New York-based artist Lauren Minear shares her transformative new album, Boxing Day, featuring the fragile, urgent lead single, “Bruise.” Written in the aftermath of betrayal and self-reflection, the record traces a path through anger, shame, acceptance, and ultimately liberation. With raw confessional lyrics and immersive soundscapes that blend alternative, pop, rock, and folk, Boxing Day is Minear’s most ambitious work to date.

Minear began writing the record in July 2023, after cutting ties with a creative agency she discovered had been stealing from her. “I always write my way through intense feelings,” she explains. “But I realized that the anger and shame I was experiencing went deeper than just this one conflict. These songs allowed me to confront patterns of repressed anger and codependency, and to liberate myself from them in the process.”

At the core of the record is “Bruise,” a song inspired by the paradox of loving someone who also causes deep pain. Acoustic and guitar-driven, the track reveals the sadness that lies beneath anger, reinforced by Minear’s choice to sing the chorus in falsetto to highlight fragility. “We wrote ‘Bruise’ on Day 4 of our Woodstock sessions, bundled up in coats in a freezing guest house,” she recalls. “The environment and the song were well suited, because we ended up with something that sounds fragile. I think the cold added some urgency.”

“Bruise” draws on themes of survival, shame, and self-overcoming, and for Minear, singing it still stirs discomfort. “It was painful to write and, for a long time, painful to sing,” she admits. “I’m working on that.”

Toronto-based trio NERiMA return with All My Mistakes – a bold and energetic new EP that marks their biggest leap yet as a band. Showcasing a heavier, darker sound and a refined sense of songwriting maturity, the record is a dynamic mix of pop-punk intensity, alt-rock edge, and emotional self-awareness. At its core sits the electrifying focus track “You Want It, You Got It,” a biting and empowering anthem that flips the script on control, desire, and confidence.

Recorded with producer Dan Bell (Nothing Special) and mastered by Kyle Marchant (Silverstein, Boys Night Out), All My Mistakes captures the evolution of a young band coming fully into their own. “We spent a lot of time on our first two EPs figuring out what sounds and style choices we like,” shares lead/rhythm guitarist AJ Paspalis. “We really like the heavier easycore instrumentals with pop-punk melodies we’ve created for All My Mistakes. If this sounds like something you’d enjoy, you’ll definitely like ‘You Want It, You Got It,’ and the rest of the EP.”

At the heart of the EP, “You Want It, You Got It” stands out as a confident declaration of strength and self-possession. Written by vocalist/bassist Lexi Orial, the song was inspired by a real-life encounter at a club but its message reaches far beyond that night. “It’s written from the perspective of a woman speaking to a pushy man who won’t leave her alone,” she explains. “He tries all his old tricks that she’s seen hundreds of times, but she plays along and has him completely fooled, until she admits she’s just been messing with him and waiting to watch his downfall.”

With its thunderous rhythm section, melodic hooks, and cinematic buildup to breakdown, the track embodies NERiMA’s signature blend of polish and unpredictability. “Keeping songs easily digestible and familiar to our favourite genres is great,” says AJ, “but trying things you wouldn’t think to try is what truly makes a song unique. Having some less conventional parts in ‘You Want It, You Got It,’ like the triple-instrumental buildup to breakdown to dramatic dropout, really makes it feel like our own.”

For Lexi, the song represents more than a confrontation – it’s reclamation. “It’s an angry song when it comes to the lyrics and instrumental,” she says. “But listening to it now, it just makes me feel powerful and proud. It’s meant to put power back into the hands of women who’ve been in this situation.”

Halifax sibling duo Overnight (Carla & Lynette Gillis) return with “Strong and Good,” the tender and reflective new single from their upcoming sophomore album, Put Me In Your Light (out November 7th via Label Obscura). Written in the wake of their father’s sudden passing and a difficult move home from Toronto during the pandemic, the song captures both the weight of grief and the forward motion of resilience.

“I don’t typically have anything clear in mind when I sit down to write lyrics, but this one turned out to be about grief,” shares Carla Gillis (guitars, piano, lead vocals). “It was really hard to lose our dad, and it was really hard to leave Toronto and our community. The song came out of grief, but it’s also about the impulse to not be entrenched in it all the time. To shake it off and keep going. Rhythmically, it has a forward propulsion to it. Melodically, it’s fairly upbeat. To me, it’s shaped as much by resilience as sadness.”

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

It’s about trying to carry on and reach for things that bring you comfort despite the grief you’re feeling. It’s about the small pleasures that mean so much and choosing to focus on them when possible to help yourself through hard moments. We chose to visualize this song because we thought it would make a good first single from the new album and we happened to have archival footage that seemed like a good fit with the melancholy nature of the song. 

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

Family, home, loss, reflection, sharing parts of ourselves we don’t usually share with people, our relationship with each other, finding joy in the mundane, life being made up of all the small day to day moments, time passing. We wanted to make something with all the old 8 mm home videos we made as kids in the 90s. It’s footage we’ve never shown anyone and it seemed fitting for this song. Some of the footage is a little embarrassing but also freeing not to care too much about how we may be perceived. It’s us entertaining ourselves as kids in the suburbs of Halifax, never having expected anyone else to see it. And my god, did we ever do a lot of karaoke! We were obsessed with wanting to be rock stars. 

3.What was the process of making this video? 

It was a combination of working with our 8 mm tapes from the 90s and shooting new footage, which was also shot on 8 mm tape. Both the old and new footage was shot by Carla and I. We watched through hours upon hours of archival footage, selecting clips we thought could work, and filmed ourselves over a weekend in Mabou, Cape Breton and back home in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. We brought two old film cameras with us and just shot ourselves hanging out, entertaining ourselves, often doing a whole lot of nothing just like we did back in the day. Our friend, Ian Hart, kindly digitized all the footage. The photographer and director, Colin Medley, did the editing and did a brilliant job. We sent him piles of footage with notes and he somehow made it come together. Never underestimate a good editor!

Born in the UK, raised in Peru, and now based in Vancouver, BC, rising artist Matías Roden makes a powerful full-length debut with The Verdict – a fearless and autobiographical album that navigates heartbreak, identity, trauma, and ultimately, self-acceptance. With its sweeping blend of synth-pop, worldbeat, and dance-rock, the record balances vulnerability with anthemic energy, inviting listeners into Roden’s deeply personal journey while keeping them moving on their feet.

Recorded at Vancouver’s 604 Studios alongside acclaimed producer Louise Burns (Hotel Mira, Haley Blais), The Verdict reflects Roden’s growth not only as a songwriter but as a performer, arranger, and producer. Many of the songs began as sprawling demos in Logic – often with upwards of 40 tracks – that later evolved into fully realized, meticulously layered pieces of music.

“The Verdict is a summation of a quarter life spent in transience, confusion, chaos, moving across oceans and cultures, coming to terms with who I am as a person, and navigating difficult, sometimes traumatic moments in life,” Roden elaborates. “The terror and thrill of living life on your own terms and leaping into the unknown.”

At the heart of the album is “Fight No More,” an autobiographical track written about Roden’s move from Peru to Canada at age 18 and the struggle of facing life alone in a new country. With its global pop palette, the song takes inspiration from Paul Simon, Vampire Weekend, and Peruvian and Brazilian folk influences, marrying them with a modern electronic sheen.

“It’s about letting go and stopping fighting the ‘current’ that your life is pulling you towards,” Roden explains. “Instead embracing it and making the best of it.”

With relentless four-on-the-floor energy, jubilant worldbeat textures, and an emotionally heavy bridge that dips into despair before emerging with renewed strength, “Fight No More” embodies the duality at the centre of The Verdict: the coexistence of chaos and clarity, despair and joy.

Toronto-based troubadour John Muirhead returns with his anticipated new album, The Nomad, out now alongside the lead single, “Everything, Everywhere.” A record rooted in the restless beauty of “inbetween-ness,” The Nomad captures Muirhead’s reflections on love, heartbreak, wanderlust, homesickness, nostalgia, and self-discovery. “These in-betweens are where we ask big questions and begin to really understand ourselves,” Muirhead says.

Recorded at Echoplant Studios in Port Coquitlam, BC with producer Ryan Worsley (Dear Rouge, Luca Fogale, MONOWHALES), the album sees Muirhead stepping into his most mature songwriting yet. With contributions from close collaborators including Simon Ward (Strumbellas), Michigander, Jon Bryant and Zach Zanardo, The Nomad is both expansive and intimate – a meditation on chasing dreams while longing for stability.

The lead single, “Everything, Everywhere,” co-written with Ryan Worsley and Jon Bryant over Zoom, is a cathartic exploration of love’s lasting tether – the way a person inhabits every corner of your life, in joy and in grief.

“When you fall deeply for a person, they become intertwined in everything you do,” Muirhead reflects. “Even after breaking up, everywhere you go there are reminders of the love you’ve lost. With ‘Everything, Everywhere,’ I wanted to capture that tethered feeling in both the best times and the worst.”

The recording of The Nomad wasn’t without its hurdles. Shortly after arriving in BC to record, Muirhead was hit with tonsillitis and a sinus infection, forcing him to push through vocal takes with the help of endless Throat Coat tea. Once back in Toronto, he re-recorded the vocals at MSTRTKS Studio with Zach Zanardo, racing against the clock to finish the record in time.