Songs of the Week: July 28 - August 03, 2025

August 05, 2025 by Christine McAvoy in Song Of The Day, Songs Of The Week

“So High” by Begonia

I am so excited that we’re not only getting a new Begonia song, but also news of a brand new album!

“So High” is the first single off the Winnipeg singer’s third full-length album, Fantasy Life, and is a dreamy jam that highlights her incredible vocals. Alexa Dirks says the song “indulges in playfulness but also touches on a balance I’m always searching for; Self care vs. self neglect, running away from problems vs. chasing after a butterfly. When deadmen [Matt Peters and Matt Schellenberg] and I wrote it last summer, it all came out pretty quickly and I was like ‘AHHH I've always wanted to write a song that felt like this’. Driving into a long sunset, top down, hair hitting me in the face, possibly crying…”

Watch the video below, and grab Fantasy Life when it drops out October 24 on Birthday Cake Records.

Kirk

“Little Red Ranger” and “When the Truth Comes Out” by Kathleen Edwards

We’re less than a month away from the new album from Kathleen Edwards, and we got two more teases last week, with “Little Red Ranger” and “When the Truth Comes Out”.

“When the Truth Comes Out” is a classic Kathleen Edwards banger, and she says “I wrote this for a good friend who had a lot of people fall out of her life in a short period of time. Watching her go through it reminded me: people have short memories, they love the safety of keeping the most famous person in the room comfortable, a false narrative is more convenient than rocking the boat. The truth isn’t always popular, but in time it’s the thing that you can hold on to when other’s backs are turned.”

While “Little Red Ranger” is more contemplative, which is “Part love letter to the Canadian boy who moves to LA to pursue his dreams and his heart, part holding the hand of the mom and dad wondering if their kid will decide to set down roots somewhere far away. Bird in a tree if you look away, you miss the chance to see it fly away. Life unfolds before you in real time, looking back just to see you weren’t paying attention when it was happening. This song pulls at my heart more than most songs on the record, it’s my story, it’s every parent’s story, like the follow-up to Empty Threat. Matt Sucich sang on this song before we even recorded it, and his backing vocal just sits so right with mine.”

I remember hearing “Little Red Ranger” when Edwards played an intimate show at the Biltmore late last year, and loved it then, though I’m a little sad she didn’t go with the alternate title she proposed that night: “The Leafs Still Suck”

Check out both songs below, and you can get Billionaire when it’s out on August 22!

Kirk

“Lucky” by Haviah Mighty ft. Shantel May

Haviah Mighty is back with some more new music and this time she’s teamed up with a fellow Torontonian - R&B singer Shantel May.

“Lucky” is full of funky beats and remind me of an early 2000s track, especially when Shantel’s voice kicks in.

Of the song they’re singing about “mutual appreciation in a relationship where both partners know they’re fortunate to have each other, but question whether that gratitude is truly seen. While continuing to echo themes of self-love and inner worth, the song also leans into the longing for care and validation from others.”

Excited to see if we’ll get more music, but in the meantime Haviah is gearing up to host the 2025 Polaris Music Prize gala!

Christine

“Stonehenge” (feat. Elton John) by Spinal Tap

Recently, 80’s heavy metal legends Spinal Tap reunited for a one-off show, and thankfully, documentarian Marty Di Bergi was there to do a follow up to his groundbreaking documentary that put Spinal Tap on the map.

The new documentary called Spinal Tap II: The End Continues follows David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel, and Derek Smalls as they navigate their lives and get ready for the reunion show, which featured cameos from music legends like Elton John, who joined the band for their seminal hit “Stonehenge”.

Crank the video up to 11, and keep an eye out when the documentary — and companion album The End Continues — releases on September 12th.

Kirk

Songs of the Week: June 30 - July 06, 2025

July 07, 2025 by Christine McAvoy in Song Of The Day, Songs Of The Week

“Sunshine” by Royal Wood

Summer’s in full swing, so maybe you need a little more “Sunshine” in your life?

The new song from Royal Wood comes with the announcement of his ninth studio album, Dear John. It’s an upbeat, summer jam that Wood says is “inspired by the Buddhist ideology that behind every cloud is a forever blue sky. No matter the metaphoric storm in life, peace and love are always present. Once you steer your heart with this principle, hope and faith return. I wanted the song to feel like sunshine itself. Like I had it in a bottle, and I could drink it. This is my summer jam.”

Have a listen below, and kee an ear out when Dear John drops on October 17 via Cordova Bay Records.

Kirk

“Good Luck, Babe!” (Chappell Roan Cover) by Rose Cousins

I’ve heard Chappell Roan’s song “Good Luck, Babe!” probably 100 times, so when I saw that Rose Cousins covered it, I needed to hear it.

There’s something special about a cover when it completely becomes it’s own, and this is definitely one of them. It takes the sentiments from the original and puts it into a delicate and soft reworking that creates an air of melancholy.

Beautiful job and hopefully we can hear it in October when she performs at St James Hall on the 6th!

Christine

“Pine” by Kathleen Edwards

Kathleen Edwards is giving us another tease of her upcoming album Billionaire with the stripped down, vulnerable new track “Pine”

The song came to Edwards on the road, as she explains: “On the 2-day drive from Ottawa to Nashville, a line popped in my head, ‘when we go our separate ways, the thought of you stays.’ By the time I arrived in Nashville I had written ‘Pine’ and it was the first track we put down for this album. Friends who can’t be lovers. A classic country song. At first the arrangement made me feel incredibly bare and exposed, but I now love the spare production, Jason’s super dry electric solo makes me feel like Dusty.”

It’s a gorgeous song to crank on the car stereo on a late summer night, with the windows down as the sun sets. Listen for yourself below, and note down August 22nd for the release of Billionaire.

Kirk

Songs of the Week: June 02 - 08, 2025

June 09, 2025 by Christine McAvoy in Song Of The Day, Songs Of The Week

“Save Your Soul” and “Say Goodbye, Tell No One” by Kathleen Edwards

Last week Kathleen Edwards graced up with not one, but two brand new singles, while announcing her next album, Billionaire. Both “Save Your Soul” and “Say Goodbye, Tell No One” are classic Kathleen jams, with soaring choruses and sharp, barbed lyrics.

The album was produced by Jason Isbell and Gena Johnson, and Edwards shared, “I decided to call the record Billionaire because the word is used in such a caustic way these days. But we should all want to be billionaires in life, to be rich in experience, friendship, purpose, and the pursuit of the things that bring us joy.”

If the new songs are any indication, I can’t wait for Billionaire to drop on August 22, (pre-save it here!)

Kirk

“Little Plans” by Dust Cwaine

Vancouver’s Dust Cwaine returns with their latest single “Little Plans”, the lead from their upcoming album, Twin Lakes.

Co-written by Hotel Mira’s Charlie Kerr, the song is an upbeat, synth-rock banger, which Dust explains is “a T4T love story that celebrates the joy of trans love. I wrote it in my living room with my friend Charlie Kerr. I was excited about the new person I was seeing, and this potential for transformation and magic seemed to be all around me. I told him I was so in love that every time I saw this person, I refused to wash my hands after they left so the scent would linger. That excitement of new love, and that particular power that T4T love brings, can take the everyday minutiae of your life and transform it into something you would have never thought was possible.”

The album is out later this year, but you can watch Dust slowly twirling through some familiar Vancouver locations in the video below!

Kirk

“Peter and the Wolf” by Patrick Watson

We’ve been getting a few singles and teasers from Patrick Watson, but officially have an album announcement - Uh Oh will be released on September 26th!

Little bit about the album from the press release: “The eleven new, original songs find Watson meditating on the idea of life being a series of “uh ohs”, a little phrase uttered in response to everything from childhood accidents to our most overwhelming anxieties. For Watson, it came to mind when faced with the biggest “uh oh” that a singer could endure: he lost his voice. Unsure if or when he would be able to sing again, his new album took a new shape. A collection of collaborations with friends and strangers; artists that he wanted to hear sing. Uh Oh represents a vision that Watson has chased for his entire life, the culmination of 20 years of musical exploration and lived experience that enabled him to translate the films in his mind to the sounds and words swirling in your ears.”

The new track “Peter and the Wolf” doesn’t have a collaborating vocalist, it’s an eerie and dark tune “inspired by the ghosts of New Orleans and the pitch black-ness of being in the forest in the dark”.

Christine

“Eye Of The Storm” by Georgia Harmer

Georgia Harmer has been releasing a steady stream of music this year, and now we finally get news of an album release, with the release of the title track “Eye of the Storm”.

The soft, intimate song highlights her stellar vocals, and Harmer says it’s “about the feeling of carrying the weight of someone else's well-being on my shoulders. It's about the feeling of responsibility and helplessness towards the problem of someone else's sadness. It's about emotional labour and my default willingness to take on the feelings of people around me, whether it even helps them or not. And how the weight of that can hold me back from my own life.”

Eye of the Storm is out on August 15th, and below you can check out the very mood-appropriate video — director Norman Wong with cinematography by Tristan C-M. She’s also announced a slew of Canadian tour dates, including here in Vancouver at the Biltmore Cabaret on November 22!

Kirk

“Andy Magoffin” by Two Hours Traffic

I Never See You Anymore, the first album in over a decade from East Coasters Two Hours Traffic, is finally here!

The song was inspired by people and places that the band never sees anymore since they stopped touring full-time - hence the album title.
The song references Two-Minute Miracles’ Andy Magoffin, and a tavern in Sackville they used to perform at that’s now closed.

Filled with sing-a-long-able bah-ba-da-buh-ba’s and a fun guitar solo to close out the song, this one is CATCHY!

Christine

“Headcrusher” by Penny & the Pits

Penny & The Pits is the new project from Maritime musician and Motherhood bassist/keyboardist Penelope Stevens, and last week they shared a new one from their upcoming album, Liquid Compactor.

“Headcrusher” is a raucous surf-punk anthem about “trying to blame yourself for someone else's bad behaviour. But then it's also about refusing to do that anymore and just sending them out to die at sea,” says Penelope Stevens.

Liquid Compactor is out on June 27th, and of course the video is an homage to the beloved Kids in the Hall bit!

Kirk

Song of the Day: May 25, 2020 - "Options Open" by Kathleen Edwards

May 25, 2020 by Kirk Hamilton in Song Of The Day

After retiring from music and opening up her own cafe (ominously named Quitters) I never thought we would be hearing new music from Kathleen Edwards. But here we are, and I couldn’t be happier.

“Options Open” is the lead single to her brand new album Total Freedom, out August 14. Of her break, Edwards says “I had no desire to write, no desire to play. It allowed me all the time and space I needed to even just enjoy listening to music again. There were so many times where, if I was thinking about my own writing or playing, my heart just wasn't in it. I don’t want to write songs that are going to keep me in a dark place for two years. I didn’t have to carry a lot of the pressure of whatever course I was on previously…There’s a pressure sometimes to keep that ball rolling, and that’s what was so freeing about stopping altogether and starting again. I realized I’m entirely in control and deciding what my course of action is.”