Through honest writing of individual personal memoirs, Stonehocker crafts songs that explore and express the pain and joys of life. In a society where mental health issues have become even more prevalent, his goal is to be open, honest and inspire people to have the courage for self-discovery. The musical journey began in a small northern Alberta town and can be traced through the lyrics of the four full-length albums that have been released. Today, the music finds life through Stonehocker’s sparse Calgary home studio that has slowly come to be.

Latest offering, “Take Everything,” is a purposefully sparse song that allows the emotional vocals and lyrics to take focus. It continues the songwriter’s vein of self discovery and acceptance of what you find. “When I wrote those words, ‘Take Everything,’ it’s like a weight being lifted,” Stonehocker explains. “My burdens broke me. It was inevitable, yet I’m still here to sing this song; because I surrendered.”

This song is about surrender. It begins with the recognition of struggle and turmoil; it acknowledges the lack of control over one’s life. Yet, it leads to surrender, giving over control, allowing for help. I think a lot of people are carrying a weight around, loads of guilt or bitterness or angst. We’re walking alone, despite being surrounded by people, bearing our burdens. – Stonehocker

New Brunswick-based singer-songwriter Kylie Fox released her sophomore studio album, Sequoia, this past September; 11 songs that fuse vintage elements folk storytelling, jazz and alternative rock while serving as reflections on gratitude in relation to the women in Fox’s life, her environment, her relationships, and herself. Guided by renowned producer Daniel Ledwell (Jenn Grant, Fortunate Ones, The Good Lovelies), Fox has crafted a body of work that not only showcases her remarkable vocal range and songwriting skills but also reaches deeper into themes of self-discovery, love, and empowerment.

Fox started writing the album’s third track, “Flush,” during the first summer of dating her now-fiancé and drummer Ryan Barrie. While getting to know each other, Fox noticed how rosy his cheeks get when he’s having drinks. That led to the catchy first verse, which grew into a song that lists quirky things about him, like his sleepy habits, or his tough-guy-teddy bear aesthetic. “Flush” is a love song about honoring “the best and all the rest” in your partner.

While recording, Ledwell commented on how the song was evocative of 70s Sesame Street music. Embracing this eccentric comparison, they leaned into the reference for the making of the music video, teaming up with filmmaker Jillian Acreman. They made a puppet to look just like Barrie, and created a really playful and colourful world to support the song, with nods to Cookie Monster and Ernie.

There’s so much love in this song. It’s fun to perform because there’s such a great bop to it and Kelly (Waterhouse)’s flute playing is show stopping. The song makes me feel grateful for how much Ryan and I have both grown together since I wrote it. I wrote it during our first summer together, and we have been together now for five years, own a house, and we are planning our wedding. The song is a timestamp of a whirlwind-era where we were going to a lot of parties and experiencing a new romance. – Kylie Fox

Montreal-based pianist and composer Thélonius García introduces his meditative solo piano style with Marche Nocturne, his debut album. A collection of 16 original piano pieces, each short and deeply evocative, the album explores García’s unique fusion of classical sensibilities with jazz’s improvisational freedom, resonating with influences from Impressionist composers like Debussy and Fauré.

Marche Nocturne was recorded with producer Pierre Benoit (Studio 111 Productions), whose experience includes collaborations with artists such as Dominic Champagne and René-Richard Cyr. Recorded over just two days on a Fazioli concert grand piano F278, the album embodies an intense yet delicate creative process that imbues each piece with its own atmospheric depth.

“Évocation” emerges as the lead single from Marche Nocturne and is emblematic of García’s reflective, deeply personal storytelling. Drawing from the timeless compositions of Chopin, this piece captures both the serenity and isolation he experienced during a residency in Quebec’s Eastern Townships. 

“Évocation” is an evocation of many stories, emotions, and perceptions. It speaks to the feeling of losing a loved one, of a nostalgic yet joyful reunion that unearths old memories and feelings. In the album, you can hear a raw, natural feel – almost like a live recording – since we had only a few takes for each piece. 

The theme of loss is prevalent in my music. It’s a loss of our environment, an ode to nature, to time itself. This album invites listeners to slow down, to fully inhabit each note, each silence. Through these pieces, I hope to share a space for personal introspection and quiet observance. 

– Thélonius García

Heather Avalon is a 22-year-old independent singer-songwriter living in Toronto, ON who has been singing since she could speak and writing since the young age of six. Her mother, Allyson Morris, is a Toronto jazz musician who shaped Heather’s life through the art of music. Starting to play piano when she was seven followed by guitar at 10, and Heather would often perform at local bars alongside her mom while she was growing up. 

Over the past three and a half years, she has been in and out of the studio writing, recording, and creating as much as possible. Two years since her last release, Heather is coming back even stronger with her new single, “Use Me,” inspired by past heartbreak. Despite consistently making a lot of indie/bedroom pop music in her early days of recording and releasing, she wanted to take the turn from polished pop to a more high energy, rough, rock sound which is exactly what can be heard on “Use Me.”

“Use Me” was recorded with Heather’s best friend and producer Ethan Surman (later including more friends on background vox) which allowed her to really be vulnerable and comfortable in the studio and throughout the recording process. 

Singer-songwriter Tara Van of Toronto is sharing a blend of chamber folk and pop entitled “Things I Wanna Say,” a horn inflected and subtly percussive dance with the vulnerability that can arise when your feelings present themselves before you’re necessarily ready to share or feel certain about them.

Produced by Mark Calderone, “Things I Wanna Say” glides along gently, evoking the feeling of a summer breeze as Van explores the feeling of trying to protect yourself along with the playfulness and competition between partners during the stand off of “who exposes themselves first.”

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

‘Things I Wanna Say’ was born out of an experience where I casually said ‘Love you’ to a relatively new partner when I was leaving the climbing gym. Both of our eyes kinda bugged out for a second and I proceeded to go home and freak out. That had never happened to me before, just blurting the words out like that. I felt deeply uncomfortable and exposed. I also felt confused about whether I did in fact love them or not. Never before had my mouth done such a complete hijacking. The song expresses the vulnerability of exposing yourself before you are ready to do so and the anxiety associated with trying to navigate complicated emotions.

This song felt like a bit of a departure and I wanted to celebrate that with a video presentation. Moving to video with my previous single ‘Glow’ was a big step for me because it was a lot more exposure and it really felt like putting myself out there, which was terrifying. With ‘Glow’ because it’s such a feel-good empowerment track I think it was much easier and it was a good gateway into storytelling through video. With ‘Things I Wanna Say’ I was a lot more vulnerable. The song itself is all about vulnerability and I really wanted to express that in the video, which required me to let people into very private moments and let them be a fly on the wall. That was very scary to let out into the world but I think I had the confidence to do it because of doing ‘Glow’ first, all of the personal growth and development I have undergone in recent years and because of the incredible artists I’ve been working with. It takes a lot of trust to expose yourself in that way in front of the camera, when I was younger and doing creative things like this I would fully dissociate and just be a body performing in a room. Putting yourself into your performance is the most important piece for connecting with an audience but also the hardest thing to do, especially if you have had traumas in your life that taught you to withdraw into yourself like my past with severe school bullying and abusive relationships. Meeting my friend and collaborator Mark Calderone and before that my other wonderful friend and producer Malory Torr have been game-changers for me. I think in artistry who you surround yourself with is so important. The video came out as beautifully as it did because of the deep trust and confidence I feel in the professionalism and friendship of my two collaborators on this video, my producer Mark Calderone and Keston Martinez of Kesteeze Media who I actually met and was good friends with back in high school. There is a lot of competitiveness, hostility, manipulation and exclusivity in the arts mostly due to scarcity culture and I really wanted no part of all of that. All I’ve really wanted was to be able to create in a safe space with like-minded people and it took time to find those people and also for me to feel comfortable and confident enough to share myself. I’ve always had a very rich internal world and I’m trying to let it touch my external world now.

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

The visuals with the song are captured in very private moments like the bath and half nude in bed. This is important to the message of the song because the listener is taken into the artist’s inner world, these are moments that were not meant to be shared with others. The video also has a lot of partial nudity which speaks to how exposed you feel after showing a piece of yourself before you were ready to and how vulnerable you now feel. The staircase also has a kind of message itself as you are trying to understand your own emotions and are divided in your feelings. At the beginning of the video you are close to the top of the stairs feeling seemingly pretty confident in your feelings but then you start unravelling and descending the stairs. You then go to the bath to self regulate(which is in reality one of the best ways I have found in my life to relax and self regulate). From the bath you are then kind of taken into a bit of a fantasy, rolling around in bed in lust and internal struggle. The return to the bath is returning to self soothing and regulating. The final moment of sinking into the water symbolizes cleansing yourself and quieting your brain. Nothing quite like going under water to quiet the noise and chaos of life.

3.What was the process of making this video?

We shot the video in one afternoon and we were lucky enough to have the space become available for us to use. I had an initial idea with the bathtub being the centerpiece but like with the last video for ‘Glow’ it was very much in the moment, collaborative and experimental. Mark, Keston and I all threw ideas out there and tried different things out and mostly had a lot of fun! We used a few different cameras and many different angles to get all the footage and once we set things up really I just freestyled to the lyrics same as with ‘Glow’. It was pretty easy for me to get into character because I’ve been seeing someone again recently so all the feelings felt very fresh.

Toronto indie band Oba first crossed paths in high school, but it wasn’t until after graduation that they began jamming together seriously. During their college years, they all lived together, playing shows, writing songs, and, honestly, just hanging out. There was probably more hanging out than anything else, but that’s what built the foundation of the band’s bond.

Their latest single, “Could Have,” is a layered and dreamy piece of swirling indie rock. A collaborative and organic track, the band formed together naturally to tackle the feeling of “what could have been?” with poignant songwriting. It captures the feeling of reflecting on the past, knowing things could have unfolded differently, and feeling haunted by the lingering ghost of what might have been.