“Honey Lungs” by Said the Whale

Despite certain… worldwide events… 2020 was a very busy year for Said the Whale. Along with frequent livestreams, the band was hard at work on a new batch of songs, with the first self-released single dropping last week.
“Honey Lungs” reminds me of the grittiness of some of the bands early songs, but with modern day production — even if I didn’t know they were working with Steve Bays (of Hot Hot Heat, Mounties, and like eleventeen other bands) I feel like I would have been able to tell just from listening — and will absolutely be stuck in your head for the rest of the day.
Risk the earworm below, or check out the band’s Patreon for sneak peaks of more to come!

Kirk

“How Come By Body” by Half Moon Run

Beautiful new single from the newly JUNO-nominated (for Group Of The Year and Adult Alternative Album of The Year) Half Moon Run. “How Come My Body” is dreamy and simplistic, and comes with a video that made me miss live shows and people even more. We don’t have a set date for the new album, just a “later this year” - but in the meantime, more of this please!

Christine

“I Wanna Make Promises (That I Can’t Keep)” by Whitehorse

Surprise! Not only did Whitehorse release a new song last week, but announced a brand new album was to come mere days later! Modern Love released Friday, and lead single “I Wanna Make Promises (That I Can’t Keep)” is a laid back, sultry number, with an early contender for lyrics of the year:

Let’s argue in Ikea
Make a scene, go home and fuck
On unassembled furniture
Fresh off the moving truck

Kirk

“Parade” by Lydia Ainsworth

Ahead of her brand new album Sparkles & Debris (due out May 21), Lydia Ainsworth has released a gorgeous new song called “Paradise”. Her ethereal voice is backed by her usual electronic soundscapes, but in a departure from her previous albums, Ainsworth is also joined by live drums, guitars, and bass for this album. If the first single is any indication to how the rest of the album will be, I can’t wait to hear it.

Kirk

“Starlight” by Chad VanGaalen

Two weeks ago Chad VanGaalen released another song from his now-released album World's Most Stressed Out Gardener, and I lamented the fact that it didn’t come with a music video.
Well, cut to this week, the full album is released and another single, “Starlight”, gets the signature VanGaalen music video treatment. This is slowly becoming one of my favourite records of the year.

Christine