Song of the Day: December 17, 2018 - "The Ocean" by Wallis Bird

My favourite new discovery of the Vancouver Folk Fest this past year had to be Wallis Bird, who I saw perform a workshop with perennial favourite Skye Wallace. Since then, I’ve been keeping an ear out for new music, so I was happy to see “The Ocean” pop up.

The song is also accompanied by a video that is a “love letter” to the global LGBTQ+ community. Wallis says “We would love for this film to reach our LGBTQ+ family in the 72 countries where being gay is still illegal so we can try to shine a light on the darkness by giving a voice to the LGBTQ+ voiceless. In doing so, we're showing that, while we’re divided by social, religious or cultural barriers, we’re all bound by our aspirations towards true love.”

Song of the Day: December 16, 2018 - "Surrender" by Wintersleep

Wintersleep’s SEVENTH full length record is coming, titled In The Land Of, and we have a new single from it (no release date yet).

“Surrender” is a gentle song that builds up to a big crescendo, in true Wintersleep fashion.

They’ve announced a tour as well, and will be in Vancouver on the 26th of April at the Commodore. Check out the new tune below!

Song of the Day: December 15, 2018 - "Changed My Ways" by Murray A LIghtburn

Last week we got another aural peek at the new solo album from The Dears’ Murray A Lightburn.

“Changed My Ways” is a gorgeous song, and Murray explains he wanted it “to be gentle and fragile yet strong; a balance that kind of encapsulates the album and its theme. I wanted something that was confident - without being perceived as arrogant. That is really hard to achieve."

Hear Me Out is out February 22nd, and is already one of my most anticipated of the year!

Song of the Day: December 14, 2018 - "Everything" by Star Captains ft. Shad

This track came across my radar (via instagram) the other day, and while I don’t need too much to sell me on Vancouver band Star Captains (just saw them kill it at the Music Heals gala last month), the words “featuring Shad” are going to be worth the click.

The groovy tune “Everything” is below, and you’re going to find it hard to sit still.

Song of the Day: December 13, 2018 - "The Runaway" by Astrocolor

I needed a good dance track the other day and this Astrocolor collaboration with Righteous Rainbows Of Togetherness delivered.

The song is a stand alone track (Astrocolor released their third album in April of this year), and follows frontman Neil Cooke-Dallin “trying to escape an unknown and mysterious force that is constantly following him. When the protagonist [Neil] encounters the force, his vision becomes saturated in red and he has premonitions of being in a desert.”

Song of the Day: December 12, 2018 - "Be Free" by Buckman Coe

Buckman Coe’s new album is called Gathering Storm, and it’s due out on February 22nd of next year - and there’s a lot of things I love about this new song/video from it called “Be Free”.

First I immediately noticed that they filmed it in Vancouver bar The Emerald, which I love, but what you might not know is that they assembled an almost all female team to to shoot this seamless one-shot style vid!

The LGBTQI2S forward video also showcases inclusitivioty and love with it’s cast and mood.
Check it out:

Song of the Day: December 11 - "Somewhere, BC" by Limbs of the Stars

Settle in, because today’s song is a doozy. Limbs of the Stars is the musical duo of Stephen Lyons & Shanto Acharia (who you may know from Fond of Tigers), and their new song “Somewhere, BC” was originally composed as part of an immersive exhibit featuring photos by Wallace Barber.

The video below shows some of the photos for the project, as the guitar + cello soundscape rolls over you like the fog for a 43+ minute experience.

Song of the Day: December 10, 2018 - "So What?" by 36?

Calgary’s 36? released a brand new tune last month, “So What?”

No no, that’s not my reaction, that’s the name of the song. It’s a deceptively upbeat & peppy song, with a bit of a darkness to the lyrics. Taylor Cochrane of the band explains "I think the natural reaction when you are feeling super depressed is to overcompensate with faux-positive energy and pretend everything is super happy which is what we did with the arrangement. “so what?” is like when someone tells a funny joke about how they hate themselves. You laugh, but you also know they are serious."

Check it out below!