There are lots of people who sing but not everyone has a voice. Apryll Aileen is a classically trained pianist with a touch of science and spirituality; an alt-pop soulful vocalist, guitarist and songwriter from Atlantic Canada. She transcends genres, creating her own undefinable sound with influences coming from pop, rock, electronic, folk and R&B. She doesn’t imitate – she creates.

Apryll’s new full-length release, Bad Things, spans love, heartbreak and adventure while dancing through inner shadow work. It is an album that inspires and uplifts while simultaneously shining a light on that which drags us down. It is one woman’s journey on the road as an artist, forging her own path and exploring the depths of her soul through internal introspection and connection with others. Written between Los Angeles, New York, Atlantic Canada and the United Kingdom, Bad Things was produced by Grammy nominated Daniel Lafrombe (John Legend, Amy Wadge).

Focus track, “In These Flames,” plays with fire, toys with trust issues, and hints at the double life of being a spy. Trust can be a volatile agent; when violated, it can either go up in flames or slow burn over the heat of passionate embers. What happens next is a mystery.

Free Under Fire is a Canadian rock band known for their signature groundbreaking yet nostalgic sound of rock and sonic live performances. Emanating from Toronto, Ontario, they released their debut album Beauty in Extremes in 2022. The album, featuring 10 tracks including songs such as “6th Door,” “183,” “Cascade,” and “Wolves,” expanded Free Under Fires fan following and saw them featured on 94.9 The Rock – Generation Next. Consisting of members Eddie Stone on vocals, Justin on guitar and Paul on drums, the band was formed in 2015 and bolstered their line-up in 2020 with the addition of bassist Lenn or as the band refers to him, Phill.

“‘Nothing For The Soul,’ as well as most of our music, fits neatly under the umbrella of a singular idea – that human beings flourish under pressure. That we are only free when faced with trials and tribulations that border on the impossible, and we only encounter the best in ourselves when pushed to our absolute limit.” -Justin and Paul

traversing far-flung destinations — along with his native Nova Scotia, of course — through his singular brand of east coast folk-rock. The Cape Breton icon’s eighth solo album is rich in the narrative songwriting traditions that Rankin has been honing for nearly his whole life, filled with crackling yarns and poignant chronicles about feverish marriages in Thunder Bay, unmoored Newfoundlanders, lovers on the run, and fallen soldiers in France. 

This collection of songs is a continuation from Rankin’s last record, Moving East – an homage to the coast. These are the first full-length records that he recorded in his home province with fellow Nova Scotian, Joel Plaskett. On Harvest Highway, they rounded out the fantastic crew of musicians including JP Cormier, Ronald Hynes, Dale Murray, and Jordan Murphy – an all east coast cast.

“I don’t think I could’ve written this song in my 20s or 30s,” says Rankin about “Sue St. Marie.” “My kids are getting older, we’ve moved away for close to eight years and then came back home to the east coast, and my wife and I celebrate anniversaries in the decades now. I’m getting older but in a good way and maybe even getting a bit wiser… The point being that at my age, I can take a step back and see with a wide-angle lens the things that matter to me now: love, family, friends, being home and at home in my own skin.”

The beauty found in art, as in life, is about friction: joyful songs with sorrowful lyrics, minor key riffs over doo-wop chord progressions, or a post-communist refugee songwriter surrounded by a cushion of North American veterans of guitar pop. Adam Sabla is an example of all three, and leading the band Loose Fang seems to be a perfect fit for him. The Czechoslovak-Canadian tunesmith was lucky to find a full band of collaborators (Jay Slye, Catherine Hiltz, and Ian Browne) and bunker down in the port town of Steveston, British Columbia to create the full length Live Wires, Black Sheep, a title that reflects their penchant for guitar buzzing and finding the wandering souls of the nearly deceased guitar generation. 

The title of their focus track “Goodbye” says it all – it’s about a breakup after a long, co-dependent relationship – the kind you’re in when you don’t know how to be because you’re young. It’s flawed but formative and impassioned – both during and after.

“Goodbye” is a perfect representative of the rest of the album, which revolves around love, heartbreak, self-medicating and feeling guilty for it; seeing ourselves repeating mistakes borne of class and political divisions. In essence, grappling with a variety of existential crises to a danceable backbeat, loud guitars, and melodies that are deceptively simple. It has the melodicism of 80s college rock like the Replacements or REM, but with the ferocity of Raw Power Stooges or the Buzzcocks.

19-year-old Aidan Skira is self-taught, self-produced, and self-animated, with an organic following of bedroom-music-heads and kids from the suburbs who relate to the heartbreak of being exposed to the truths of adult life. With a drive to help others find light in dark times, Aidan knows he has a unique perspective to share with the world and he’s bringing his people with him. Signed to Wax Records, he will be releasing his first EP this winter.

Latest single, “I Tried,” was inspired by the need to break up with a now-ex as his overall happiness progressively worsened in the relationship. When he ended up breaking it off and stopped communicating with her, she made up disgusting rumors and Aidan was attacked by her friends for things he didn’t do. The song talks about how he dealt with the whole situation.The accompanying lyric video was animated a few years ago with Aidan drawing everything on his iPhone as he had yet to acquire an iPad or Apple Pencil. Its yellow theme was a welcomed break from his usual purple aesthetic.

After more than a decade long retreat from recording and performing, singer-songwriter Allen Dobb is returning with a new album, Alone Together, scheduled for release on February 9th, 2024. It’s a collection of ten new original songs drawn from characters, stories, and landscapes that are part of Dobb‘s experience working as a range management specialist in the interior of British Columbia. The vein of the Fraser River, and BC’s interior landscapes run through many of his new songs.  The first single, “All Costs,” is also the first song written by Dobb in several years. It charts the course of a rural couple coming to terms with their years spent together living on the land.The melody came from a recording that Dobbs had archived a year or two before. After lots of lyrical exploration, the song drew on several threads. One being the easy fate of the river flowing slowly downhill contrasted with challenges that rural ranch life can bring in a relationship. Another thread was drawn from images and conversations he had gathered while helping with recovery efforts in the ranching community following the 2017 Cariboo and Elephant Hill wildfires.Alone Together was produced by Dobb’s brother and close collaborator, Cameron Dobb. It was recorded at their respective studios over the pandemic in Vancouver. Steeped in their own rural roots growing up on a farm in northwestern Alberta near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, the brothers bring a depth and maturity to the songs and the production. The ten-song recording has a warmth and authenticity that harkens back to some of the classic country sounds of the 1970s while at the same time, it has its own currency.