Song of the Day: October 25, 2019 - "‘Til We Disappear" by Tourist Company

We’ve had a few peeks at the upcoming album from Tourist Company, and the latest is a track inspired by a deeply personal life event, “‘Til We Disappear”. The story is a rollercoaster of emotion, so I’m just going to let singer-songwriter, Taylor Swindells tell it:

“This was the last song written for this record and it’s a little bit of an aside from the rest of the album. I wasn’t intending on writing any more songs for this project but life had other plans. I’d just come home from tour when my partner sat me down and told me she wasn’t pregnant – which was kind of a strange way to start a conversation. I remember my heart leaping into my throat not really being certain what was going to happen next. She told me that her doctor didn’t know what was wrong with her – she was eight weeks late and had taken two pregnancy tests herself, but the doctor’s test had come back negative. She was categorically not pregnant. This left two options that were both terrifying: either she could never have kids, or she had uterine cancer and we had no way of knowing if or how much it had spread. I wrote this song pretty shortly after that conversation, trying not to freak out but knowing that I loved her more than anything and that was never going to change.
Moments like that bring a lot of clarity to what actually matters. Without those terrifying events, it’s hard to know how deep anything in life really is. All I wanted right then and there was for her to know that I loved her no matter what and that was never going to change. Two weeks later after another doctor’s test we found out that she was actually just pregnant the whole time, which was the BIGGEST relief. We still don’t know what medically happened but we’re very happy to be parents now.
Even though this song wasn’t originally set within the world of the new album, it seemed like a fitting way to end a record about processing bad news. I felt all the stages of this album in those two weeks when our world was turned upside down, but the truth was, all that mattered was ‘I will love you ‘til we disappear’.”

The new album comes out early next year, but you might be able to catch a preview of it next week at the Biltmore, where they are opening for Rich Aucoin… on Hallowe’en!

Song of the Day: October 24, 2019 - "Song In My Head" by We Are The City

“We Are The City finally wrote a chorus after 12 healthy years.” is what the trio from Kelowna joked shortly after the release of their latest single. But in all seriousness: what a damn chorus it is.

Shortly after 2018’s AT NIGHT was released, the band started hinting at another new album, a companion piece called RIP. And while it may have been a little longer than expected* we finally heard the first sounds of it — and the aforementioned chorus — recently with “Song In My Head”.

The album is a “prog-pop counterpoint to AT NIGHT's more experimental exploration” and will be out early next year, but have a listen below!

*They did release an award-winning movie between the two albums called Ash, which you can see the trailer for here, and I would highly recommend it.

Song of the Day: October 23, 2019 - "Let There Be Love" by Matt Mays

Just ahead of his Howl at the Night tour (which kicked off earlier this week), Matt Mays released a brand new song, “Let There Be Love”.

The new song was an unexpected change of pace from Mays, but certainly not an unwelcome one. “Let There Be Love” has a bouncy, dancey vibe to it, and Mays says "I feel like a lot of people around me have been feeling a little lost and scared lately. I’ve been feeling the same way. It breaks my heart to see such true people sad. This new song 'Let There Be Love' is about finding the courage to love yourself blindly and learning to accept this self-love trustingly. It’s a dream of letting the bad things be and just basking in the beauty of this little weird thing we call life."

Have a listen below, and make sure you’re there to hear it LIVE tonight, when he plays the Vogue with Skye Wallace!

Song of the Day: October 22, 2019 - "How Many Times" by Debra-Jean Creelman

I feel like it’s been a while since we heard anything from Vancouver singer Debra-Jean Creelman, so I was happy to see a new song pop up in my inbox earlier this month.

“How Many Times,” the first single from her upcoming EP, Triggers & Mirrors, and “is about freeing myself from the traditional restrictions and societal obligations of being a woman and not passing on the programs and patterns I inherited to a child of my own.”

Her incredible voice soars over the building electro-pop, which she says was a “true collaboration” between herself, co-writer and producer James Meger, producer/engineer Jesse Zubot (Tanya Taqaq), and vocalist and creative collaborator Molly Guldemond (her former Mother Mother bandmate).

Song of the Day: October 21, 2019 - "You Are Bad" by Laura Reznek

Vancouver’s Laura Reznek recently released a brand new single, “You Are Bad”, a deeply haunting song with Reznek’s smoky vocals piano, with dissonant interruptions.

Reznek says the song was written “to try to understand an intense and toxic conflict that took a long time to recover from. I was feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt when I wrote this - guilty for the situation itself and my role in it, but also wondering if I needed to be guilty at all. The reason why it was so important for me, is that I needed to find forgiveness - both for the other person involved and for myself. I tried to express the arc of how my own personal train-of-thought would go; starting off in a sort of reflective, passive state, moving into a romanticising of the situation, then to anger and accusation towards the other person, followed by anger and accusation towards myself, and finally a truce of some sort. This was my pattern of thinking that would happen over and over again.”

Watch the video below, which was directed by Nicola Fuller.

Song of the Day: October 20, 2019 - "Waist Down" by Adaline

We’ve already got one tease of the new EP from singer/songwriter/composer Adaline, and now we’re getting another.

The sultry “Waist Down” is the second single off of her upcoming EP, dear illusion, which is due out on February 28 next year. Adaline says, “Waist Down is about the priority of pleasure and how that somehow sustains a relationship that is starving in every other way. Physical gratification acts as a bump that keeps things moving and distracts from the impending collapse.”

I have a feeling this song is going to be running through my head all week, and I can’t wait to hear the full EP.

Song of the Day: October 19, 2019 - "The Girls Are O.K." by Miesha & The Spanks

Fresh off last year’s album Girls Girls Girls, Miesha & The Spanks are back at it with a brand new song, “The Girls Are O.K.”

I don’t think I can describe the banger of a song any better than singer/guitarist Miesha Louie did, so here’s what she had to say about the song:

“I wrote “The Girls Are O.K.” while in my third trimester this summer, expecting twins— no idea what their gender would be. At the same time I was scheduling this year’s Girls Rock Camp in Calgary. The whole thing got me thinking about these strong, weird, cool girls that I get to work with every year and watch grow, and how if I ended up with two baby girls, I wouldn’t be worried about or for them at all, because the girls from camp were already light years ahead of where I was at their age. They’re so brave and they already know they don’t have to take any bullshit— something I learned much later in life. They’re going to be more than okay – they’re going to be great.
To put a bow on it, I had this year’s Girls Rock Camp Calgary contribute backing vocals to the song, highlighting the driving force behind my inspiration. Of course, there’s still struggle, and lots wrong with gender divisions and privilege. But, it’s nice to take a step back from that struggle and look at how it’s affected the younger generations.”

Check it out below!

Song of the Day: October 18, 2019 - "The Judge" by Alexandria Maillot

Recently we not only got a new song from Vancouver Island’s Alexandria Maillot, but also word on a brand new album!

“The Judge” is the latest single from the upcoming release Benevolence, and features her gorgeous voice over some indie-folk-pop beats, that builds to a cacophonous finish.

The new album comes out November 15th, and you can catch her on tour next month with Louise Burns
(Except the Vancouver date, what’s up with that?!)