Hamilton-based artist Melissa Marchese was born to sing. Her new album, MAD LOVE, runs the gamut from country torch and twang to anthemic bluesy-rock to the record’s focus track, “Sirens,” a horn-soaked Motown-inspired romp.

“Sirens” reflects on climate change and how deprioritized this existential threat is. Marchese expresses the human experience that we all share and the importance of our only home. 

“The wrath we are already beginning to experience from humans’ destruction of the planet does not discriminate, and we should wake up and do something while we still can.”

MAD LOVE is an exercise in bringing peace to listeners’ hearts, reflecting Marchese’s ethos that love unequivocally always wins. “It means everything to think that I can help someone remember that they’re not alone and that we’re all going through something,” she enthuses.

Toronto-based multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Shanti Abbott, also known as Puma June, evokes a hopeful sadness through her introspective songwriting. June has a dreamy yet rich, experimental chamber-pop style, with a sprinkle of R&B.

She wrote “Lost Years” during her first year working as a registered nurse, which coincided with the early days of the pandemic. Pursuing music has been a lifelong aspiration for June, but like many artists, she was told to take the “safe” route along more certain avenues to “success.”

This yearning ballad represents June’s moment of reflection and realization: feeling the weight of aging and losing time to pursue her artistic dreams, but finding the motivation and strength to reach higher and create a future that she can be proud of.

Despite the regrets and choices that weigh us all down, it’s never too late to create the life that you want. Puma June wants listeners to know that they have the power to alter the trajectory of their lives.

Toronto-based singer/songwriter and producer Lyle Kam channels sonic inspiration from artists like Lauv, Jeremy Zucker, and Charlie Puth. Now, he unveils a fresh batch of music featuring his trademark introspection about love, loss, and belonging. 

Primarily self-produced, blurry eyed serves as a time capsule of when things in his life were just a bit blurry⁠; uncertain. This album is a collection of thoughts and emotions when he was still figuring himself out and determining what he wanted. To have a crush, fall in love, and have it fall apart, while learning about the responsibilities of being an adult. Stream in full here.

With an emphasis on nostalgia, “tokyo” captures the heartache of holding on to someone who is slowly slipping away. Retro synths and elements reminiscent of Japanese city pop make the song feel warm, as well as vibrant and lively.

The success of his debut EP Folly, featuring the Tik Tok viral single “Unlove, ” led to more than 4 million streams and over 70 thousand monthly listeners on Spotify. He hopes to shine a light on Asian-Canadian artists and inspire others with his message that nothing is out of reach with enough passion and hard work.

Both Lesley Pike’s songwriting and production skills have progressed throughout the crafting of her new, two-volume album, WILD. WILD (Vol. 1) finds a new resilience for the Toronto and London, UK based Pike, who mined her own vulnerability to craft these complex songs.

“What we feel deep down, we know. What we feed will grow.”

“Wild,” the album’s title track, is an organic and airy piece of folk pop which reflects on children’s sense of abandon and the freedom which Pike has found within herself. It’s a song about taking the time to reflect and really trust in oneself.

Formed in late 2021, Velvet Beach are an independent band from Toronto. Originally formed by members of Newcomer, Matias Gutierrez and Martin Camara were then joined by Sean Stover (Silus, The Honeycomb Flyers) and Meagan Aversa. Existing somewhere between shoegaze, dream pop, and new wave, Velvet Beach strive for authenticity without forgetting some of their core influences such as The Cure, Beach House, and Slowdive. 

Their second single, “Home (Is It True?),” is a dream pop tune that feels like the beginning of a love story but whose lyrics evoke melancholic images of doubt and uncertainty. 

Lead vocalist Matias Gutierrez was inspired to write the song after reading an article about the effects of the pandemic on the lives of independent artists in North America. He sympathized with the feelings of frustration and helplessness particularly through his own experiences during the pandemic and feeling like he wasn’t in control of his own life. 

The single artwork is actually a childhood photo of guitarist Sean Stover, following the band’s theme of childhood photos from their first single, “Youth.” The album centers upon how we cope with feelings of frustration, helplessness, and not feeling in control of your life. Remembering ourselves as kids acts as a foil to these feelings of our adulthood by reminding us of the wonder we experienced as children towards even seemingly mundane experiences like swimming in a lake or laying in a field. 

Vancouver based jazz and blues songwriter Eva Schubert is sharing The Feel of Your Love, her new album which is a sultry, sometimes hypnotic collection of songs that have the power to effortlessly shift the colour of your mood.

The album’s title track is a languid meditation on desire, creating a slowburning world of downtempo jazz for listeners to sink into.

“Songs get bound up with our memories, emotions and experiences. They can take us back to moments we have lived, and serve as carriers of emotions we have forgotten. It’s a kind of magic, and I am always trying to cast that kind of spell,” explains Schubert.