Songs of the Week: April 06 - 12, 2026

April 14, 2026 by Christine McAvoy in Song Of The Day, Songs Of The Week

“aster” by cherry pick

Last week, cherry pick signed with Light Organ Records and celebrated by releasing the brand new single “aster”!

The new song is full of shoegaze-y, grungy vibes, with cherry pick sharing the song “captures the quiet unraveling of someone drifting away from who they once said they’d become. It’s rooted in that specific kind of grief—watching potential slowly fade, and not knowing how to reach them anymore.”

Check out the vibrant video — directed by Yang — below!

kirk

“What’s On Your Mind” (feat. Poolside) by Arkells

The new album from Arkells, Between Us, comes out at the end of this week and the Hamilton band is giving us one last preview while teaming up with Poolside.

“What’s On Your Mind” is a disco-infused earworm, as frontman Max Kerman notes: “We wanted a song that felt hypnotic—where the chords don’t move much, and the rhythm and melody do all the heavy lifting. It’s my favourite thing about seeing dance music live: how it can loop and loop and loop, and the longer it goes, the better it feels. We went deep into synth-world on this one.” He continues, “we toured with Poolside and saw the power of repetition. What restraint can offer to the crowd. The patience of building a song with the groove dictating everything. The song was just about finished when we asked Poolside to add some shine to it all. Our music has ended up in all kinds of places, and we hope this ends up on some dance floors.”

Between Us is out April 17th, and I hope you were lucky enough to snag tickets to their special run of intimate shows in Vancouver next month, May 7 - 9 at the Penthouse, Hollywood Theatre, and Commodore Ballroom (respectively)

Kirk

“Dopamine” by Pastel Blank

Every new song I hear from Pastel Blank makes me more and more excited for the new album.

“Dopamine” is the latest track from the musical project of Angus Watt (joined by ‘an ever-shifting cast of musicians and collaborators from Montréal, Vancouver, and Victoria’) and fair warning: it will instantly be stuck in your head for the rest of the day.

The first three singles off the album — this, “ Sweet Nic” and “Shareholder” — are the first three tracks on the album, and Watt explains they “act as siblings to each other. They’re all kind of circling around the same themes of addiction and control (or lack there of). A friend pointed out a guitar riff towards the end of 'Dopamine' is reminiscent of the 'Magic School Bus' theme song. If you find the riff, learn to play it, and send a video, I’ll give you a guest list to a show.”

Listen for yourself below, and keep an ear out for the album Unmade In Minutes when it’s out on April 24!

Kirk

Songs of the Week: March 16 - 22, 2026

March 23, 2026 by Christine McAvoy in Song Of The Day, Songs Of The Week

“Love Deficiency Syndrome” by Jody Glenham

Between shows Kirk and I have seen Jody perform at over the two years, we’ve slowly heard the song from her upcoming EP Still Here be released.

“Love Deficiency Syndrome” is the latest to come out ahead of the album release (April 24th), and I’ll let Jody describe where the track came from:

“I wrote [it] with a friend, the artist Georgette, inspired by an article Lena Dunham wrote about a breakup after a long-term relationship. We were drawn to the idea of how, when you're with someone, you take for granted the small things, like always having someone to eat dinner with. The song is full of subtle nods: the opening synth/guitar hook is meant to sound like one of those old, drawn-out doorbells, like you were waiting for your Uber eats to arrive, and the bridge has computer shut down references, mimicking both the autopilot of being in a relationship and the process of making yourself whole again as an individual.
We also leaned into really melodramatic imagery in the verses as a nod to how a breakup can make you feel like “my life is ending,” when really… you’re going to be just fine.”

I’m looking forward to hearing the whole album recorded after hearing the tracks live during so many performances - come on April 24th!

Christine

“Sweet Nic” by Pastel Blank

Pastel Blank is the solo project of Angus Watt, supported by an ‘ever-shifting cast of musicians and collaborators from Montréal, Vancouver, and Victoria’, and last week they released their latest single with “Sweet Nic”.

The track is the second single off the upcoming album Unmade In Minutes and is a quirky & catchy song about the dangers of nicotine, with Watt explaining:
“I wrote Sweet Nic after being left unattended with Connor Head’s accursed Juul (while Juul’s were still legal in Canada) when he and I lived together in an apartment in Victoria’s Chinatown. The idea was to write a song about (or around) nicotine without using any words that were too obvious, such as 'cigarette' or 'smoking'. What started as a writing exercise has resulted mostly in confused reactions, or people asking who Nic is? Hopefully the music video with the bruiser cigarette thugs clears things up. It's very freeing, being dressed as a human-sized cigarette.”

Unmade In Minutes comes out on April 24th, and be sure to check out the absolutely unhinged (complimentary) music video below!

Kirk

“Last Life” by Thea May

I’m not gonna lie, it was the first line in the press release for “Last Life” by Thea May that caught my attention:

Don’t bother with anything but honesty with Thea May. An emo kid at heart, the Anishinaabe artist from Atikameksheng Anishnawbek, ON, makes music because she has to.

And I’m glad it did, because as soon as I started the song, I had to crank it. “Last Life” is raw and energetic, with a dark humour as May shares, “It's how I cope. It’s not a cry for help, it’s a side-eye at the clichés you lean on when you’re emotionally and spiritually overloaded and still expected to function.”

There’s a video out later this month, but you can have a listen now, and keep an ear out for more from Thea May later this year!

Kirk

Songs of the Week: February 16 - 22, 2026

February 23, 2026 by Christine McAvoy in Song Of The Day, Songs Of The Week

“Fuck War” by Tanya Tagaq

Tanya Tagaq isn’t mincing words with her latest single, “Fuck War”.

The visceral and guttural song features Tagaq chanting the title over and over, accompanied by screams that build in intensity.

On her instagram, Tagaq also added: “Fuck War. Fuck genocide. Fuck rabid colonial systems breeding strange alien billionaires. Fuck people following them like drooling zombies. Fuck your violence. Fuck your short sightedness. Fuck your lies. Fuck your propaganda. Fuck killing for profit. Fuck your rewritten histories. This embodies the frustration and disgust bearing witness to the corruption and immorality of the world. Fuck pedos. Eat the rich.”

“Fuck War” is the first song off the upcoming album Saputjiji, which you can pick up on March 6th.

Kirk

“Carnal Needs” by Ché Aimee Dorval

Vancouver’s Ché Aimee Dorval is back with the first new music she’s released since 2025’s track “Joyride”.

“Carnal Needs” is a gritty and dreamy electronic-pop song that Doval celebrated the release of with a live performance recording of the song (see below).
Dorval says: “Carnal Needs’ comes from the moments when I feel awake and present in my body instead of stuck in my head. It’s about letting yourself want what you want, and trusting what feels right in the moment. I’ve never been someone who lets other people’s expectations shape how I live. For me, following instinct, intuition, and desire is a big part of experiencing life in all its chaos, mess, and beauty. I don’t feel that kind of freedom all the time. I spend a lot of time in my own head, but when I do feel that spark and that pull, I try to honour it because I know how fleeting it can be.”
Hoping with this new music there will be a full EP soon - and in the meantime, you can catch her live at the WISE Hall on March 14th along with Uncle Strut, and FIONN for a charity show.

Christine

“Shareholder” by Pastel Blank

Pastel Blank is the musical project of Angus Watt, along with a rotating cast of musicians & collaborators from Montréal, Vancouver, & Victoria. And this past week, he released his latest single, “Shareholder”.

The quirky and provocative song takes aim at big pharma, with Angus explaining, “This started as a demo titled 'Physician'. And while the mental image of a cartoonishly evil pill-happy doctor was kind of fun to imagine, it felt a bit reductive of the larger issue of the opioid epidemic and how it came to be. The book “Empire of Pain” by Patrick Radden Keefe takes a look at the Sackler family and their initial (somewhat) honourable intentions, which lead to Purdue Pharma, Oxycontin, and the marriage of medicine and commerce.”

Check out the video below, and look out for the upcoming album Unmade in Minutes, out on April 24th!

Kirk