Malcolm Burn is a Grammy Award winning record producer, best known for having worked with Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, and The Tragically Hip among many others. In his other artistic life, he is a songwriter, singer and a recording artist.

Love, loss and the fragility of the human psyche are explored in his new solo album, the silence in your head, with the title track displaying a deep understanding of the fleeting aspects of time and human existence. Listen to the album in full here, a culmination of almost two decades worth of songwriting by Malcolm that incorporates an array of influences both new and old.

Ottawa-born Laurence DaNova developed a passion for singing and the arts at a young age, singing in a band throughout his teens before he released Nine Hundred, his first self-produced EP with his former band, Vista Del Mar. In 2019, Laurence began to work with producers to develop his unique sound, combining experimental pop, neo-soul, and alternative rock. 

Following his series of well-received singles and videos, Laurence is back with “Marsupial,” a melancholy and downtempo track which showcases his vocals and reinterprets Leonard Corcuerea’s poem of the same name.

“When the time comes that you’ve outgrown me, will you hunt for me or will you hunt me?” For Laurence, this line sums up the central theme of “Marsupial.” 

“You can be so closely bound to someone and show them the ways of life, only for them to just leave and betray you,” he states.

The song’s music video, shot in the Bucegi Mountains of central Romania, captures the loneliness of “Marsupial.” “You feel so small among the mountains and plateaus,” explains DaNova.

Ben Sures is a storyteller. On his poignant new acoustic album, The Story That Lived Here (out Jan 21st), the Edmonton-based songwriter, guitarist and author sings stories told to him by friends, and fans. Stream the LP here.

Sures’ catalogue is eclectic, spanning folk, country, jazz and rock’n’roll, and borrowing from blues, Sinti swing and West African guitar. His funny, honest, quirkily wise and wistful tunes are accompanied by old friends Richard Moody (viola, violin, mandolin and vocals) and Scott White (upright bass), along with Rebecca Campbell on backup vocals and percussion. 

Nearly every song on ‘North Americana’-tinged The Story That Lived Here has a strong yet tender sing-along chorus, including his moving single “Cry Like A Flood,” which is Kat Goldman’s true story of her music career interrupted following an accident that changed the course of her life. 

Neo-new-wave and industrial-pop project, Pleasure Craft, has drawn inspiration from a difficult time when principal songwriter, Sam Lewis, grappled with extreme isolation, his mother’s cancer diagnosis, the beginning of the pandemic, and a breakup — all within a period of six months.

Drawing on two years of psychotherapy sessions and exploring the fear of vulnerability drawing Lewis’ behaviour, Pleasure Craft’s forthcoming debut album, Walls, Mirrors and Windows, is a deeply cathartic collection of songs.

“Dead Weight,” the fifth song on the LP, is a heavy, bass and drum driven industrial track that finds the album’s protagonist grappling with self loathing and fear brought on by a newfound self awareness and introspection: “He’s a kid, he’s a soul, he’s a rag doll, he’s a chemical, he’s a bag in the wind, he’s a tag in, he’s a swimmer in a current.”

Toronto-born foursome A Short Walk To Pluto pride themselves on their ability to connect with listeners through a potent combination of eclectic progressive rock stylings and uncompromising songwriting.

As the band’s heaviest track yet, “Phantom Lover” jolts you into an excited fury with lyrics that invoke a sexy and smokey atmosphere full of 20-somethings looking for some action. The title “Phantom Lover” refers to a lover that is only existent for the duration of a one night stand. The next morning, they are merely a phantom.