Toronto indie rock trio BBQ Pope return with UNFURL, their long-awaited sophomore album, and a bold reflection on grief, growth, and navigating adulthood’s uncertainties. Written after a three-year hiatus and shaped by loss, friendship, and perseverance, the record delivers nine songs that balance raw heaviness with gratitude, maturity, and the DIY spirit that has fueled the band since day one.

At the heart of the record lies “Pool Hall,” a cathartic track about memory, loss, and carrying the spirit of those we’ve loved into the future.

UNFURL finds BBQ Pope – Reid Millar (bass/vocals), Sean Hackl (guitar/vocals), and Duncan Briggs (drums) – sharpening their sound and voice. Produced by Dylan Frankland (Tallies) at Wychwood Sound, the sessions struck a balance between play and discipline, pushing the trio to capture both emotional intensity and sonic clarity. “This is the first time recording a record where I really felt like I wasn’t faking it,” says Millar. “It feels like we came into our own sonically.”

At its core, “Pool Hall” is about grief’s duality – pain and gratitude living side by side. Inspired by the passing of a close friend, the song revisits familiar haunts like a beloved Toronto pool hall and transforms nostalgia into a pulse of memory and loss. “The reason grief is so painful is because you loved someone so deeply,” Millar shares. “It’s the price you pay for knowing that person and eventually you learn to be grateful for those memories.”

While early versions leaned subdued, producer Dylan Frankland encouraged the band to amplify the emotional weight into a soaring, hook-driven arrangement. “Pool Hall” evolved into a poignant indie rock anthem – layered guitars, timeless melodies, and a vocal performance pushed into its most vulnerable and powerful territory. The result feels both intimate and universal: a heavy theme carried by pop sensibilities.

Canadian musician Keegan Powell delivers a powerful, immediate anthem with the release of his latest single, “Drown.” Co-written and produced by Peter Van Helvoort of The Glorious Sons, the track combines urgent indie-rock energy with introspective lyrics that explore survival, shame, and supporting someone on the brink.

Written entirely in the studio over the course of just a few hours, “Drown” was never sketched out beforehand – every note and lyric came to life in real time. Powell explains: “We wrote it in about an hour and recorded for another couple of hours. By the end of the afternoon, we had a whole song done and never touched it again.”

The song’s sonic design leans into a high-energy, animated aesthetic, with Van Helvoort encouraging Powell to lean into a Scott Pilgrim vs. The World vibe. The juxtaposition of upbeat instrumentation with its more cerebral lyrical content makes “Drown” both visceral and cathartic, a track that captures the tension between chaos and emotional survival.

Every element, from soaring vocals to pulsing guitars and rhythmic drive, was crafted to communicate the intensity of watching someone you care about sink while affirming resilience and hope.

Montreal-based art rock trio DahL unveil their arresting new single, “High Tide” – a nautical fugitive romance that sails straight into the imagination. Equal parts prison break and polar expedition, the track anchors the listener, drags them under, and refuses to let go.

Inspired by Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky, “High Tide” conjures a bleak escape story set on a fragment of land surrounded by wreckage, penguins, and saltwater static. The song follows a silent passenger – Hightide – as the narrator delivers a fragmented, feverish monologue of exile and flight. The identities of these castaways remain uncertain: prisoners, explorers, or simply stranded souls. What remains is their grim camaraderie, soaked in isolation and nautical tension.

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

This song was inspired by a book titled Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky. The song is essentially a depiction of two individuals; The narrator and the silent passenger  — Hightide. The narrator delivers a fragmented, feverish monologue of exile and flight. The identities of these castaways remain uncertain: prisoners, explorers, or simply stranded souls. What remains is their grim camaraderie, soaked in isolation and nautical tension. The song is intentionally ambiguous in terms of what took place that condemned these two figures to this fragment of land surrounded by wreckage, penguins, and saltwater and that more or less leaves space for the listener to make their own meaning and through that, hopefully the songs intent, feel and sound lend itself to the listeners imagination and they can for an instant visualise a nautical escape tale. This was the first time we did a visualizer. We plan to continue releasing singles while we also prepare to complete our new album to be released in 2027.

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

The visualizer was the result of a gift I had received from DahLs co -founding member, Bryan. On a trip back from Eastern Quebec in Canada, I think or I imagine, I’m not actually sure —  he was at a souvenir shop of sorts and found this nautical rat fella in a bomber jacket, hat and binoculars. It was a great gift and I received it around the time we were planning on releasing a visualizer for the new song and it seemed too serendipitous to be releasing a nautical themed escape song and then receiving a miniature nautical captain and not put 1 and 1 together.

3. What was the process of making this video?

We wanted to make something that was fun for us. The band has always used gifts and trinkets we’ve acquired from touring, friendships and beyond. As I mentioned earlier, our nautical pal is now a part of our collective. It was our first time using a green screen and we had a blast doing it. It was a post rehearsal project one day that we spent the afternoon doing. Bryans got a really great eye and found the best angles for the project and also was a great artistic director! I was responsible for shifting the light from all the lamps we could source to get just the right shot. We think it turned out well and we hope the visualizer gives some extra shine to the story of Hightide and we hope folks enjoy the song.

Toronto indie rocker Brodie Christ (surname rhymes with wrist) has released his second full-length album, Big Feelings. The record is a powerful statement of self-discovery, catharsis, and emotional honesty – unafraid to embrace life’s contradictions. 

Recorded at Toronto’s Canterbury Music Co. with longtime producer Neil Whitford and a trusted circle of collaborators, Big Feelings is the product of three transformative years for Christ – marked by the passing of his father, the birth of his daughter, and a personal health reset that led him to quit vices, embrace meditation, exercise, and daily Qigong.

Alongside the album, Christ spotlights “In a loop,” the contemplative and defiant focus track that serves as a perfect entry point into the record’s core themes. “I was feeling frustrated about the mental, emotional, and conversational patterns that I would get myself in,” Christ shares. “I wanted to write about trying to step out of the pattern and being pulled back in, and repeating that until, well, I stopped.”

Marked by a freeform verse melody that resists repetition, “In a loop” captures the tension between breaking cycles and falling back into them. The song’s climactic ending sees saxophone and guitar weaving together in contrasting styles – the guitar locked into hypnotic repetition while Gordon Hyland’s saxophone never once repeats, creating a striking sense of release. “It’s beautiful and sophisticated,” Christ reflects. “And I can play along with every note on my MouthSax.”

Following on the recently released Serenity Sessions, Vol. 1, Gabriola Island-based composer, vocalist, and meditation leader Mark Fenster unveils his latest single “Heavenly Bliss” – a flowing, neo-classical journey inspired by the awe and freedom of his first heli-skiing adventure in British Columbia. Equal parts calming and exhilarating, the piece blends meditative textures with soaring cello lines to capture the miracle of being fully alive in nature’s embrace.

“After growing up on skis – having skied on snow, sand, grass, water, glaciers and even in the air – the one bucket list item which had to be fulfilled was heli-skiing,” Fenster explains. “Last spring, the experience was granted and it felt like, well, ‘Heavenly Bliss.’ The openness and freedom of the alpine winds… the glorious blue-bird, open sky… the comfortable temperature… It’s impossible to describe with words alone, but this song captures the feelings of freedom and joy perfectly.”

Among the synthesized textures, “Heavenly Bliss” is elevated by a beautifully expressive cello part from Corbin Keep. Fenster and Keep first met 30 years ago in Vancouver’s music scene and recently reconnected on Gabriola Island, where they now both live. “Corbin added a precious gift to this piece with his story-telling cello,” Fenster says. “I couldn’t be more grateful to play with my dear brother again.”

As part of Fenster’s ongoing Serenity Sessions series, “Heavenly Bliss” reflects his guiding principle: to create music that calms, uplifts, and reassures. “Every piece is designed to remind us that even in chaos, there’s still peace and love,” he explains. “Imagine a sign that says: ‘Spoiler Alert! Everything’s going to be ok.’ My music is designed to help Calm the Folk Down.”

The track is comforting, flowing, and spiritually uplifting – a meditation on awe, grace, and gratitude.