Songs of the Week: November 24 - 30, 2025

“All Night, All Night, All Night” by David Vertesi

It’s been fifteen years since David Vertesi released his acclaimed debut album Cardiography, and this past week he celebrated the anniversary by releasing a brand new acoustic version of it!

The whole album was already incredible heartfelt, but the stripped down versions of each song really amplify the emotions, as heard in “All Night, All Night, All Night” which features Hannah Georgas on vocals.

Vertesi explains, “I often think about Cardiography as a heartbreak record, but upon re-recording it I realized there’s more to it than that. It sprung from a time when I was learning how to love. The lessons can be painful, but also beautiful. ‘All Night, All Night, All Night’ paints a picture of young love. I wrote this song about sneaking out at night to go sleep over at my then girlfriend’s house and imagining my Dad waking up to discover I wasn’t home. In an album that focuses a lot on heart break, this song means even more, as it is a reminder of what we are fighting for as well as what is lost when things don’t I work out. My dear friend Hannah Georgas lent her vocals to the original album and I’m so grateful to have her back again on these acoustic versions so many years later.”

Have a listen below, and pick up the album anywhere you get music. He’s also playing a release show in Vancouver at The Gallery @ Artech on December 7th, and I am absolutely devastated that I can’t make it, so I hope you can!

• Kirk

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“Apple” by Rae Spoon

I got super excited when the press release saying “Rae Spoon returns to country music” and then I saw the words “cover” and “Charlie XCX” and I couldn’t click the link fast enough.

There’s something about an unexpected pick for a cover song, especially with a vastly different genre of music…it’s like hearing it for the first time again.
Here’s what Rae had to say about it:
“I wanted to do a country cover of a pop song as part of the process of returning to making country music. I spent Brat Summer reconnecting with Berlin and it was really healing after I hadn't been able to travel for many years. I love Charli XCX and I thought that ‘Apple’ was such a strong song that it would be great in any genre. I love making both country and electronic music, so it felt like a great fit.”

I’ll be on the lookout for the rest of their new music!

• Christine

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“i was ill, you were wrong” by TRAITRS

Toronto coldwave duo TRAITRS are back after a four year hiatus! Earlier this year they released the single “Burn In Heaven”, and now they have a brand new one with “i was ill, you were wrong”

It's a moody, synthy track with vocalist & guitarist Shawn Tucker explaining, “I felt that song connected me to everything and everyone, it is the one thing we all share and have in common. It is also a wake up call to live the life you want to live. We only have one chance at this so go dance in the rain.”

Have a listen to the song below, and check out the new album Possessor when it's out on March 13th, 2026

• Kirk

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“Two Step To Forget” by Johnny 99

We fiiiiiiinally have the new album from John Sponarski’s project Johnny 99!

Mr. Lonely is a collection of old singles and five new songs from John and his backing bandmates from City and Colour, as well as contributions on backing vocals from Georgia Harmer, and fiddle from Kendal Carson.

The tracks are billed as “country music that was made to dance to, whilst shedding a few tears as well” and the latest single “Two Step To Forget” is definitely on the dance end with choreography and everything in the music video.

Johnny’s playing a release show in Toronto this week, but hopefully there will be a Vancouver dates in the future.

• Christine

Songs of the Week: September 01 - 07, 2025

“Ballad Of The Hockey Enforcer” by The Donzerly Lights

Casey Laforet of Elliott BROOD has a new side project that involves both new music and a magazine!

Purgatouring Volume 1 is a 105-page collection of stories from touring with BROOD over the last 20 years, as well as old photos, “musical opinions”, comics and more. You can pre-order it online now and accompanying it (for free) is an album of the same name (Purgatouring).
The project is called The Donzerly Lights (love this!) and the album has 12 songs that for the majority of the album sees Casey performing and singing almost everything!

I asked Casey if the music or the magazine came first and he told me he had made the record already and they were all basically “road songs”- and that all the lyrics are mixed into the magazine. I’ve already ordered my copy of the mag and cannot wait for it’s arrival!

Now as for the album, I had a hard time choosing which one to feature here (so go listen to the whole thing) but as a huge hockey fan, I knew it had to be “Ballad Of The Hockey Enforcer”.
I’ve always had a soft spot for the tough guys of the past (I had a Tie Domi Leafs jersey) and Casey captures them perfectly in this song, which is also woven with clips of hockey commentary about fights and scrums. Check it out below!

• Christine

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“3am” by Ashleigh Ball

The Hey Ocean! singer (and acclaimed voice actor!) Ashleigh Ball is back with a brand new solo album! Our Slowest Season was released last week, and sees Ball team with producers Jonathan Anderson and long-time friend/collaborator David Vertesi.

My early favourite off the album is “3am” (for no… particular reason), a dreamy tune which I heard a tease of earlier this year, when Ashleigh opened for Mae Martin at the Vogue!

Have a listen below, and make sure you’re at the album release show on September 29th at the Fox Cabaret!

• Kirk

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“For” by Luca Fogale

Burnaby’s Luca Fogale has released his fourth single from his upcoming album (hopefully more details on that soon) and it’s aptly titled “For”.

Like much of Luca’s music, it’s beautiful and haunting, and I’ll let him tell you about the track:
“I wrote “For” throughout the course of a few seasons of my life, so while this is at once a song simply about trying to serve what is most important in this life, the narrator (a version of myself) is grappling with understanding the finiteness of time, while desperately wanting to preserve an imagined perfect future, compelled by all of the tenets in the refrain; those which he believes to be most valuable. ‘For honour. For family.’

This version of myself tries to be tireless, resolute, unbreakable, unknowing that he will fail, as he is only human. I recognize inside myself the desire to strive, to achieve, to provide, and in turn I notice how hard I fall when I lose touch with humility and self-acceptance. The narrator is in a race against time and against vulnerability.”

I can’t wait to hear more new music, and if you’re free tomorrow night, Luca is opening for Hollow Coves at Malkin Bowl!

• Christine

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“Some Days” by Neil Haverty

Last week, Neil Haverty (who you may know as the frontman of Bruce Peninsula) dropped his third new solo single of the year with “Some Days”.

The new track is a synthy, soulful jam about the quiet pressures of daily life, as Haverty elaborates: “I wanted to acknowledge the patterns and discrepancies in how a person can approach each day. Some days are just off. Other days are full of promise and brimming with energy. I’m always interested in the spectrum of variables underneath a topic, and mood is an especially broad playing field for that.”

Have a listen below, and keep an ear out for more new music from Haverty in the near future!

• Kirk

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“Never Stay Down” by Johnny 99

More new music from Johnny 99 this week!
“Never Stay Down” is the fourth single from an upcoming new album (no word on a album title or release date yet) and while it’s upbeat and I can totally picture people line dancing in my head, it has some deeper meaning.

Johnny says the song: “is about finding yourself at the tail end of a rough patch and realizing the fun part of being self destructive has taken a dark turn. Sometimes when you find yourself at such a crossroads, the light you may have lost sight of now seems to be shining ever brighter. Upon this illumination, picking yourself up and making a course correction no longer seems like such a momentous task. After all, one can always lean on friends and a little bit of fun on the long road back up from the bottom."

Hopefully we get some album release info soon but it the meantime, check out the new song below!

• Christine

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“16/25” by Softcult

The Ontario-based sibling duo Softcult has just announced their debut full length album, When A Flower Doesn’t Grow, and along with that comes the latest single, “16/25”

The new track has a driving intensity that matches the themes, as its about the predatory behaviour of older men who groom younger women. Mercedes Arn-Horn says “It points out the double-standards and impossible expectations the patriarchy places on young women in our society, and the cognitive dissonance that older men who prey on young female targets perpetuate while trying to possess and control them,”

Check out the video below, and you can pick up the new album, When A Flower Doesn’t Grow, early next year when it releases on January 30th, 2026. You can also catch Softcult on your now, with their current leg wrapping up with a show at The Pearl here in Vancouver on October 16.

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: July 14 - 20, 2025

“Getting Over You” by Johnny 99

While we await Johnny 99’s follow up album sometime later this year, we’ve been gifted another single titled “Getting Over You”.
It’s a softer, gentler song than the previous upbeat twangs we hear on tracks like “I Wanna Go With My Boots On”, and it works well with the thought behind the tune…

Johnny says: “Getting over someone is a season. I think many people are uncomfortable with this. Most want these hard feelings and hard times to be over as quickly as possible, not only when it's happening to them but also when it's happening to their friends and loved ones—‘Let’s just get back to normal.’ But getting over someone is a process. It can be fumbling and it can be difficult, sad, and long.”

Hopefully with this release, we’re getting closer to that full album date!

• Christine

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“Farmhouse” by Georgia Harmer

With her new album creeping closer, Georgia Harmer has shared another new song with the heartfelt ode, “Farmhouse”.

The single showcases her gorgeous and soft vocals, with Harmer saying, “I wrote ‘Farmhouse’ as an apology love-letter to an old friend at a time when we were out of touch. It's about wanting to feel as close as we did when we were younger, when time together was abundant and uninterrupted. I wrote it to remind her of the importance of our friendship, and also to understand and translate the natural ebb and flow of a long-term relationship, weathering time and distance.”

Have a listen below, and look for Eye Of The Storm when it’s released on August 15th via Arts & Crafts. You can also catch Georgia Harmer across Canada when her tour kicks off on Oct 30, including a Vancouver show here at the Biltmore on November 22nd!

• Kirk
  

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“Birds On A Wire” by Thunder Queens

The London, ON trio Thunder Queens dropped a rockin’ new song last week with “Birds on a Wire”.

A high energy, pop-punk-tinged tune, the band explains “We wrote this song about things a lot of people can relate to, like feeling underestimated, boxed in, and frustrated, and about the rush that comes with breaking free. Our favourite line is ‘blew out the candles of doubt for her trail full of fire’ because it’s about that turning point where you start moving forward.”

Hit play below, and crank it up!

• Kirk

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“Growing Out My Hair” by CJ Wiley

In honour of International Non-Binary People’s Day (which was July 14th) CJ Wiley has released a new video for their catchy bop “Growing Out My Hair”

The song is off their album So Brand New, released earlier this year, and Wiley says it represents “the moment I decided I didn’t owe anyone androgyny to be valid as a non-binary person. It’s about rejecting gender performance and expectations, and finally embracing my identity with a kind of self-love and certainty I never thought I’d have. This song is a love letter to anyone who needs it—a reminder that trans and non-binary people deserve joy, space, and representation. This is my non-binary anthem.”

Check out the video featuring a number of new do’s for the Toronto singer below!

• Kirk

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“Hard Lines” by The Strumbellas

The Strumbellas are back with new music! “Hard Lines” is the first new track from the band since their 2024 record Part Time Believer.

“Hard Lines” is upbeat, danceable, with catchy oo-oo-oo’s that I can hear crowds singing back at them at live shows, but the lyrics speak of burnout, disconnection and I think where the two sides meet is with the line: “I’m trying to live it up while I’m numb inside”.

The band’s pianist and vocalist David Ritter says: “Hard Lines is about picking your way through the rubble of contemporary life and the hope that we can build things together again.”

• Christine

Songs of the Week: Holiday Edition 2024

“Light the Light” by Tim Baker

Tim Baker is no stranger to holiday songs, and this year he released a whole holiday album, Full Rainbow of Light.

Comprised of twelve new songs, and a cover of the standard “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” Tim expanded on the album, saying: “I started recording this album in Montreal with my great friends & go-to collaborators Marcus Paquin & Liam O’Neill, but it sat sidetracked by other projects for over a year. It took a long east coast winter and half the musicians in St. John’s to help me finally get it there. I guess it makes sense it had to come home, since ‘Town’ is such a central character to it. I was lucky enough to get the likes of Tom Power, Aaron Collis, Emilia Bartellas, Matthew Byrne & Rich Klaas of the townie trad legends The Dardanelles; stars in the their own right Kelly McMichael, Mara Pellerin, Nico Paulo & Maria Peddle singing backups; not to mention social media superstar Billianne backing me up on the title track; Rob Brown on the haunting Uilleann pipes; Peter Lannon lending his lead guitar sweetness; honorary Newfoundlanders Mike Brushey & Jason Haberman grounding everything on bass & drums; my dad sings on it, my friends are all over it, to say it's ‘of my home’ is funny cause so much of it was actually recorded in my literal living room, pausing when the snowplows ground past, or the wind got too loud in the chimneys.” 

You can check out “Light the Light” below, or listen to the full album everywhere you get your music!

• Kirk

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“You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”/ “Vous êtes méchant, M.Grinch” by Jill Barber

Hot off her latest, French-language album ENCORE!, Jill Barber celebrated the season with a few covers of Christmas classics. And true to form, each song was recorded both in English and en français!

Below is her sultry version of Dr. Seuss’ “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” — as well as “Vous êtes méchant, M.Grinch” — but you can also hear her takes on “Sleigh Ride”/ Promenade en traîneau” and “I’ll be Home for Christmas”/”C’est la nuit de Noël” 

• Kirk

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“The Little Drum Machine Boy” by Jane’s Party

This was too funny not to include and I’ll just let Jane’s Party vocalist and guitarist Tom Ionescu tell you about it:

“With this holiday song, I wanted to add to the Christmas lore. One character that stood out to me as needing some extra attention and a revamp was the Little Drummer Boy. I’ve really been getting into old drum machines and exploring ways to include them into the songs we write and produce. With our attention on all this drum machine stuff, I thought maybe the modern re-telling of ‘The Little Drummer Boy’ would be ‘The Little Drum Machine Boy’. The rest of the concept fell into place quite fast!”

• Christine

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“It Can’t Be Christmas” by Johnny 99

It’s been a minute since we’ve heard from Johnny 99 — the solo project of John Sponarski, who is currently part of City & Colour (or long-time readers of this blog may remember him as one half of Portage & Main).

But now he’s back with a holiday song, “It Can’t Be Christmas”. Backed by his C&C bandmates Matt Kelly, Erik Nielsen, and Leon Power, the tune fits into the “sad Christmas song” genre, with Sponarski explaining, “This song was one of those magical moments you don't have to work for, or coax out of the ether. It leapt from my imagination as soon as I awoke early one morning with the holidays right around the corner. The previous evening I had spoken with a friend who was grappling with the loss of his mother. We talked about his grief, how it weighed on him and took away the joy and comfort he normally felt during the holiday season. It’s really a song for anyone who has experienced loss around Christmas, and how that has changed what it means to them.”

• Kirk

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“SantaClauge” by Elliott BROOD

Elliott BROOD did a Christmas parody of Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage”, and I kind of hate how well it works???

It’s incredible.

• Kirk

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“Santa Must Have Winter Tires” by Future Star

You can always count on Mint Records for some local Christmas cheer, and this year it comes from Future Star with “Santa Must Have Winter Tires”.

The bedroom-pop jam was written in about a snowy winter night in 2022, with Future Star dedicating the song to “all the shiftworkers and commuters who gambled on it being a mild winter and lost.”

Have a listen below!

• Kirk

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“The Sound Of Christmas” by William Prince

We got some more original Christmas music from William Prince his his track “The Sound Of Christmas”, as well as “Don’t Go Leaving Me (It’s Christmas Eve)” and a cover of “Silver Bells”.

In “The Sound of Christmas” he “puts an ingenious twist on classic themes, celebrating the role that music and the real-life sounds of Christmas - laughter, clinking of glassware, skates carving ice, bells carrying through the air - play in our memories and festivities.”

• Christine

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“Santa Man” / “Hot Christmas” by The Sheepdogs / BROS

We’ve got a double whammy of Christmas music from the combo of The Sheepdogs, and BROS (Sheepdogs bandmates Ewan and Shamus Currie).

Of “Santa Man” Ewan says: “There’s a lot of Christmas music out there, but not nearly enough Christmas Rock N Roll. So we’re making like Santa and delivering the December goods: a Xmas party banger for your next holiday shindig.” (I agree, more rock n roll holiday songs please!)

Shamus adds: “‘Hot Christmas’ is a spicy piece about getting away from it all and having a Christmas vacation complete with Latin grooves and rhythmic piano ideas.”

• Christine

Songs of the Week: June 28 - July 04, 2021

“Roman Candle Eyes” by Shred Kelly

It’s been one year since the release of Like A Rising Sun, the latest album from Fernie’s Shred Kelly, but they just released a (surreal) video for the banger “Roman Candle Eyes”. The new video comes as they head out on tour (holy crap, live music?!) hitting small towns in BC for what they’re calling the Tiny Concert Tour.

Check out the video below, and if you live somewhere between Kelowna and Calgary, you may get a chance to see them live!

• Kirk

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“When It Hurts” by Kandle

Not only is Set The Fire one of my favourite albums so far this year, but Kandle is really batting a thousand when it comes to videos from the album. Last week she released yet another video, this time for latest single “When It Hurts”. Directed by her frequent collaborator, Brandon William Fletcher, the video is described as “a timeless, Lynchian portrayal of a love gone wrong where both parties are stuck in a time loop of paralysis – afraid to leave due to the fear of the unknown.”

• Kirk

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“Words Left Unsaid” by Johnny 99

John Sponarski, aka Johnny 99, just released his first single off his forthcoming debut record last week. “Words Left Unsaid” comes with a trippy little video, and an awesome guitar solo in the middle.

Funny enough Kirk and I ran into John this past weekend in a park - hopefully the next time will be during an album release! Check out the single below.”

• Christine

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“Meantime” by Del Barber

Looks like I get the country songs this week!

Del Barber finally released the first single off his upcoming album Stray Dogs - which is out on August 20th!
Stray Dogs is a collection of unfinished songs Del had that he reworked during the pandemic and put them all together…hence the album name.

”Meantime” is a slow and dreamy, and if it’s an indication of the rest of the album, I can’t wait to sit on the beach in the sunshine and listen.

• Christine

Song(s) of the Day: December 08, 2016 - The Railtown Sessions by Sarah Jane Scouten, Rob Butterfield, Johnny 99, and Debra-Jean Creelman

Over the last few months, Light Organ Records has been hosting the Railtown Sessions, a series of short shows streamed from their HQ, combined with an EP from each of the four artists. 

Tomorrow night is the culmination of this, with Sarah Jane Scouten, Rob Butterfield, Johnny 99, and Debra-Jean Creelman coming together at the Fox Cabaret for a show. 

Check out the sessions below, or pick up the vinyl at the show tomorrow!