Songs of the Week: February 23 - March 01, 2026

March 02, 2026 by Christine McAvoy in Song Of The Day, Songs Of The Week

“the punisher” by LØLØ

I’ve been humming this earworm since it appeared in my inbox this week! “the punisher,” is the latest single from Toronto artist LØLØ’s upcoming sophomore album, god forbid a girl spits out her feelings! and it’s go me in my feelings.

LØLØ says of the song: “‘the punisher’ is about that sick twisted ritual we all do after a breakup: stalking your ex on the internet (and their new girlfriend…and her sister…and her sister’s boyfriend…and yes, even the new girlfriend’s sister’s dog) even though you KNOW it’s going to ruin your entire day. I wrote it during a moment where I caught myself doing exactly that. As I continued to piece together my ex’s new life through photos on the internet, I couldn’t understand why I felt addicted to punishing myself. It was almost like some part of me weirdly enjoyed it, as I found myself looking forward to checking in almost every day, playing his new life out in my head.”

Another reason to get off your phone and go out and enjoy the world.

Christine

“They will draw halos around our heads” by Common Holly

Last week, Common Holly not only released her latest EP, They will draw halos around our heads, but also a video for the title track.

Featuring the adorable cat Juniper, the video matches the mood of the haunting song, as Brigitte Naggar states, “I think it’s an exploration of the projections that get cast onto girls and women to embody the highest moral standard, the picture of perfect angels. And it’s about the receptive position of the impressionable child, the way messaging leaves deep imprints on how they experience the world. Maybe it’s also a kind of call to reclaim, for them to take their brains and bodies back and determine for themselves what they believe in.”

Have a watch for yourself below, and check out the EP now!

Kirk

“Bad For Your Health” by The Sheepdogs

Super convenient that The Sheepdogs new album Keep Out Of The Storm came out just as the Olympics were finishing - the Canadian men’s hockey team used their track “Feeling Good” as their goal song throughout their games.

The band is now gearing up for a year of touring, with the Canadian leg starting this month and then the UK & EU in early winter. Hopefully we’ll be squeezed in there somewhere, as there is no Vancouver date yet.

Along with the album release, the band put out the single and video for “Bad For Your Heath” which touches on digital addiction, so when you’re finished listening to all this music, turn that screen off!

Christine

“Get It Right” by Fleur Electra

Also releasing a new EP this week was the Toronto’s Fleur Electra, who celebrated with a video for the new single “Get It Right”

The dreamy new song marks the start of Anna Klein’s “colourful, girl-pop era in the depths of 2020 chaos,” as she goes on to elaborate that it’s “a sweet nostalgic love song about leaning into possibility, even when you know better. I initially started writing it without a specific person in mind, however at the time, I was seeing someone. The relationship was going surprisingly well, but I was proceeding with caution. I allowed myself a moment to deeply romanticize the connection, knowing it would translate well given the song’s sonic sincerity. It feels like floating through a cloud of optimism, still with the underlying noise of reality. Musically, this track is inspired by electroclash, early 2000s synth pop, and my daydreams. He didn’t end up getting it right in the end, which I think was the icing on the cake for the overall tongue-in-cheek nature of the song.”

Check out the video below (unless you have coulrophobia ) and the new EP, Strike The Match, is available now!

“Kyle Hangs Ten” by Motherhood

I’m not gonna lie, it was the description of Motherhood as “Canada’s Evil Beach Boys” in the press release that got me to listen to this song, and I’m glad I did!

“Kyle Hangs Ten” is the new single from the New Brunswick trio, an unabashed surf rock jam, with the band explaining “Usually by the time we release a song, the original influences have been hidden under layers of subterfuge, with our attraction to play far outweighing our ability to stay put. With 'Kyle Hangs Ten,' we were trying to write the most surfy song we could without over-complicating a genre that, at it’s core, is just swaggy country music. Adam had a drum beat that we jammed over, eventually falling into a Miserlou-adjacent guitar melody and filling the rest with pastiches.”

The track is actually a new version of “Kyle Hangs at Noon” off their last album Thunder Perfect Mind; the band couldn’t decide on the tempo for the song, so they made them both!
“In the end, the slow version (the spaghetti western “Kyle Hangs at Noon”) made the record and the fast version ("Kyle Hangs Ten") didn’t,” explains the band, “but we still love the song. Kyle promised us he’d be able to hang 10 by the time this song comes out. If not, he hangs at noon.”

Kirk

“phantom disasters” by Eva Pekárová

Vancouver’s Eva Pekárová released her debut solo album last week, KAIROS, centering on the ancient Slovak shepherding flute, the fujara. She says she’s taking the unique instrument “into innovative genres (like dark jazz, electronic, and atmospheric) –exploring shifting time, memory, and the immigrant experience.”

The album is sweeping and atmospheric, which you can hear in the haunting song “phantom disasters” below!

Kirk

Songs of the Week: January 19 - 25, 2026

January 26, 2026 by Christine McAvoy in Song Of The Day, Songs Of The Week

“Votive” by The New Pornographers

The New Pornographers are back! The Vancouver icons dropped a brand new single and announced their next album, The Former Site Of.

The new tune “Votive” builds around singers A.C. Newman and Kathryn Calder’s haunting vocals, as the atmospheric track builds to a big finish.

Check out the video, animated by Michael Arthur, below and mark March 27 for the release of The Former Site Of.

Kirk

“Dream Catcher” by Aysanabee

Two-time JUNO award winner Aysanabee has announced that their new album Timelines will be released into the world on March 20th, and new single is out now titled “Dream Catcher”.

The idea of the Timelines EP is that it will feature “stripped-back, reimagined songs drawn from across Aysanabee’s three releases - Watin (2022), Here and Now EP (2023), Edge of the Earth (2025)”.

“Dream Catcher” is from the latest work Edge Of The Earth and is “a sonic journal entry that captures the tension between doubt and determination. On top of guitar, piano, and synth lies Aysanabee’s unmistakably raw vocals, threading together reflections on growth, endurance, and the act of dreaming despite uncertainty”.

I’m excited to hear the project as a whole and which tracks are chosen to be reworked and how they will all flow together!

Christine

“Neon Schoolgirl” by Teagan Johnston

Last week, Teagan Johnston released her latest single with the synth rock power ballad, “Neon Schoolgirl”.

The song features guest vocals from Skye Wallace, and is about the feeling (and eventually overcoming) impostor syndrome, with Teagan sharing, “I first came up with the lyric ‘Neon Schoolgirl’ back in 2016 while watching Lucy Dacus open up for Car Seat Headrest at the Mod Club. Lucy and her band had invited me to the show as we had recently played together, and I was signing to her label at that time…then while watching the Car Seat Headrest set with her band, drenched in the neon stage lights, I felt an overwhelming sense of naivety and the feeling of ‘do I really belong here?’, a sort of imposter syndrome that has plagued me for much of my career. It wasn't just that I was watching the show but they were peers at that moment…and then in that moment I came up with a character for that feeling - a ‘neon schoolgirl,’ shiny and lit by the neon in stage lights but also feeling absolutely clueless and out of place.”

Have a peek at the video below, which was directed by Johnston herself!

Kirk

“Snowblinded” by Bif Naked

Well, the title of this is appropriate right now to every province and territory right now…except us - sorry, Canada!

Bif Naked is coming of a slew sold-out documentary screenings across the country and with it comes a new studio album titled Champion.
The single “Snowblinded”, according to Bif, is “different because it serves as an anthem from my feeling of emotional discontent, snowblinded ultimately is my observation of society numbing themselves. The chorus says you’re so snow blinded!! and I repeat that because I feel people need to wake up!”

I’m hoping that Bif’s documentary gets a wide streaming release (you can view it via Super Channel right now) so you can all check it out (I saw it her in Vancouver), and I cannot wait to hear what shows she has going on in the near future!

Christine

“Dyson” by Common Holly

Montreal 'sincere-core' musician Common Holly gave us the first preview of her upcoming EP this week with the new single “Dyson”.

A song about all the times we have to wait around for things, it starts cheery, but builds in intensity (and anxiety). Brigitte Naggar explains, “Listening back I have the sense that I must have been listening to Jonathan Richman the day I wrote this song. It’s a bit different for me, stylistically and also process-wise. I wrote it in about 5 minutes, sitting by the window, waiting for my Dyson. I was thinking about Beckett and God and the dust in my house, about places where we wait— Montrealers will know all about the SAAQ, our finest purgatory!”

The new EP is called They will draw halos around our heads and you can pick it up on February 27!

Kirk

Songs of the Week: November 17 - 23, 2025

November 24, 2025 by Christine McAvoy in Song Of The Day, Songs Of The Week

“You Get Me By” by MOONRIIVR

New MOONRIIVR alert!

I can’t believe it’s already been almost two years since their debut album, Volume 1, and I’m so excited to get new material.
“You Get Me By”, according to lead singer Gavin Gardner is “an attempt to hold up a mirror and offer the same empathy to myself that I would offer a friend navigating the challenges of self and identity. My mind creates boundaries for who I think others expect me to be, when hopefully they just want me to be free.”

There’s no other word on any upcoming album, but the band is about to do some touring in Europe with the Rural Alberta Advantage (THAT would be a fun show), so hopefully upon their return we’ll get some more info!

Christine

“Devastation’s Bliss” by Larkk

Last week, Larkk not only released their latest single, but also announced a debut album!

“Devastation’s Bliss” is a haunting piano-driven number from the solo project of Dear Rouge’s Danielle McTaggart, and is the latest in a string of singles that we now know will culminate in the release of Cinders on February 13, 2026.

Have a listen below!

Kirk

“Margaret” by Elliot C Way

Following up his previous single from this year “Fool’s Gold” Vancouver’s Elliot C Way has released a new track titled “Margaret”, a song about his grandparents, Margaret and Nelson Beattie:
“It tells the true story of their decades-long love, and their shared life in rural Ontario that was filled with hard-won moments of resilience and devotion. At its heart, the song is a tribute to his grandmother and her quiet battle with MS, a disease that slowly changed the shape of their lives but never broke their bond. It’s also a testament to his Grampap, as told from his perspective, and his unwavering love as he stood by her side through the difficult years.

Whenever Elliot visited them on their Uxbridge, Ontario hay farm, he got to witness the kind of rural, hardworking life that made a profound impact on him at a young age—hot, muggy summers with fireflies and iced tea, and unforgettable Christmas gatherings that included hockey games on frozen ponds and snowmobile rides in the deep cold. As Elliot describes, “My grandpa was the patriarch of the family and a man larger than life. He was a humble farmer, a handyman, and the kind of father and husband any man would hope to be. I saw first-hand the power of his love for my grandmother in the care he gave her until the very end.””

It’s a beautiful and sweet ballad that you can hear live in Vancouver on the 26th of November at the WISE Hall, or the 19th of December at Green Auto!

Christine

“Amour Amour” by Common Holly

Montreal’s Common Holly (aka Brigitte Naggar) just released a cover of the 1970’s Anne Germain song “Amour Amour”

A beautiful and vulnerable version of the song, Brigitte explains: “This song has been in my head since I first encountered it during a film screening in a high school French class. We had the opportunity to watch Peau D'ane, a 1970's fantasy musical belonging to the infamous 'Demy-world' of director Jacques Demy. Between the chromatically whacky music, outrageous themes and whimsical visuals, I haven't been able to get it out of my mind, so a little while ago I adapted the song to guitar. This is my first time singing in French too, which is technically a language I speak, but has never found its way into musical releases until now, so this is also a nod to my home in Quebec and to my French heritage.”

Along with the new cover, she’s also teasing more music for next year, so be sure to keep an ear out!

Kirk

Photo Credit (Maggie Rogers) : Maddy Rotman | Photo Credit (Sylvan Esso) : Graham Tolbert

Songs of the Week: April 21 - 27, 2025

April 28, 2025 by Christine McAvoy in Song Of The Day, Songs Of The Week

“Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl”
[Broken Social Scene cover]
by Maggie Rogers and Sylvan Esso

Broken Social Scene’s breakthrough album You Forgot It In People will be celebrated next month with the release of ANTHEMS: A Celebration of Broken Social Scene's You Forgot It In People.

The album is a track-for-track tribute to the iconic record, with each song covered by a different artist, including the likes of Toro y Moi, The Weather Station, serpentwithfeet, and many more! First out of the gate is a synth-pop interpretation of the classic “Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl” by Maggie Rogers and Sylvan Esso!

Rogers says “‘Anthems’ is one of those songs that fundamentally changed my life. There’s something about the lyrical repetition that functions as a sort of mantra within the song and it made me understand at a very early point in my creative life that music could be a form of meditation. Broken Social Scene has long been one of my all-time favorite bands and covering it with my dear friends Nick and Amelia from Sylvan Esso was an absolute joy beam dream.”

Have a listen below, and click here to presave the album and check out the full list of artists!

Kirk

“Backstab The Rat Race” by Cancer Bats

I needed something loud to wake me up this morning and Cancer Bats delivered.

The new track, “Backstab The Rat Race”, is a B-side release from their album Psychic Jailbreak and was released as a thank you to fans after their outpouring of support.

On April 21st while the band was touring in the US, they woke up to find their van and trailer were stolen. This included “instruments, customized gear, merchandise, personal items, and even the van’s catalytic converter” (the van was recovered). Their GoFundMe campaign helped keep them on the road and set them back up, as well as some of the companies they’ve worked with over the years.

There’s a special place in hell for people that steal from touring bands, and I really hope they manage to find their sentimental items at least. In the meantime, listen to the track below and if you want to donate click here (anything above what they need will be going to providing quality musical instruments to youth in remote Northern Canadian communities).

Christine

“Enough” by Common Holly

The more I hear from Common Holly, the more I am looking forward to the upcoming album, Anything glass.

The latest single, “Enough” is a beautiful (and existential) look at the contrast between light & dark, as Brigitte Naggar explains, “This track represents a spikier part of the record,” offers Brigitte. “It pokes out with sharper edges and a bit of noise. It speaks to the process of imagining that there could be such a thing as 'enough-ness,' and asks us to answer—enough for who? And for what?”

She goes on to add, “This song took a few forms. Was it an indie rock track? I didn’t really want it to be. A little acoustic number? A tiny bit 90’s hip hop? It certainly wanted to be silly and fun. We toiled with how to make it fun, interesting, weird, cool, but also warm? And relatedly, it offered a narrative of self doubt, of ambition, of perfectionism, and of ultimately shrugging it all off.”

Check out the video, and keep an ear out for Anything glass when it’s out on June 13.

Kirk

Songs of the Week: March 31 - April 06, 2025

April 07, 2025 by Christine McAvoy in Song Of The Day, Songs Of The Week

“Quick Sickness” by Twin Rains

Toronto’s Twin Rains is back with their first music since their album Laws of the Universe was released back in 2023.

The new single “Quick Sickness” was created while singer Christine Stoesser was sick and isolated with COVID, and felt she was “overdosing on the internet” (we’ve all be there!).

She says: “Spending the whole day online only made me feel sicker and more isolated, so I swore off the internet for the second day of my isolation. That night, I heard the chord progression of the song in my head while I was trying to sleep.”

The song is a dreamy pop song that, unless you listen closely to the lyrics, you might just get swept away with the guitars and beat.

Christine

“Ballad of the Last Payphone” by The New Pornographers

Last month, The New Pornographers surprised everyone by releasing a pair of new singles on a 7” vinyl, through A.C. Newman’s substack, Ballad of a New Pornographer.

Now the band has released the lyric video for one of those songs, “Ballad of the Last Payphone”. The single is a melancholic reflection of the titular payphone, with Newman explaining: “This song was inspired by a Raymond Carver story called “Fat” and tells the story of a person visiting the last payphone in NYC where it currently sits, in the Museum of the City of New York. The narrator doesn't know why they are so fascinated by it, but to us it should be obvious. Obvious to me, at least.”

Check out the video below, animated by Michael Arthur, and head to Newman’s substack where you can become a member & order the vinyl that includes the b-side “Ego Death For Beginners”

Kirk

“Elevator Love Letter” (Stars cover) by Noble Oak

I’ve been excited by the current series of cover songs to celebrate 20 years of Last Gang Records, and none more so than the newest: Noble Oak interpreting the Stars classic “Elevator Love Letter”.

The video includes Patrick Fiore of Noble Oak intercut with pictures and footage from Stars outstanding 25 year career as he delivers a gorgeous version of the song. He notes: “Like so much of the early Last Gang catalogue, the first two Stars records were mainstays in my late high school/early university listening world. I remember first hearing ‘Elevator Love Letter’ in my friend's apartment and instantly being hooked by everything about the song, from the swirling reversed guitar lines to the brutal honesty of Amy and Torquil's words. It brings both me and the teenager in me immense joy to be able to offer up a recreation of this wonderful piece - I'm pretty sure he wouldn't believe it if I told him he'd be doing that one day.”

Other covers of the project include a pair of Metric songs, Maia Friedman’s take on “Love Is A Place” and Dear Boy covering “Combat Baby”; Low Hum’s reinterpretation of “Romantic Rights” by Death From Above 1979; Alice Ivy’s take on MSTRKRFT’s “Easy Love”; Anand Wilder doing the New Pornographer’s “Challengers”, and Cadence Weapon & Dan Only doing “Ungirthed” by Purity Ring.

Kirk

“Ruby” by The Deep Dark Woods

Whoa, this new track (“Ruby”) from The Deep Dark Woods just gave me a flashback to 2011 and their song “The Place I Left Behind”.

Like most everything we get from DDW, it’s a very moody and melancholic, but always has more depth behind it. Lead singer Ryan Boldt says he “wrote it during a strange and difficult time, after the sudden loss of my dear friend and tour manager, Kiko, and just before my daughter was born. It was a mix of heartbreak and anticipation that I will never forget.”

The band’s yet-to-be-announced record should be out in late 2025, and they also released some tour dates, including a stop on October 24th in Vancouver at the Fox Cabaret.

Christine

“help myself” by Yawn

I feel like it’s been a long time since I’ve heard from Julia McDougall, so I was excited to find a brand new song from her new project Yawn in my inbox.

“help myself” is actually the second single released in as many months, and is a wonderful dream-pop jam from the Vancouver singer, which challenges toxic positivity & the pressure to be the “best version” of ourselves.

Julia elaborates “It’s about the various kinds of doubt and darkness that we face, and how the constant noise of social media and mainstream culture dulls our ability to love ourselves. It was inspired by social media ads I was served during the early, frantic days of COVID isolation that were promising me that now was the time to finally ‘get ripped’. It seemed detached from our lived reality that in the middle of a global pandemic, we were being force-fed so-called wellness ads that completely overlooked the psychological and emotional impact we were all facing. The song is about our relationship to ourselves, and how our media consumption habits make it easy to go about our lives without truly connecting to who we are. It’s also about the struggle to find meaning in the mundanity of everyday life – standing in grocery store lines, going to work, going to a work out class, scrolling all the while – and how sometimes it’s impossible to make sense of how the sum of all of these things add up to a life.”

The new single comes with an announcement of Yawn’s debut album, wish i could’ve, which was produced by Jo Hirabayashi (of Jo Passed) and will be available on June 13th!

Kirk

“Aegean Blue” by Common Holly

Last week, Montreal’s Common Holly teased her latest album Anything glass with a brand new single, “Aegean blue”

The gorgeous piano paired with Brigitte Naggar’s ethereal vocals are exactly up my alley, with Naggar explaining, “Aegean blue is a reckoning in meaninglessness and unending pursuit. The words came in a moment of change and of re-evaluating. This song sits squarely in the album’s theme of orienting toward what matters most, doing things differently when they aren’t feeling right.”

Check out the contemplative video below, and mark June 13 for the release of Anything glass!

Kirk