Songs of the Week: March 24 - 30, 2025

“Make Way For Waves” by Amy Millan

Last week Amy Millan shared another tease of her upcoming solo album with the latest song, “Make Way For Waves”

The beautiful, twitchy song was the first collaboration between Millan and the album’s co-writer/co-producer Jay McCarrol (of Nirvana the Band the Show fame), and Amy says:

“This song has a very special place in my heart. It’s the first song Jay and I collaborated on and was initially titled ‘gentle beginnings.’ It is the song that launched our relationship and the making of this album. The first verse was an old Stars demo sitting in a hard drive cemetery. I never forgot it and my attachment to the sentiment of the verse lyrics. I sent what I had to Jay and told him it needed a chorus and obviously a second verse. A few weeks later, he sent the song back completed and with this punch in the gut chorus that made me fall out of my chair. We were off. Lyrically I was seeking to articulate how difficult patches in life can influence you to blow it all up or throw in the towel. I was clinging to the idea that with some patience and reflection maybe calmer waters eventually return like the cycle of the moon. Mourning time passing is a right of passage, and the forlorn can make a beautiful hook. Trying not to let fear find a home in my heart.”

Amy’s new album I Went To Find You comes out May 30 on Last Gang Records, and you can check out the gorgeous hand-drawn animated video by Gaia Alari below!

• Kirk

---

“Get Dumber” by PUP

My favourite part of the video for this song is when the saxophone lights up a mini saxophone weed pipe.

Honestly I’d love to just leave it at that, but I’ll tell you more about PUP’s new single “Get Dumber”.
The track will appear on the band’s upcoming album Who Will Look After The Dogs? which is out in just over a month on May 2nd.

The song features band bud and collaborator Jeff Rosenstock and has a hilarious story behind it that singer Stefan Babcock relates below:
“I wrote ‘Get Dumber’ in Jeff’s basement. I was house sitting for him while he was on tour. I recorded the first demo for it on his guitar using his mics and his computer. Maybe because the ghost of Jeff was in the room with me, I always imagined our voices on this song together, so I was very happy when he agreed to sing on it. 
We recorded the vocals together, in the same room, facing each other. What that means is, we both had to nail it at the same time because we couldn’t really cut between takes. On the first take, he forgot a line in the second verse and said “ahhhhhh, lyrics” instead. I couldn’t finish the take because I was laughing too hard. Anyway, he practiced singing the correct lyrics but then we decided those lyrics kinda sucked and he should just stick to “ahhhh lyrics” because it’s funny and the song is called Get Dumber.”

And, like all PUP videos, this one is worth the watch.

• Christine
  

---

“Take It Easy” by Total Fucking Darkness

Speaking of side projects from members of Stars, Total Fucking Darkness dropped their latest single, a thumping rave anthem antithetically called “Take It Easy”.

And you know what, I love everything about this blurb in the press release, so I want to just copy it verbatim:

Written in real-time, “Take It Easy” was born from pure spite. Torquil Campbell (a man who once played a badger in a cartoon) wrote the lyrics while listening to the track for the first time—a feat that continues to baffle even his bandmates, Stephen Ramsay (tall and just on this side of handsome) and Tom McFall (English studio genius and synthesist whose engineering credits include the likes of REM, Bloc Party, Twin Shadow, Regina Spektor). And then, of course, there are the sheep.

Still no word on an album from the trio, but if you’re in Montreal you can attend the inaugural Total Fucking Darkness party on May 29th at Newspeak.

Kirk

---

“Listen2me” by Foxwarren

Having new Foxwarren land in my inbox was unexpected and super exciting!

Foxwarren (which is made up of Andy Shauf, Avery Kissick and Darryl Kissick, Dallas Bryson, and Colin Nealis) announced that their new record, 2, will be released on May 30th!

The first track “Listen2me” had be swaying and bobbing along from the first few notes, and warranted an immediate re-listen (I see the irony with the song title).

In addition to the song, you'll really want to see the video produced for it (created by Winston Hacking) as it involves actual miniature sets and stop-motion animation cut outs!

• Christine

Songs of the Week: March 17 - 23, 2025

“Without You” by Aysanabee

Multiple JUNO-winning artist Aysanabee is back with new music and an album announcement!

Edge Of The Earth is set to be released on June 20th and the theme of the album is“situated on the dividing lines drawn by decisions and choices made in critical moments. The songs of this collection, many borne out of conversations with friends, lovers and self, reflect on the emotional crossroads and precipices that catalyze major life changes.”

The first track “Without You” mourns the loss of his granfather, Watin (which was also the name of Aysanabee’s first album") and the accompanying video was filmed on the Naotkamegwanning First Nation - showing off the cold and frozen winter.

His voice is so powerful and cuts right into you, and I cannot wait to hear more from the album to come!

• Christine

---

“Little Light” by Georgia Harmer

Last week, Georgia Harmer released her second single of the year with a song for the spring in “Little Light”.

The new tune is a gentle hymn featuring Harmer’s gorgeous voice, and she explains the song “is an homage to a very peaceful place out in the country where I lived for a few months, and a new love taking root. It's a very hopeful song, about being led to inner solace, and feeling like the blinds are being opened to let the light in a little bit more than they'd ever really been. It's a song about tranquility and reverence, for the place I was in, physically and emotionally, and trying to take in the beauty that surrounded me and let it seep inward enough to make me feel like I could be part of it.”

No news on if there’s a album on the way, but here’s hoping for more soon!

• Kirk

---

“Disease with No Name” by Matias Roden

Vancouver’s Matias Roden is diving deep into existential dread with his latest single “Disease with No Name”.

Drawing inspiration from a his own struggles with chronic pain and frustration of being dismissed by doctors, and Roden says “I wanted this song to feel both intimate and grand—like you’re sitting alone with your thoughts, but they’re expanding beyond the room, beyond the city, into something huge and uncontainable”

Take a listen with the video — directed by Peter Faint — below!

• Kirk

---

“odessa (she-side)” by pssyclwz

I love a good cover song, and what’s even more interesting is a cover from a completely different perspective. Which is what Toronto’s pssyclwz has done with Caribou’s classic “Odessa”, making a haunting “she-side” from a brand new point of view.

She elaborates, “"Odessa" was a song I've always wanted to cover, but I knew it had to be more than just a copy. I tried everything from live instrumental to acapella versions, but it was producer Samuel Kochany's beat that really brought this concept to life. I wanted to honour the original, but also add my own spin. Using my voice to replace some of the instrumental components was ambitious, but we didn't give up on the idea, and I'm really glad we stuck with it.”

Have a listen and watch the lyric video below!

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: March 10 - 16, 2025

“Reservoir” (PUP Cover) by NOBRO

The Polaris Music Prize has been having nominees cover each other for many years now (Hannah Georgas coving Arcade Fire was a fav of mine) and this week they released a new one.

I happen to be on the jury and definitely wanted to hear NOBRO covering PUP (or the reverse) and we were blessed with a banger. NOBRO went with “Reservoir” - an oldie from PUP’s self-titled debut album.

Holy hell does the guitar solo go hard. I’ve listened too many times to count already - now it’s your turn!

• Christine

---

“Make Believe” by Mother Mother

On their 20th anniversary as a band, Mother Mother is not looking to the past, but the future with a brand new song, and album announcement!

“Make Believe” is the first single off their upcoming album Nostalgia, a frenetic song that singer Ryan Guldemond says: “I indulged a bit in my own life-philosophy on this track. Magical thinking, interconnection, cosmic gallivanting.”

Nostalgia is the band’s tenth(!) studio album, and you can pick it up on June 6th, but in the meantime, check out the lyric video for “Make Believe” below!

• Kirk

---

“Made For This” by Hotel Mira

Even though Hotel Mira is throwing a Pity Party, they still have cause to celebrate with the release of their latest studio album.

Frontman Charlie Kerr explains “The album title ‘Pity Party’ captures the genre and concept of the songs — the feeling of cycling between extreme joy, excitement and excess (party) and the impending depression, hangover and paranoia (pity). Being so caught up in the self-obsession of ends of this spectrum that you neglect to give yourself to anything of use.”

You can have a listen to lead single “Made for This” below, or grab the album in all the usual places!

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: March 03 - 09, 2025

“Melody” by Dan Mangan

If you’re a fellow Comedy Bang! Bang! fan, you may recognise the new Dan Mangan song from one of his (hilarious) appearances on the show. Now the song is not only out in the world, but comes with an album announcement!

“Melody” sees Mangan embracing his ‘singer/songwriter’ roots for a gentle tune, as Dan explains: “Contentment is a slippery fish, and the harder we squeeze it, the quicker it’s gone. ‘Melody’ is about needing affirmation from something over which you have no control. It’s about the grief of having something special and then losing it – about getting the benefit of the doubt, and then no longer getting the benefit of the doubt. It’s about love, or society, or the music industry, or a brief moment above par on the existential rollercoaster.”

The tune is the first single off Dan’s upcoming album Natural Light, which will be out May 16 on Arts & Crafts!

• Kirk

---

“Pursuit Remix (ft. Poiison)” by Haviah Mighty

Haviah Mighty has dropped her first single of the year “Pursuit Remix” and it’s a callback to the original “Pursuit Freestyle” from last November!

The new track features Queens, NY artist and songwriter, Poiison - and of the collab, she says “The song was already perfect, so when I listened, my goal was to figure out how I could bring myself into an already perfectly created song.”

Check it out below, and I’m sure we’ll hear more from Haviah soon!

• Christine

---

“Put a Little Light on the Wretch That Is Me” by Frog Eyes

Last Friday, Frog Eyes released their latest album The Open Up, and celebrated with a new single, “Put a Little Light on the Wretch That Is Me”.

Featuring Carey Mercer’s signature distinct vocals, the singer said of the song: “This is some kind of generalized love song. I've long wanted to write a song that reminded me in anyway of a Before Hollywood era Go-Betweens composition. When this one popped out, I thought, 'Yes, there you are!' I saluted that taut, tight structure that ascends so cleanly and compellingly, and takes you to so many places in such a short amount of time. And in my mind’s eye I saw someone gentle and beloved tugging at my sleeve.”

The album is out now everywhere you get music, and you can catch them on their spring tour, which includes a show here in Vancouver at Green Auto on April 19!

• Kirk

---

“Matilda” by Housewife

Speaking of new releases, the latest EP from Housewife also came out on Friday! Girl Of The Hour is a collection of all the songs the Toronto singer has released over the last couple years, including the latest track, “Matilda”.

Singer Brighid Fry explains that the (unsurprisingly) incredibly catchy song was “inspired by my bike getting stolen a couple years ago. I was an avid cyclist for years and really loved that bike (and had nicknamed it Matilda). I remember a while after it got stolen, I was out on a day that was perfect biking weather and just getting hit with how much I miss cycling. Obviously, the song isn’t just about a bike, but also an allegory for grief and loss, and missing something or someone you can’t have anymore. I think everyone, cyclists or not, can relate to that grief, and the struggle of moving on from things in their past, as I still haven’t replaced the bike to this day.”

The song comes with a video that features singer Fry as a hard boiled investigator, and you can catch Housewife here in Vancouver during JUNOfest, with a show at The Red Gate on March 28!

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: February 24 - March 02, 2025

“Gordon In The Willows” by Patrick Watson ft Charlotte Cardin

The piano on this track alone is amazing, but with the addition of Charlotte’s vocals - I got goosebumps!

Patrick Watson returns with another collaboration, this time with Charlotte Cardin, with whom he previously co-wrote a song with for her 2023 album.

His new album will be composed of song with different artists and I’m eagerly awaiting the news of it’s release date and who else will appear on it.

“Gordon In The Willows” is hauntingly beautiful with both the vocals and piano gradually building and it feels like it was written for a movie. Speaking of, the pair did a rendition of it on top of snowy Mont-Royal - which you can see a clip of by clicking here.

• Christine

---

“On The Spot” by Two Hours Traffic

Earlier this year, Two Hours Traffic surprised everyone with a brand new song, and this week they’ve announced a new EP!

I Never See You Anymore comes over a decade after the Charlottetown group’s last album, Foolish Blood, and the announcement comes with another new single, “On The Spot”

The song is a slow burn, that singer Liam Corcoran says “was one of the first songs we started to work on once we decided that we'd write some new material. I wanted to go back to basics and write a high-energy song that would have fit into our sets back in the early 2000s. The acoustic guitar off the top, the driving rhythm section, lots of electric guitar hooks...as the song started to come together, it reminded us of the old days in an exciting way.”

Andy MacDonald adds, “Liam and I routinely exchange demos of songs we are working on, and when I first heard his demo for 'On The Spot' it reminded me, in a great way, of something that could have fit on the first Two Hours Traffic (self-titled) album. Once the full band started playing around with the song and Nick added the main guitar riff, it came together really quickly, which is often the sign of something special.”

Have a listen to the new tune below, and mark May 23rd for the release of I Never See You Anymore!

• Kirk

---

“Get Paid” by CJ Wiley

This past Friday, CJ Wiley released their debut LP, So Brand New, and to celebrate shared the new single “Get Paid”,

Co-written with Dave Monks (Tokyo Police Club) Wiley says the song takes “a tongue-in-cheek look at how expensive it is to be alive, reflecting my frustration with the relentless grind of life. It captures the feeling of being stuck in a society we’re sick of, enduring it for the sake of our loved ones, while knowing full well that we all deserve something much more meaningful.”

Check out the video, from Doran Brooks, and you can grab So Brand New now via Tiny Kingdom!

• Kirk

---

“Silarjuaq” by Maya Cook

Multidisciplinary artist Maya Cook recently announced her debut album salt, and last week released the album’s second single, “Silarjuaq”.

The energetic song is a total earworm, and Maya explains the song was written “for a friend in Igloolik who was going through a hard time. It’s a song about how despite all the bad things that happen, and the harmful things we do to others and ourselves, the world is an incredibly beautiful place-because we are alive and get to exist in it together. Silarjuaq, meaning ‘the universe’ or ‘the world’ in Inuktitut, is a declaration of that, an ode to the heartbreaking beauty of being in this world.”

salt is set for release March 21 via Aakuluk Music, and you can have a listen to “Silarjuaq” below!

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: February 17 - 23, 2025

“Save My Life” by Hawksley Workman

New Hawksley Music Alert!

Was pleasantly surprised and equally happy to see that Hawksley Workman has new music coming! Also excited to see that the first track released, “Save My Life”, had a video with none other than Mounties bandmate Steve Bays in the directors chair. That’s fitting as he also co-wrote and co-produced the song - busy man!

Hawksley said the song is “confident, optimistic, and everything we need right now. We wrote this with a sense of urgency.”

Get ready to have the whistling part of it stuck in your head - this one’s an ear worm!

• Christine

---

“Daylight” by Basia Bulat

Last Friday, Basia Bulat released her newest album, Basia’s Palace, and dropped the brand new single to celebrate.

“Daylight” is as lush and gorgeous as the rest of the album, with Basia explaining: “I wrote so much of this album in the middle of the night, when it felt like the world of dreams and the ‘real world’ were finding moments to meet. I realized how much I had separated the two and wanted to invite that space between them to get smaller. This song became a way to remind myself to ‘consciously’ invite that energy in more, and evolved into a meditation on showing compassion to yourself through exploring your dreams.”

You can pick up the album now, and watch out for Basia Bulat on tour starting next month, with a stop here in Vancouver at the Hollywood Theatre on April 30th!

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: February 10 - 16, 2025

“Wire Walks” by Amy Millan

It’s been 15 years(!!) since the last solo release from Amy Millan, but now the Stars co-founder has teased a brand new album with the first single, “Wire Walks”.

Anchored by her unmatched voice, the new song is a beautiful, lilting tune, with Amy explaining: “Getting older is a trip. You assume you’re gonna grow out of feeling like you might fall down a hole any minute, but for me the feeling continues to hover,” continuing to so say, “I reference Stars’ ‘Ageless Beauty’ here with the lyric ‘I lied when I said that time would catch your head.’ I thought when I was younger time would mend all wounds, but I was wrong, it does not. Turns out they stick around! So what I have learned with my sage years is to stop trying to dodge and outrun the hard feelings. Embrace the difficult bits, the footprint that made me what I am. When outrunning isn’t working, I might need to lean into what I’ve always been.”

You can check out the etherial video below — Luca Tarantini — and pick up the new album I Went To Find You when it’s out on May 30, via Last Gang Records.

• Kirk

---

“Hallways” by PUP

Toronto’s PUP have announced that their next album, Who Will Look After The Dogs, will be released on May 2nd.

Lead singer Stefan Babcock says the song “Hallways” was the first song he wrote for the new album which has the lyric that ended up being the album title.
“Within days of announcing our last album, coincidentally titled The Unraveling of PUPTHEBAND, my life unexpectedly imploded. I wrote the lyrics for 'Hallways' while all that was going on. It was a weird fucking week," says Babcock. "The title of our new record, Who Will Look After The Dogs?, is what I wrote at the top of the page, the very first thing written for this album. I think it’s devastating, but in a ‘holy shit this is overdramatic’ kinda way. At least in context of the line that comes before it. That’s what makes it funny to us. That overblown stuff we all say in our dark moments can be hilarious once you've cooled off a bit. I don’t know if anyone else thinks it’s funny, but sometimes you gotta laugh at yourself. It's the only way out of the abyss. Trust me.” 

I cannot wait to here more from one of my favourite bands! And you definitely need to watch the accompanying video for “Hallways” below - which sees the band becoming one with furniture and appliances.

• Christine

---

“Listening Party” by Odds & Limblifter

Ahead of their co-headlining show at the Commodore this week, Odds and Limblifter have gotten together for a brand new single, “Listening Party”.

It’s exactly what you would hope & expect from the pair of 90s alt-rock powerhouses, who describe the collab as “in the spirit of Max Webster and Rush creating "Battle Scar,” two crack bands are forged into one.” and say the song is “a dedication to the raw symphony of the natural world — a breezy manifestation of friendship, music, and the great outdoors.”

Have a listen below, or pick up the Limited Edition Square Shaped Flexi 7" from Limblifter’s bandcamp, and make sure you’re at the Commodore this Friday night!

• Kirk

---

“Oulalala” by Omega Mighty

Ear-worm Alert!

This track landed in my inbox on Valentine’s Day (convenient, as it’s a love song) and I’ve been humming “Oulalala” for the last several days.

Omega Mighty says her new pop track “is for the lovers…the ones who believe in love, or desire to be loved but also want to keep the relationship fun and exciting. It's a cheeky flirtatious bop, but it's also an empowerment song with a reminder to go for what you want!"

Gotta love love!

• Christine

Songs of the Week: February 03 - 09, 2025

“Can We Be Still” by Georgia Harmer

Georgia Harmer is back with her first new single since her debut album Stay In Touch in 2022.

“Can We Be Still” is a chill tune that highlights her incredible voice, and Harmer explains the song is “about lifelong best-friendship and striving to protect it from the inevitable changes that come with time. It’s about having a shared vision of the future and a desire to preserve it, to see the plan for ever-lasting closeness through.”

You can watch the video below (directed by Talvi Faustmann at Rosedale Heights School Of The Arts in Toronto) and keep an ear our for more to come!

• Kirk

---

“10 Feet Tall” by Current Swell

I needed a beachy-vibe track on this cold February morning!

Victoria staple Current Swell is back with a new single, “10 Feet Tall”, from their upcoming EP Peacekeeper.

Of it they say it’s “an anthemic ode to youthful freedom and resilience [that] embodies the unshakable confidence that comes from being surrounded by the right energy and mindset.”

The band is about to head out on tour next month with a stop in Vancouver at the Commodore Ballroom on March 21st and then they’re off to the UK!

• Christine

---

“Television, a Ghost in My Head” by Frog Eyes

We’re less than a month away from the new album from Frog Eyes, and getting the latest tease with the lead track, “Television, a Ghost in My Head”

The frenetic song comes with a video shot by singer Carey Mercer of a seal lounging near a ferry dock in Vancouver, with Mercer explaining:

“A ferry harbour is a bit like airport-space: all energies and commerce centered around that which is departing or arriving, but outside of the reductive human conception of the space, there is another galaxy of personalities and endeavours. My buddy the seal was really hamming it up, like they knew I had a record coming out and that I would sit on a rock and capture their silly energies, like they were ready for their close-up, as they say. So I filmed two vids, delighting in the comic energy and the various intrigues and characters floating in and out of my screen, and then sent them to Derek (Janzen - long-time visual collaborator), who sweetly agreed to line them up and place my words at the bottom of the screen.”

Have a watch below, and mark March 7th on your calendars for when new album The Open Up comes out!

• Kirk

---

“Bang Bang Bang” by Fake Shark

Fake Shark is back with a new one and it’s… a banger.
See what I did there? Because the song is called “Bang Bang Bang”? You get it.

The funky bass, drums and shaker, and call-and-repeat gives me me total Cake vibes and I LOVE IT.

The band say it' “is a song about knowing you’re being talked about behind your back. It’s a helpless feeling, but also kind of freeing. You can find out who are your real people, so in this sense, it’s not a sad song, it’s a positive party song.”

• Christine

---

“You Don’t Know Me” by BAWAH

Last week, BAWAH (formerly known as MAUVEY) released the first part of an incredibly ambitious project, MAUVEY TO A BAWAH — a four-part album series, a film series spanning 48 episodes, and a 48-chapter book.

Spanning the entire year, BAWAH will have new releases every week: new music on Fridays, new episodes on Mondays, and new book chapters on Wednesdays.

All 48 songs will tie in to a film episode, woven into a larger narrative that is “as much about reclaiming his past as it is about forging a future”. The film is directed by award-winning Andrew Huculiak (who you may musically know from We Are The City or Big Kill, or theatrically from Violent and Ash) and shot by long-time collaborator Joseph Schweers (Amazing Factory).

You can watch the first episode (titled Push Ups and a Bathroom Mirror) below, as well as listening to “You Don’t Know Me”, the first single from Part One of the series, MAUVEY TO A BAWAH: THE FIRST 13, which is out May 1st.

• Kirk