking. Most dream-songs are bad; this was the exception.”

Have a listen for yourself below, and be sure to check them out in Vancouver at the Queen E on July 29th!

• Kirk

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Songs of the Week: February 13 - 19, 2023

“In Lightning”
“Hiding Out In The Open”
“Love Who We Are Meant To”
by Feist

What’s better than a new Feist song? Two new Feist songs.
What’s better than two new Feist songs? Three new Feist songs!

And that’s exactly what we got last week, with an extended look at the upcoming album, Multitudes. The three songs hint at the album’s depth, with “In Lightning” being a cacophonous song that lives up to the title; the gorgeous guitar and orchestral swell of “Love Who We Are Meant To”, and haunting, layered vocals for “Hiding Out In The Open”.

Multitudes is out on April 14th, and check out a playlist of all three new songs below!

• Kirk

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“Garden” by FRANKIIE

Vancouver’s FRANKIIE is back with a brand new song, the first single from their upcoming album. “Garden” is a psychedelic, reverb-soaked dream pop from the duo of Vocalist/guitarist Francesca Carbonneau and vocalist/keyboardist Nashlyn Lloyd.

Lloyd says the song “was inspired by writing retreats to the northern Sunshine Coast of BC where we could detach from the intensity of urban life and focus on music together. We would write all afternoon in the cabin, and take a break to slow down and watch the stars expand forever. The stillness I feel while listening to the ocean or being surrounded by trees is always something I am longing to reconnect with while living life in the city.”

Between Dreams, the second full-length album from the group, drops June 2nd, and watch the live-off-the-floor video while you wait.

• Kirk

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“Our Back Garden” by Brandon Wolfe Scott

Okay, so great minds think alike, right?
For the second garden-based song this week, Vancouver’s Brandon Wolfe Scott reflects on three years of living with his partner in a home in East Van with access to a beautifully-lush garden.
Interacting with the family with young children upstairs, including during the height of the pandemic, the song has become an ode to them as the family moved away and the house now sits empty.

The track will be on Brandon’s upcoming EP, Slow Transmission, due out on March 23rd.

• Christine

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“They Don't Love You (Like I Do)” by Babe Corner

Over the past few months, Babe Corner has slowly been teasing their debut full length, and the latest is the new single, “They Don't Love You (Like I Do)”.

With beautiful harmonies that build to some incredibly catchy synth, the new song comes shortly after announcing the release date of the album, Crybaby, on March 21st, as well as a pair of release shows in Victoria and Vancouver — March 24 and 25, respectively.

So mark your calendars and have a listen below!

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: January 09 - 15, 2023

“Really Really Light” by The New Pornographers

The New Pornographers are back! Last week the group released their brand new single, “Really Really Light”, the first taste of their upcoming album Continue as a Guest.

As catchy as you would expect from the Vancouver power-pop legends, the new song was co-written by Dan Bejar — who has been conspicuously absent from recent New Pornos albums — and adapted from a tune that didn’t make a previous album, 2014’s Brill Brusers.

A.C. Newman says “Part of my process throughout the years has been messing with things I never finished. I really liked Dan’s chorus, and for a while I was just trying to write something that I felt like belonged with it. I was thinking of the Aloe Blacc song ‘The Man’ which interpolated the chorus from Elton John’s ‘Your Song’ and thought it would be fun to interpolate a song that no one knows. Not trying to sound like Aloe Blacc, just doing some interpolating of my own. It became a game of writing a verse that felt like a part of the same song. In my mind, I was striving for a little Jeff Lynne–era Tom Petty, a classic go-to.”

Check out the video below, and keep an ear out for the new album out March 31 from Merge Records.

• Kirk

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“In Stride” by Brandon Wolfe Scott

Brandon Wolfe Scott is taking it all “In Stride” with his latest single. The Yukon Blonde frontman announced his upcoming solo release last week, Slow Transmission, with a new tune about anxiety and insomnia.

Scott explains: "When I hit my mid 30’s there were a few aspects of my life that were causing me a great deal of anxiety and as a result, I started to struggle with sleep. I am regularly up at 3 am on the dot, wide awake with my mind spinning for hours on end. I wanted this song to encompass that feeling of being stuck in your own thoughts with a fear of what tomorrow might bring, trying to navigate a life that is fast paced with inadequate energy."

The new album is due out March 23rd on Dine Alone Records/

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: November 01 - 07, 2021

“Fade Out” by Brandon Wolfe Scott

We got a surprise new single from Brandon Wolfe Scott this past week - “Fade Out” - and while there was no mention of more coming, after hearing this one, I certainly hope so!

Of the song itself Brandon describes it being about societies, and his own, relationship and obsession from social media. The idea of ‘fading out’ or being able to get lost into an online reality as well as the struggle to stay in moment. Pretty damn relatable there.

We don’t have any solo shows to look forward to from Brandon (yet), BUT his band Yukon Blonde has a show scheduled for December 10th at the Hollywood Theatre.

• Christine

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“Blush” by Gold & Youth

Gold & Youth’s new album is officially out now, and they celebrated by releasing the final single from Dream Baby.
Seeing as Louise Burns is IN the band, me getting “Emeralds Shatter” vibes from “Blush” makes a lot of sense.
Lead singer Matthew Lyall said that they wanted to “make a song that sounded like Stevie Nicks singing on top of a shoegazey version of Heroes” - and that describes the song SO well.
Hoping to catch them on December 10th at the Hollywood Theatre in Vancouver, where they’re opening the aforementioned show with Yukon Blonde.

• Christine

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“Blackhole Town” by Astral Swans

Okay, can someone please remind me of this video when it comes time for the Prism Prize next year? Because the video for “Blackhole Town” — animated by Jordan Minkoff — is as delightful as it is weird.

The video is an excellent companion to the latest tune from Astral Swans, which Matthew Swann describes as “about a desperate person living in a small redneck town”.

Find “Blackhole Town” on the latest self-titled album from Astral Swans, which is out now!

• Kirk

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Song of the Day: January 17, 2020 - "Summers On Fire" by Brandon Wolfe Scott

To celebrate the release of his brand new solo EP, Yukon Blonde’s Brandon Wolfe Scott released a video for the latest single, “Summers on Fire”.

The song, as you may guess from the title, is about climate change, with Scott saying “Having spent a few years living in the Okanagan region of British Columbia, rising temperatures and wildfires have become an annual summer tragedy along with the coast of California, and of course the absolute catastrophe currently taking place in Australia. The narrative is not me preaching, but more about stepping outside my own echo chamber of ignorance. Looking to the future generation I think it's important to inspire change and hope in the face of sadness and ecological grief."

The EP is available today/right now(!) and you can also check out the album release show tonight at China Cloud! OR, an afternoon show at We Are The City’s RIP Store on Jan 26, which promises a special guest as well.

Song of the Day: December 13, 2015 - "Heartless" by Brandon Wolfe Scott

Last year we heard High Ends, the project that Jeff Innes was working on while Yukon Blonde had some extended downtime in 2013. And now, we find out what Brandon Wolfe Scott was up to. 

The new song "Heartless" falls more on the alt-country side, and was actually written as kind of a joke. At first, anyway. Brandon would write hokey country tunes for fun while on tour, under the name "Dusty Summers" but recently he said:

“I ended up really loving some of the songs. So I decided to salvage them in a way that was more me, you know drop the low country voice that I was putting on and play them more like how I normally would. They were just nice songs, so I reworked the lyrics to make them sound less hokey and more meaningful."

So now those songs make up The Postcard Writer EP, which will be out January 15th on Nevado Records.