Songs of the Week: November 17 - 23, 2025

“You Get Me By” by MOONRIIVR

New MOONRIIVR alert!

I can’t believe it’s already been almost two years since their debut album, Volume 1, and I’m so excited to get new material.
“You Get Me By”, according to lead singer Gavin Gardner is “an attempt to hold up a mirror and offer the same empathy to myself that I would offer a friend navigating the challenges of self and identity. My mind creates boundaries for who I think others expect me to be, when hopefully they just want me to be free.”

There’s no other word on any upcoming album, but the band is about to do some touring in Europe with the Rural Alberta Advantage (THAT would be a fun show), so hopefully upon their return we’ll get some more info!

• Christine

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“Devastation’s Bliss” by Larkk

Last week, Larkk not only released their latest single, but also announced a debut album!

“Devastation’s Bliss” is a haunting piano-driven number from the solo project of Dear Rouge’s Danielle McTaggart, and is the latest in a string of singles that we now know will culminate in the release of Cinders on February 13, 2026.

Have a listen below!

• Kirk

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“Margaret” by Elliot C Way

Following up his previous single from this year “Fool’s Gold” Vancouver’s Elliot C Way has released a new track titled “Margaret”, a song about his grandparents, Margaret and Nelson Beattie:
“It tells the true story of their decades-long love, and their shared life in rural Ontario that was filled with hard-won moments of resilience and devotion. At its heart, the song is a tribute to his grandmother and her quiet battle with MS, a disease that slowly changed the shape of their lives but never broke their bond. It’s also a testament to his Grampap, as told from his perspective, and his unwavering love as he stood by her side through the difficult years.

Whenever Elliot visited them on their Uxbridge, Ontario hay farm, he got to witness the kind of rural, hardworking life that made a profound impact on him at a young age—hot, muggy summers with fireflies and iced tea, and unforgettable Christmas gatherings that included hockey games on frozen ponds and snowmobile rides in the deep cold. As Elliot describes, “My grandpa was the patriarch of the family and a man larger than life. He was a humble farmer, a handyman, and the kind of father and husband any man would hope to be. I saw first-hand the power of his love for my grandmother in the care he gave her until the very end.””

It’s a beautiful and sweet ballad that you can hear live in Vancouver on the 26th of November at the WISE Hall, or the 19th of December at Green Auto!

• Christine

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“Amour Amour” by Common Holly

Montreal’s Common Holly (aka Brigitte Naggar) just released a cover of the 1970’s Anne Germain song “Amour Amour”

A beautiful and vulnerable version of the song, Brigitte explains: “This song has been in my head since I first encountered it during a film screening in a high school French class. We had the opportunity to watch Peau D'ane, a 1970's fantasy musical belonging to the infamous 'Demy-world' of director Jacques Demy. Between the chromatically whacky music, outrageous themes and whimsical visuals, I haven't been able to get it out of my mind, so a little while ago I adapted the song to guitar. This is my first time singing in French too, which is technically a language I speak, but has never found its way into musical releases until now, so this is also a nod to my home in Quebec and to my French heritage.”

Along with the new cover, she’s also teasing more music for next year, so be sure to keep an ear out!

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: April 21 - 27, 2025

“Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl”
[Broken Social Scene cover]
by Maggie Rogers and Sylvan Esso

Broken Social Scene’s breakthrough album You Forgot It In People will be celebrated next month with the release of ANTHEMS: A Celebration of Broken Social Scene's You Forgot It In People.

The album is a track-for-track tribute to the iconic record, with each song covered by a different artist, including the likes of Toro y Moi, The Weather Station, serpentwithfeet, and many more! First out of the gate is a synth-pop interpretation of the classic “Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl” by Maggie Rogers and Sylvan Esso!

Rogers says “‘Anthems’ is one of those songs that fundamentally changed my life. There’s something about the lyrical repetition that functions as a sort of mantra within the song and it made me understand at a very early point in my creative life that music could be a form of meditation. Broken Social Scene has long been one of my all-time favorite bands and covering it with my dear friends Nick and Amelia from Sylvan Esso was an absolute joy beam dream.”

Have a listen below, and click here to presave the album and check out the full list of artists!

• Kirk

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“Backstab The Rat Race” by Cancer Bats

I needed something loud to wake me up this morning and Cancer Bats delivered.

The new track, “Backstab The Rat Race”, is a B-side release from their album Psychic Jailbreak and was released as a thank you to fans after their outpouring of support.

On April 21st while the band was touring in the US, they woke up to find their van and trailer were stolen. This included “instruments, customized gear, merchandise, personal items, and even the van’s catalytic converter” (the van was recovered). Their GoFundMe campaign helped keep them on the road and set them back up, as well as some of the companies they’ve worked with over the years.

There’s a special place in hell for people that steal from touring bands, and I really hope they manage to find their sentimental items at least. In the meantime, listen to the track below and if you want to donate click here (anything above what they need will be going to providing quality musical instruments to youth in remote Northern Canadian communities).

• Christine

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“Enough” by Common Holly

The more I hear from Common Holly, the more I am looking forward to the upcoming album, Anything glass.

The latest single, “Enough” is a beautiful (and existential) look at the contrast between light & dark, as Brigitte Naggar explains, “This track represents a spikier part of the record,” offers Brigitte. “It pokes out with sharper edges and a bit of noise. It speaks to the process of imagining that there could be such a thing as 'enough-ness,' and asks us to answer—enough for who? And for what?”

She goes on to add, “This song took a few forms. Was it an indie rock track? I didn’t really want it to be. A little acoustic number? A tiny bit 90’s hip hop? It certainly wanted to be silly and fun. We toiled with how to make it fun, interesting, weird, cool, but also warm? And relatedly, it offered a narrative of self doubt, of ambition, of perfectionism, and of ultimately shrugging it all off.”

Check out the video, and keep an ear out for Anything glass when it’s out on June 13.

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: March 31 - April 06, 2025

“Quick Sickness” by Twin Rains

Toronto’s Twin Rains is back with their first music since their album Laws of the Universe was released back in 2023.

The new single “Quick Sickness” was created while singer Christine Stoesser was sick and isolated with COVID, and felt she was “overdosing on the internet” (we’ve all be there!).

She says: “Spending the whole day online only made me feel sicker and more isolated, so I swore off the internet for the second day of my isolation. That night, I heard the chord progression of the song in my head while I was trying to sleep.”

The song is a dreamy pop song that, unless you listen closely to the lyrics, you might just get swept away with the guitars and beat.

• Christine

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“Ballad of the Last Payphone” by The New Pornographers

Last month, The New Pornographers surprised everyone by releasing a pair of new singles on a 7” vinyl, through A.C. Newman’s substack, Ballad of a New Pornographer.

Now the band has released the lyric video for one of those songs, “Ballad of the Last Payphone”. The single is a melancholic reflection of the titular payphone, with Newman explaining: “This song was inspired by a Raymond Carver story called “Fat” and tells the story of a person visiting the last payphone in NYC where it currently sits, in the Museum of the City of New York. The narrator doesn't know why they are so fascinated by it, but to us it should be obvious. Obvious to me, at least.”

Check out the video below, animated by Michael Arthur, and head to Newman’s substack where you can become a member & order the vinyl that includes the b-side “Ego Death For Beginners”

• Kirk

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“Elevator Love Letter” (Stars cover) by Noble Oak

I’ve been excited by the current series of cover songs to celebrate 20 years of Last Gang Records, and none more so than the newest: Noble Oak interpreting the Stars classic “Elevator Love Letter”.

The video includes Patrick Fiore of Noble Oak intercut with pictures and footage from Stars outstanding 25 year career as he delivers a gorgeous version of the song. He notes: “Like so much of the early Last Gang catalogue, the first two Stars records were mainstays in my late high school/early university listening world. I remember first hearing ‘Elevator Love Letter’ in my friend's apartment and instantly being hooked by everything about the song, from the swirling reversed guitar lines to the brutal honesty of Amy and Torquil's words. It brings both me and the teenager in me immense joy to be able to offer up a recreation of this wonderful piece - I'm pretty sure he wouldn't believe it if I told him he'd be doing that one day.”

Other covers of the project include a pair of Metric songs, Maia Friedman’s take on “Love Is A Place” and Dear Boy covering “Combat Baby”; Low Hum’s reinterpretation of “Romantic Rights” by Death From Above 1979; Alice Ivy’s take on MSTRKRFT’s “Easy Love”; Anand Wilder doing the New Pornographer’s “Challengers”, and Cadence Weapon & Dan Only doing “Ungirthed” by Purity Ring.

• Kirk

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“Ruby” by The Deep Dark Woods

Whoa, this new track (“Ruby”) from The Deep Dark Woods just gave me a flashback to 2011 and their song “The Place I Left Behind”.

Like most everything we get from DDW, it’s a very moody and melancholic, but always has more depth behind it. Lead singer Ryan Boldt says he “wrote it during a strange and difficult time, after the sudden loss of my dear friend and tour manager, Kiko, and just before my daughter was born. It was a mix of heartbreak and anticipation that I will never forget.”

The band’s yet-to-be-announced record should be out in late 2025, and they also released some tour dates, including a stop on October 24th in Vancouver at the Fox Cabaret.

• Christine

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“help myself” by Yawn

I feel like it’s been a long time since I’ve heard from Julia McDougall, so I was excited to find a brand new song from her new project Yawn in my inbox.

“help myself” is actually the second single released in as many months, and is a wonderful dream-pop jam from the Vancouver singer, which challenges toxic positivity & the pressure to be the “best version” of ourselves.

Julia elaborates “It’s about the various kinds of doubt and darkness that we face, and how the constant noise of social media and mainstream culture dulls our ability to love ourselves. It was inspired by social media ads I was served during the early, frantic days of COVID isolation that were promising me that now was the time to finally ‘get ripped’. It seemed detached from our lived reality that in the middle of a global pandemic, we were being force-fed so-called wellness ads that completely overlooked the psychological and emotional impact we were all facing. The song is about our relationship to ourselves, and how our media consumption habits make it easy to go about our lives without truly connecting to who we are. It’s also about the struggle to find meaning in the mundanity of everyday life – standing in grocery store lines, going to work, going to a work out class, scrolling all the while – and how sometimes it’s impossible to make sense of how the sum of all of these things add up to a life.”

The new single comes with an announcement of Yawn’s debut album, wish i could’ve, which was produced by Jo Hirabayashi (of Jo Passed) and will be available on June 13th!

• Kirk

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“Aegean Blue” by Common Holly

Last week, Montreal’s Common Holly teased her latest album Anything glass with a brand new single, “Aegean blue”

The gorgeous piano paired with Brigitte Naggar’s ethereal vocals are exactly up my alley, with Naggar explaining, “Aegean blue is a reckoning in meaninglessness and unending pursuit. The words came in a moment of change and of re-evaluating. This song sits squarely in the album’s theme of orienting toward what matters most, doing things differently when they aren’t feeling right.”

Check out the contemplative video below, and mark June 13 for the release of Anything glass!

• Kirk