What to do when you’re set to make a music video and COVID comes along? Write, film and act in it all yourself of course.
That’s what Toronto artist Cherry Blaster did for her new single “Body Language”. It’s a fun, quirky song with colourful beats, and the guitar reminded me of Andy Shauf, but I can’t nail down which song.
Check out the video/single below!
photo by Zachary Hertzman
Woohoo! We finally got a release date and album name from Hannah Georgas for her new LP!
All That Emotion will drop on September 4th via Arts & Crafts, and included in the announcement was a new single from the album, “Dreams”.
Of the single Hannah says it’s about past relationships and pushing people away because you’re feeling like you don’t deserve love - as well as reconciling that breaking down those walls.
Check out the song below, and you can pre-order the album (and some special bundle items) by clicking here.
Last week Jody Glenham released the second single off her upcoming album Mood Rock.
The dream-pop vibe of “The Sound” proves the album will be aptly named, and given the subject matter, I’ll just share what Jody herself had to say about the song on instagram:
“This song is about many things. When I wrote it, I was tired of being quiet and politely waiting for my time to speak... for my turn to be important. This song may start hushed but as it moves towards it's raucous peak, it sheds the layers of frustration and despair revealing power and courage. I may never be important. But what this song says is. This song is The Sound. It is for all who fight to be heard.”
Earlier this month, Vancouver's Jenny Banai released her new single "Intermittent Heart".
With her soft voice lilting over the dreamy strings, she says the song "started as a poem about the philosophical and theological discussions I find myself in. I always feel emotionally involved in these conversations because they are, oftentimes, with people I deeply care about - people who used to think or believe in God, or hold certain values and truths, but no longer do. But I do. I wonder about the synchronicity of our intuition, and how to carry myself when ours don’t meet.
I was very weepy through the process, fresh out of a relationship I thought I had moved on from, which involved a lot of discussion about faith. I sing about closeness and the longing for that closeness when core beliefs are fundamentally different. Is closeness enough? Is love enough if your worldview clashes? In hindsight, I wondered if I wrote a song about my relationship’s end… I tried to write it differently, not wanting to trust my intuition."
Have a listen below, OR You can also watch “a poetic narrative short film of a sort of behind-the-making" of "Intermittent Heart" above!
I loved this new track “Prudence” from Mani Khaira, and when I read the story behind the song, I knew there’d be no way I could write anything that’d do it justice.
So I’ll put it here in full and you can listen to the song that officially premiered today!
”I wrote 'Prudence' shortly after an old friend had a photographer take my photograph. She had a photo of me blown up onto a 48/36 inch canvas, and then she painted on top of it. At first, she wouldn’t show me this painting and when I saw it the first time, I was like, "Oh, my skin colour is a little darker." She put a hat on me to cover my bald head, and there were glasses on my face and a cigarette in my mouth--totally not how I was when the photo was taken. I thought to myself: that’s her perception, it’s what she sees in her artistic mind.
The second time I saw the painting I noticed my skin was lighter and I was still wearing the hat, but the glasses and the cigarette in my mouth were gone.
It was very bizarre to watch someone else do this to my face, my image. Kind of like someone scribbling over pictures in a yearbook.
I sat at the piano and started blurting out how I felt, and this song came from these experiences.
Now, the song has taken a lyrical meaning of its own that I believe relates to everyone. We all wear these ‘masks,' showing our best selves first.
Some people get us and some don’t and some create their own version of who or what they think you are.
I think this song is an inspirational piece reminding to reveal your true self at all times--no matter which angle you may shine.”
Earlier this year (in The Before Time), Winnipeg’s Royal Canoe decided to embrace their city’s reputation as the coldest place on the planet, and played an outdoor show.
In January.
In Winnipeg.
And if that didn’t already sound bonkers enough, they decided this live show would be played on ice. Not like Disney On Ice, but played on ice, as in, every instrument the band played would be made out of ice, making it look like they were playing in the middle of the Fortress of Solitude.
Some of the results of the live show is not only going to be available as a live EP tomorrow, but they’ve also put together a documentary called Glacial which debutes TONIGHT (5p Pacific) on YouTube.
Check out the video for “Living A Lie” below!
Photo credit, Virginia Barbero
After an amazing debut solo album last year, Tim Baker is poised to release a follow up EP entitled Survivors, due out July 10.
The title track is the lead single, and alludes to the fact that the songs were written during run up to the last album. Baker says "I’ve always made twenty songs to keep ten, and the Forever Overhead sessions were no different. You’ve maybe heard some of the songs that didn’t make it, on the Side Door Sessions. Or you’ve maybe heard some other survivors at a live show. Well, some seemed so relevant to the current moment that they basically stood up and demanded to be let out. Being no tyrant, I dusted them off, smoothed their lapels, and resolved to send them on their way, on this new EP."
And speaking of Side Door, Tim Baker has a couple online performances coming up, on May 29 and May 30!
photo by Vanessa Heins
Ten Kills The Pack has released a song (“Relaxing Apartments”) and new video, from their debut EP Force Majeure.
He’s coined the genre “city folk” and “city-songwriter”, which is my new favourite coin-ing since Corb Lund claimed “Agricultural Tragic” (or Ag Trag). The recording sessions for the album were done in several Toronto high-rises, where “the sights, sounds and shapes of the city were woven into the music”.
Check out the new track below!