Saint John, New Brunswick–based Americana and roots-rock artist Jaclyn Reinhart returns with “Hero Call,” a powerful anthem about taking chances, embracing risk, and stepping into your own power. Inspired by a tarot card reading, the track translates personal insight into cinematic, roots-rock energy with driving guitars, bold vocals, and a message that resonates long after the song ends.
“I wrote ‘Hero Call’ after a tarot card reading, and the idea found its way to the poker table, because you don’t get to choose the cards you’re dealt, but you do get to choose how you play them,” Reinhart explains. “Taking chances means you’ve got a better shot at winning than not playing at all.”
Written and recorded with producer Don Levandier (The Motorleague) and finished by Marvin T at Tide Studio, the single combines Reinhart’s emotive vocals with a raw roots-rock arrangement. Big guitars, steady rhythms, and dynamic production bring the song’s empowering message to life. “Don’s vision pushed me to take things to the next level,” Reinhart shares. “This track illuminates the heart of the song and inspires listeners through an Americana rock anthem.”
When the first guitar hits in Ray Ray Star’s brand new single “Feelin’,” you can tell this isn’t just another rock song. There is fire behind each chord, and it’s all about emotional release with equal parts grit, groove and grace.
Written and composed entirely by Ray Ray Star, “Feelin’” digs deep into the heart of addiction and recovery. But it’s not just about the fight to stay clean. It’s about the moment after the storm has passed, that fragile process of learning how to feel again when you’ve been numb for years.
The lyrics are introspective and piercing, but it’s the music that tells the story with the bite of the guitar, and the push and pull between darkness and light.
Ray Ray plays all the guitars himself on this track, bringing a distinctive tone that blends emotional texture with sheer power. “Feelin'” also features a stellar supporting lineup with Nick Weber of Pigeon Park delivering unforgettable vocals that channel pain and redemption in equal measure. On drums, Ricardo Viana of The Veer Union (Rockstar Records / Universal) drives is all forwards with precision and ifre, while Ryan Jones of The Thick Of It holds down the low end with an unwavering strength. Together, they all work to create a sound where rock refuses to play it safe.
Ray Ray states:
“My single Feelin’ is about the very last time I used and the thoughts that were going through my mind at that time. There was so much trauma and I was doing everything in my power to not feel anything but along the way I lost the ability to feel anything. I was desperate for a feeling of any sort. Addiction took everything from me and turned me into a shadow of my formal self.
Desperate to quit and an addiction that wouldn’t let me. The absolute insanity of it all. Bringing me to places I never thought I would ever go. Hanging with people I hated being around. Doing things I never thought I would. Overdoses, heart failure, etc. I wanted to escape life with drugs but then drugs wouldn’t let me go.
Its a miracle I am still here to tell the story and that is why I volunteer work with people that want the help. I want to inspire others that not only is there a way out but, when clean, you can achieve anything! That is my motivation. To sore as high as I can and inspire others to do the same. We are all someone’s brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, etc.”
It is the blend of truth and power that makes Ray Ray Star’s music really stand ground in today’s rock landscape. And his music is the reflection of a man who has lived the story he is telling. Sixteen years sober, Ray Ray Star doesn’t romanticize recovery or pain. He just tells it like it it – the grit, the struggle, the flicker of light you cling to when everything else fades.
About Ray Ray Star
Ray Ray Star is a guitarist, songwriter, record producer and executive producer. With a career that spans international touring, high profile production work and years spent behind the scenes shaping sound and story, he’s an artist who’s seen every side of the music industry, and come out the other side with something real to say.
Sixteen years clean and sober, Ray Ray has turned his recovery into art, creating songs that dig deep into the human condition. Themes of addiction and the search for truth.
He has toured internationally, co-produced NBC’s Real Music Live and built a reputation for blending rock ’n’ roll swaRay gger with deeply personal storytelling. Sixteen years clean and sober, Ray Ray channels his recovery journey into his music.
From his early days writing songs amidst the personal struggle to his latest releases like “One Step Away” and “Feelin’,” Ray Ray Star continues to turn survival into art, proving that even in brokenness, there is power, hope and the courage to feel again.
The Singapore born, Melbourne based artist delivers a tender and cinematic RnB moment that explores what lingers when love fades.
On “Shadows,”KiTe proves that restraint can be its own kind of power. The Singapore born, Melbourne based R&B and pop artist strips things back to the essentials with a gentle beat, hazy guitar textures and a voice that sounds like it’s caught somewhere between a dream and a memory.
This is a track that you will want to play on repeat just to catch the details you missed the first time.
“Shadows” unfolds slowly, like light seeping through half-drawn blinds. KiTe’s vocals are smooth and his phrasing carries an emotion that is intriguing. When he murmurs lines about love’s lingering ghosts, you can almost see the late night streets, the flicker of neon and the empty spaces that once felt full.
Listen here:
“Shadows” sits in that sweet spot between R&B sensuality and minimalist pop. The production feels handcrafted with each layer adding on to the next, and a slow burning atmosphere building. What makes this track stand out is how KiTe leans into vulnerability, and turns solitude into something more cinematic in structure.
KiTe is emerging as a promising new voice in modern R&B. And he is an artist who understands that connection is not build on perfection per se, but on presence. This is music for the moments in between, for the long drives, quiet nights and the spaces where reflection becomes its own kind of comfort.
About KiTe
Singapore born and Melbourne based, KiTe is a rising R&B / Pop artist who beings smooth and soulful melodies together with early 2000’s inspired emotion.
Influenced by Keshi, ASTN, DEAN, Junny, and Bryson Tiller, his music balances contemporary production with timeless sentiment.
A former engineering student turned now full time musician, KiTe began producing at sixteen from a simple dining table setup. His journey from Mando Pop singing contests, where he earned a Top 5 finish, to performing live and writing for other artists including K-pop groups, has shaped his signature sound.
There’s an unmistakable sense of reckoning in Zoey Tess’s new single, “Knocking at Your Front Door.” Tess doesn’t hide behind any metaphors or soften any blows. Instead, she steps forwards, steady and to say what too many are afraid to.
The song opens with Zoey’s voice front and center. “I had a dream the world was burning, no one cared, the earth kept turning” is a lyric that lands like a hard truth that nobody wants to hear.
Recorded at the legendary Clubhouse Studio in Rhinebeck, New York, the song captures a kind of analog immediacy that sounds live. Produced by Spencer Hattendorf and engineered by Paul Antonell, “Knocking at Your Front Door” brings together a sharp and intuitive band with Teddy Kumpel on guitar, Reed Sutherland on bass, and Nate Mondschein on drums. All of them work together to serve the emotions of this song.
After the initial sessions, Grammy winning engineer Mario J. McNulty (David Bowie, Prince) handled the mix, giving it a clean and open feel that allows each lyric and texture to breathe. Dave McNair’s mastering gives it that final polish. This is protest music, after all. It’s supposed to make you a little uncomfortable.
What makes “Knocking at Your Front Door” so effective isn’t just its political bite, but its clarity. Tess reckons with the present moment. With the noise, the hypocrisy, fatigue and the flickr of hope that refuses to go out.
It’s the first single from her upcoming debut album, There’s Gonna Be a Reckoning, which was written earlier this year amid a growing sense of civic and spiritual unease.
The album, according to Tess, was born “from a need to speak out against rising authoritarianism, religious hypocrisy, and deep inequality.”
By the final verse, Tess sounds more like a mirror than a messenger and reflects back the chaos we have all grown a little to accustomed to. The revolution she is calling for is not just political, but it is moral, emotional and deeply human.
About Zoey Tess
Zoey Tess is an American singer songwriter, producer, and musician whose work bridges the confessional edge of 90’s era singer songwriters with the fearless spirit of 60’s folk protest music.
Born in Coral Springs, Florida and raised in Newtown, Connecticut, Tess began studying piano and violin at a young age before attending the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan and later Berklee College of Music.
Leaving Berklee after a year to pursue her own artistic path, Tess worked under the mentorship of producer Vic Steffens (Whitney Houston, The Blues Brothers) and performed with the jazz fusion group Artful Soul. Her 2020 single “Late Night Thoughts” highlights her R&B and soul influences, but her forthcoming debut album, There’s Gonna Be a Reckoning marks a bold creative leap into folk rock territory.
The album, which was recorded at The Clubhouse Studio in Rhinebeck, New York, features production by Spencer Hattendorf, collaborations with Dave Eggar (Coldplay) and mastering by Chris Gehringer and Dave McNair. Taking inspiration from Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt, Fiona Apple and PJ Harvey, Tess has a sound that is fiercely contemporary and one that refuses to look away from the world as it is.
Brooklyn, NY/Toronto, ON-based indie rock/pop duo The Dream Eaters return with their macabre yet comic new single, “Dead Friends,” a track that transforms loneliness and loss into something strangely celebratory. Blending humour with the surreal, the song tells the story of a trip back to your hometown, only to realize the life you once knew has vanished. Friends are gone, but their ghosts remain – so you invite them over for dinner.
“It’s about taking a trip to your hometown, and the loneliness of realizing that what you knew as your life there has disappeared,” explains Jake Zavracky (vocals/guitar/programming). “So you go back to your apartment and have dinner with their ghosts. It’s humorous and surreal but also about celebrating the moments we shared with the people who have left us.”
What makes “Dead Friends” unique is its unflinching embrace of the macabre through something as ordinary as food. “I don’t know that anyone has ever written a song about making dinner for ghosts,” adds Zavracky. “It’s also about food, and how we use food to show love. Making dinner for people is the best way to show love for your friends.”
The track was mixed by Zavracky’s longtime friend John Dragonetti – known for his work in The Submarines and Jack Drag – adding another layer of nostalgia and connection to the release. It also draws inspiration from Italian chef Gennaro Cantaldo, who once cooked a lemon pasta for his late friend in a moving video that inspired Zavracky to write “Dead Friends” instantly. (Watch it here, but be warned: tears are inevitable).
Toronto-based Next Week’s Washing captures the moody resolve of today’s youth in “To Carry On,” their dreamy new single. The track blends richly layered vocal harmonies with the band’s signature guitar ambiance and forthright lyrics, creating an experience that is both atmospheric and assertive, reflecting the best of indie band culture and looking boldly to the future. Summoning the confidence to face life’s challenges both thematically and through its driving, straight-to-the-soul sound, “To Carry On”flies high.
Written as part of their breakout EP, “To Carry On” showcases the band’s nuanced creativity and expansive musicianship. “The song has more vocal layering than any other song on the EP, and we spent a lot of time perfecting it,” they explain. “There’s a tempo change at the end that takes the song in a different direction, giving it a completely new vibe from what’s come before.”
Engineered by Dylan Frankland (Tallies) and mastered by Noah Mintz, the song features backing vocals by Julian Duffy and Rhys Newman, the band’s two guitarists, adding to its depth and distinctiveness on the EP.
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