Combining the natural beauty of West Coast Canada with London, England’s urban forest, Connor Roff‘s luminous music embraces and showcases his dual nationality. With his deep and soulful voice, classical piano background and self-taught guitar skills, Roff has developed a distinctive style strongly influenced by artists such as Jeff Buckley, Maggie Rogers and James Blake. His songs and melodies reflect and celebrate his yoga teaching practice and passionate advocacy for the LGBT+ community.

“Sunlight” is a song inspired by a gay relationship and the healing power of the natural world – specifically that warm and euphoric feeling you get at the beginning of a new relationship, and also that sense of connection and presence experienced while surrounded by nature. 

Roff also brings his experience as a core member of the London Contemporary Voices Choir, using a layering technique with over 50 vocal tracks of his voice and that of Ilā Kamalagharan’s to create fullness on the song. It created this beautiful swirling texture of sound and the middle 8 section which sounds reminiscent of whale calls in the ocean.

The Beach Bats are two parts rock n’ roll, a weak shot of jazz fusion, fill the rest with punk rock and cheap margarita mix. Rim with rockabilly residue and garnish with fresh lime and cocktail umbrella. This Hamilton, ON, trio offer music that will put you in poor health and add years to your complexion like that sizzlin’ Florida sun.

The first lyrics of their song “Knockdown” feel as though they came to frontman Tony Doni out of a dream – one of those where you wake up sweating, unsure if what just happened was real or not. Through the metaphor of a rotting, dilapidated house, the song chronicles the erosion of a relationship from the inside out. The haze of indifference hangs around like dust. Portraits of better days adorn the walls, distant memories trapped in time. The song laments the loss of what could have been and reflects the pain of losing a love slowly, without the tools to fix what is left.

Limbo is the state in between life and death. A purgatory. Limbo is also about seeing just how low you can go. The double entendre was something that The Beach Bats wanted to explore lyrically over the course of the record with a mixture of lighter songs and others that were very personal. Hence, this seven track EP is titled Limbo. 

Some songs deal with the difficult psychological dances people do together. Others deal with the violences that lay on the outer edges of our imaginations. Others still question why we trap ourselves in our personal Limbo’s to begin with. Ultimately, The Beach Bats have created a collection of music that they hope provides the listener musical variety and a chance to reflect and relate.

Based in Montreal, Maze is a singer, songwriter, producer and sound engineer who started music driven by an old passion for videography. She aspires to fuse many of her favorite genres, from the alternative rock her parents listened to when she grew up to the music she danced to in her teenage years, creating a mix of alternative, electronic, hip-hop and afrobeats.

Her unique sound and hypnotizing universe have landed her placements on Samsung, Netflix, BBC, as well as working as a music producer for the latest SOCAN and Universal Music camps

Her latest single for the summer “show me to your bed” was written about an unexpected romantic relationship with her friend.  The single highlights her dynamic and stand out minimal yet gripping production style. “ I wrote this song when I was starting to fall for someone I never thought I’d date. We were friends for years and we had seemingly different lives but we got closer and I felt like I was falling for him.”

Jiants is a three piece indie/pop band from Toronto led by the songwriting of ex-professional skateboarder Jesse Landen. Jiants performs a unique blend of nostalgic sounding low-fi indie pop songs complete with great hooks and soaring leads. The band has just finished their fourth album, Tall Tales. The record was engineered and produced by Gavin Gardiner and is set to be released late 2023.

“Real Easy” is about learning to be comfortable alone, making time to heal before you attempt to move into a new phase of yourself. Living your true self is extremely difficult and it’s something that usually takes many attempts. This song is for the first morning you wake up after deciding “your new life starts today” for the third time this week and choosing to just keep trying instead of beating yourself up about it.

Watch the official “Real Easy” music video which was shot on 16mm colour film on a farm in Caledon: 

1. Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically? 

Real Easy is about learning to be comfortable alone. It’s for that first morning after deciding “your new life starts today” for the 3rd time this week.

I thought the song was a bit of a cruiser to listen to so it seemed like a great fit for some cool imagery. The song was written during a sort of forced period of self reflection.

2.What was the inspiration behind this video(visuals, storyline, etc.)? 

Well that would technically be a question for the director of the video Nathan Brown. But he mentioned that the storyline was meant to imitate the way a song was created for Jiants. Something I usually start alone and then pick up the band in order to bring it to life. It sort of starts like an old 1940 film but ends like a modern day music video.

3.What was the process of making this video?

We shot this video on 16mm film on a friend’s farm in Caledon Ontario. In order to keep the video within budget we had to try to shoot each scene on the first take or so in order to use the rolls of film as sparingly as possible. But it actually made the whole thing more fun. Just rehearsing the scenes a few times then only shooting them once was kind of a cool limitation compared to shooting hours of footage. 

AMAARA‘s debut album, Child of Venus, is a bold and unforgettable introduction to Kaelen Ohm‘s music. The Canadian-born singer, songwriter, and producer’s third collection of songs is reminiscent of classic-era dream-pop as well as Radiohead’s most spectral and haunting moments—and yet the resulting sound is entirely her own, teeming with detail in a way that draws listeners in and keeps them coming back.

A reflective work that zooms in on the things we hold close and what manages to escape our grasp, Child of Venus is a record that leaves a mark on anyone who hears it, in the best way possible. Stream + share the LP featuring the stunning track, “Still,” via your preferred platform: https://amaara.ffm.to/childofvenus

“Still” swoops and bends like Treasure-era Cocteau Twins as Ohm immerses herself in what living through love really means. “It’s about looking at love as a journey,” she says while discussing the song. “At the other side of it, there can be so much reflection and beauty – and questioning where the other person is at in their process.”

1. Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically? 

‘Still’ turned out to be one of my favorite AMAARA songs I’ve written so far. I wrote the words first, which doesn’t happen too often for me. It really came out of metaphorical visuals in my mind – around how love and heartache and self discovery feel – like a heavy spin or a cliff dive. Once I had produced and recorded it, I knew I wanted the song to be a single. AMAARA is a multi-media project, so it wasn’t a question whether I would make a video for it. 

2.What was the inspiration behind this video(visuals, storyline, etc.)? 

You know, it’s funny with this video. Usually I have a very strong concept for visuals for the songs. They are usually in my head while I’m writing the music. This one had taken on many, many ideas and to be totally honest, by the time I shot this video I had no resources left. AMAARA is just me, so after paying for the record and the videos for ‘Bright Lights’ and ‘New Love’s Mortal Coil’ and PR help to get the word out, I was forced into a very tight container for what I was able to do – which is oftentimes, how my favorite work is made.

3.What was the process of making this video?

I reached out to an old pal, Jay Lawrence in Calgary, AB and he agreed to shoot the video with me. I went up there for a couple days from my hometown in British Columbia to try and get the video done – and to visit some family. My aunt and cousin drove me around their home area outside of Calgary and showed me the field across from my uncle’s office. I was really exhausted from editing the other videos and thought it would be cool to try and do ’Still’ in a single shot. Jay is an amazing camera operator, so I knew that wouldn’t be an issue on his end. I decided to wear my favorite t-shirt, which is almost expired, and my ex-husband’s jeans – who I had just traded with the week before for a pair of my own. I had some ideas for what I might do, but ultimately Jay and I met at the field on a day that was cloudy and smoky from the wildfires. He brought his camera and I brought a piece of red fabric I bought at Value Village for a dollar the day before. We ran the song a couple times, I made up the movement on the spot and I think after about the 8th full take we had it. The whole shoot was three hours. I did the first pass of the color grade and handed it to Jay to add some of his own work and he sent it back again to me to finalize. I love how it turned out in the end. It doesn’t lean on a heavy concept or hide behind editing, wardrobe or makeup. It turned out pretty raw, which at its essence is synonymous with the heart of the song.

Child of Venus as a whole is a document of rediscovery and transition, with Ohm coming up for air as an artist and human being truly reborn. “I wanted to share this emergence of me as a person and artist,” she reflects. “I’ve been going through so much change, and this record speaks to the path that I’ve been on. I hope this music will find its place in the world and will be able to act as a companion in peoples’ lives if they connect with it.”

Inspired by Reynolds’ love for bands such as Liars, Public Service Broadcasting and Radiohead, “Cascade” is an electrifying taste of what’s to come from his upcoming full-length Canary— taught, dystopic drones for a civilization in collapse marked by a compositional approach influenced by composers like Susumu Yokota, Luigi Nono, Olivier Messiaen, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. 

Once again, Reynolds traverses modern classical composition and retro-futurist production, this time visiting upon the stillbirth of a child, the death of one’s parents, the nature of consciousness, the relationship between mind and body, the fragmentation of our collective mindscape, and the awakening of machine intelligence. 

References to John F. Kennedy, Carl Jung, and Robert Monroe’s influential book Journeys Out of the Body pepper Reynolds’ meditations as samples from contemporary figures Sam Harris, Lex Friedman, and Navy SEAL Jocko Willink both guide and disorient the listener. As always, Reynolds is keen on preserving a sense of meaning in the mélange of programmed and organic sounds he’s come to be known for. 

Reynolds has collaborated with German classical/expressionist musician/composers Anne Müller (Erased Tapes) and Alex Stolze (Bodi Bill) in their Solo Collective project, as well as Mike Bannard at The Aviary and others. He also continues to work on commissions for Neon Dance. Recent works with the company include Puzzle Creature, Prehension Blooms, the Thai-inspired Mahajanaka Dance Drama, and Manuals for Living and Dying. He is currently working on a film commission for Oxford University. His music has been widely supported across the BBC‘s networks and beyond. He hails from Oxford, where he spent his formative years cutting his teeth in the UK cult outfits Braindead Collective and Keyboard Choir.

We caught up with Sebastian regarding his video for “Cascade,” as we eagerly await the drop of “Fetus,” tomorrow.

1. Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically in this way?

Cascade explores the survival of a bomb attack as a metaphor for the survival of a traumatic life event more generally. “If you hear the bang, you’ve survived” as the sample intones, and Cascade is an attempt to capture the hallucinatory, altered state that one enters immediately following the survival of a trauma.

2. What was the inspiration behind this video (visuals, storyline, etc.)?

My friend Simon Blake’s amazing visuals capture something of the surreal state of mind that one can experience in the survival of a trauma. In terms of articulating something of these altered states I think many people can relate to being overwhelmed in a club and the combining of the visuals and the music capture an essence of this. Also the visuals and the track reflect each other aesthetically, both gesture at clubbing/dance music culture, but have an undercurrent of darkness and chaos. 

3. What was the process of making this video?

Having originally created the visuals for a project that never saw the light of day, Simon very kindly allowed me to cut the footage to the track in collaboration with editor Tom Schumann to help the visuals to follow the compositional narrative of the track. The visuals and track seemed to work so well together it was a fairly quick process!