Emerging Toronto-based Filipinx singer-songwriter Jenn Nucum’s EP, Get Better, is an exploration of diverse soundscapes ranging from lush, orchestral pop to soaring, cinematic post-rock.

This collection of songs was drawn from inner reflections, re-evaluating oneself, analyzing society at large, and sitting with discomfort to dig deep into the injustices and inequities surfaced by a global pandemic.

The EP’s title track, a stripped back ballad which hums with intensity, captures a yearning and desire to ‘get better’ as people––to exercise self-compassion and take care of each other collectively.

Collective healing is the core theme of Get Better, which can only occur through looking at the societal wounds inflicted by broken systems, institutions, and obsolete authority created by capitalism, colonization, and white supremacy. 

We are all struggling but the initial step to a solution is found in the recognition of who and what the culprits look like in our day-to-day lives.

Down the rabbit hole of psych synth layers, sub bass drones and hypnotic hip hop drums, you’ll find the new Victory Chimes record, When The Fog Rolls In, from Montreal rocker Jeff Louch. 

Produced by Louch, Alex Formosa and Jace Lacek (The Besnard Lakes), “New Mode” represents the overall vibe of the full-length album. Written around the circular bassline, its wavelike feel inspired some of the water imagery. Linking a series of images, the pulsing track touches on issues of identity, facing demons, death, rising to potential and new beginnings.  

When The Fog Rolls In was inspired by the welcomed solitude of the Rocky Mountains at the Banff Centre before being thrown directly into the forced solitude of pandemic lockdown. Lyrical colouring spans from the macabre to blissful fantasy, and styles stretch from narrative to stream of consciousness to absurdity. 

Ink Sticks & Stones is the moniker for Toronto-based composer-musician, Ai Rei Dooh-Tousignant. Being of mixed descent, she is constantly searching for different ways to express her many cultures, and openly advocates for a more inclusive Canadian music scene. 

Her upcoming EP, Après la tombée du ciel is an audiovisual voyage based in neoclassical music, and the sister album to her previous EP, Vaste (2021). 

In an album that goes from somber and chaotic to minimal and hopeful, “Les derniers vestiges” is the moment where things are finally starting to get better after a traumatic event. It represents the point in Dooh-Tousignant’s recovery from a brain injury, where she could start to see small progress and a potential return to a normal life. There was still a long way to go, but she was thankful for the healing that she had already done, and for the small victories that were to come.

Dooh-Tousignant is still currently recovering from her brain injury from 2019, so the composing and recording of the song was part of her personal physical rehab program. To this day, she is still unable to play a full song on any instrument, so the song was composed and recorded on the piano piece by piece in my living room. After the initial composition, she invited Samuel Bisson (who she previously worked with on her album Vaste) to improvise a cello part based on the piano melody. 

With the fear of climate catastrophe hanging over everyone’s heads, Dooh-Tousignant decided to use the planet as a metaphor for her personal experience recovering from a brain injury. She creates a soundscape where after a series of global climate catastrophes, life no longer exists on the Earth. However, as dark and dead as it all might seem, this is when She takes time to heal, before ushering a new dawn and the possibility of a return to life.

Montreal based psych-pop band, Elephant Stone, have released “Hollow,” a six-part animated film directed by Laurine Jousserand and scored to an orchestral re-interpretation of side A of their most recent 2020 album of the same name.

“Hollow” is a majestic and dynamic exploration of dystopian themes married to a story about humanity’s search for a new home following an apocalyptic event that makes earth uninhabitable. 

It is a tale of loss and grief, existential crisis and rebirth, and a world withering away, all set to elegant and intense, droning music. Light is found through deft orchestration and the addition of a children’s choir.

​​Since their inception, Colour Tongues have taken hits and weathered storms, both literally and figuratively, to bring you dreamy and high-energy nostalgic rock.

Their latest record, Midnight Island, reflects on the different stages of relationships that all of us experience – the blissful naivety of first love, the trials and tribulations of trying to make it work, the ultimate heartbreak, self-rediscovery, and the final realization that true love needs to start from within. 

The album’s title track is a nostalgic and pulsating pop rock track which reflects on young love and early romance, reminding the listener that anything remains possible and the energy of one’s youth is infinite.

Montréal based indie pop duo Down With Space are vocalist/guitarist Rob Helsten and drummer Steve Dumas – the partnership of an English speaker (Helsten) and a French speaker (Dumas) who have found an understanding through music when language can sometimes elude communication. 

Their dancy new single, “Not Your Time” was born during a sporadic jam session. It was a cathartic writing process for Rob Helsten, who was working through the grief of losing a friend in a needless accident. 

Despite the heavy lyrics and message of the song, this song is meant to be anything but that. It should evoke memories of free, fun, and energetic moments spent with your loved ones. 

https://linktr.ee/DownWithSpace

The video for this track is a collaboration between Helsten and Piotr. It’s meant to portray a protagonist trapped in their own isolation with some mysterious outside force trying to coerce them out of it. In the end, they are brought out of their self imposed confinement to see that there is still an outside world.