Keira Gray grew up in Red Earth Creek, Alberta before eventually moving to Faust, Alberta. She has aspired to be a singer since she was a little girl listening to Ariana Grande, Rihanna, and Christina Aguilera. Most of her time was spent teaching herself to sing their songs. 

Keira currently lives in Slave Lake, Alberta where she works as a server. When she’s not working, you can find her collaborating with other music professionals writing songs and recording music to share with the world.

Her new single, “After you,” was inspired from a personal experience that Keira has since moved on from. It was very therapeutic to express her feelings at that time and she hopes you all enjoy it as much as she enjoyed writing it.

The creation of meaningful art can only occur in moments of despair or triumph; there is no grey area.

iskwē | ᐃᐢᑫᐧᐤ (short for waseskwan iskwew, meaning “blue sky woman”) is an award-winning Indigenous creator whose catalogue drips of a spectrum of emotions and is powered by resilience. Following several seasons of high highs being met with low lows, the Cree Métis artist retreated south to Mexico and inward to her soul to paint a 10-song collection that illustrates the gut-wrenching roller coaster ride that has been her recent life.

nīna, the opus of iskwē’s rebirth, is the Cree translation for “me” and was chosen as the title of her fourth solo album as an ode to the profoundly autobiographical elements. The album is the sonic manifestation of the divine feminine explored through vignettes of love, passion, anger, betrayal, and loss. 

The album’s focus track, “Exhale,” is a reassuring call to the self, as iskwē encourages herself: “Blue sky woman, it’s time for you to breathe out.” The tense yet shimmering song holds onto the vulnerability at iskwē’s core.

“I needed to remind myself that I am vibrant, that I hold life in me,” she explains of the song. 
“I am an artist, a creative, confident and soft. I needed to remind myself that I hold love in my being. It was time I remembered these pieces in me which had been dormant for some time. So now I start again, to rebloom. To be reborn. To look at myself in the mirror and exhale. It’s time for me to breathe out…”

iskwē’s collaboration with 10x Grammy nominee Damian Taylor serves as the bedrock of this LP, creating a lush and textured world of electronic pop which branches further out through Latin strings (Waiting For The Laughter) and a dreamy psychedelic sound on Top 20 Alt-Rock charting lead single “I Get High” featuring Nina Hagen.

nīna reaches into the most personal and tender crevices, opening with the artist at a point of dissolution and overwhelm (“A Little Piece”), unfolding into an exploration of the deep, visceral experience of love, through to liberating herself from those who would rather see her fail than succeed (“Sure To Come”).  

Martha Johnson is a founding member and the lead singer of the Canadian art pop band Martha and the Muffins which formed in 1977. Her career, spanning more than four decades and eleven albums, has had many highlights. In 2000, Martha was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and was eventually forced to stop performing live.

April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month. Martha Johnson and Company’s “Slow Emotion” began with the suggestion of her neurologist Dr. Fasano at Krembil Research Institute/University Health Network in Toronto. He encouraged Martha to collaborate on a song with another of his patients, songwriter/musician Fabio Dwyer, to show that life and creativity doesn’t end with a diagnosis. Released on April 11th, World Parkinson’s Day, the uplifting anthem was largely performed by musicians and singers with PD.

“I came up with the title, Slow Emotion, years ago and it seemed like a good fit with the theme of accepting and adapting to the changes both physically and emotionally you go through when you are living with PD. I’m hoping that people are moved by the song to a place of better understanding. Parkinson’s is continuously a life changing event for me. Life is what you make of it and you’ll have a better time if you just slow down a little and really take it all in.” –Martha Johnson
With the support of Krembil Research Institute/University Health Network and Parkinson Canada, there is an accompanying documentary by Toronto filmmaker Jason Cipparrone that looks at the creation of “Slow Emotion.”

Indie pop artist stardrop is a creative force from Thunder Bay, ON. She partnered with Tennyson King and Dan Hosh to produce her debut EP, I Feel Everything, which showcases catchy, soulful self-love anthems that celebrate femininity, authenticity, and resilience.

Fueled by big feelings, stardrop is using the power of music to rewrite her narrative and explore a new way of existing in the world. “After many years of feeling completely disconnected from myself and my self-worth, I was ready to claim my own space in this world,” she elaborates. “It was a real ‘fake it til to make it’ type of thing, or rather, ‘sing it til you believe it.’”

The lyrics for focus track “Tiger” poured out of her like magic, at a time she longed for the strength and courage to feel powerful and begin to heal. The tiger represents the instinctive animal laying dormant inside, ready to protect us when needed.

In collaboration with cinematographer Scott MacKay, the “Tiger” music video explores the effects trauma has on the ability to be present. It demonstrates an out-of-body experience by creatively distorting reality in different ways.

Winnipeg’s Tyler Del Pino has always struggled to fit in, and there’s nothing like his music that truly challenges the concept of genre and delivers his one-of-a-kind brand of Canadiana. Del Pino has a pure passion for songwriting and an honest sound infused with starry-eyed narratives; a hybrid of Rock-Pop, Americana, and East Coast folk-rock that stays true to the roots of timeless tunes.

Unlike Del Pino’s usual bright and upbeat tunes, “Wolf In The Hen House” is rooted in raw anger. It’s a rock anthem with a punch, a departure from his usual vibe that adds a whole new dimension to his music. The song delves into the portrayal of a sinister individual, drawing from various observations in Del Pino’s life. It’s a deep dive into the depths of human deceit and malice, crafted from the shady characters that he has personally encountered over the years. 

“I wrote this during a period in 2018 when I was grappling with my own encounters with less-than-desirable individuals,” says Tyler Del Pino. “This coincided with the second year of Trump’s presidency, a time when political drama seemed to unfold daily. It sparked contemplation—what truly makes someone a snake? What twisted journey leads them to embrace deception and malice?”

Custie is an emerging alternative pop artist hailing from London, Ontario. His distinct sound explores pop music as it intersects with singer-songwriter, R&B and alternative music.

His song, “ON E, AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN,” deals with themes related to addiction. Although Custie hasn’t personally struggled with addiction, it has affected the lives of people close to him. E stands for ecstasy in the broadest sense, and also energy. There’s been this uptick in songs about energy, the cosmic pull of stars and planets, and attributing behaviours and interactions to continuums beyond our capability of understanding. Though Custie doesn’t believe in astrology, he always seems to write romantic things that bring the possibility of it to light.

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

Every song I write has a specific visual identity by the time it’s done, and a lot of what you hear sonically is trying to plot the texture and topography of that space/place (that the story of the song decides) and map it on a record when the record gets to its second or third pass. It’s often the hardest part trying to understand the locale of the song and then allowing some sort of partnership between a song and its video. Trying to understand how to present where you imagine a song’s story playing out in the real world has to convey believability but suspend disbelief, yet have some pretense at realism… that’s my style, at least. Basically if you ignore everything else I just said and just focus on one thing, it would be that the partnership is paramount.

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

This video has a longer cut that I might release at some point, but the short one I released basically distills a longer story about what it would be like to live and eventually die in a car with a ghost as the driver, driving you nowhere. The story actually comes from an old friendship where I used to ask someone to give me a ride home a lot, and what feelings came from that. I guess the video concept is rooted in the ghost thing as some allegorical reach to depict what really happened. But I also find myself compelled by the magnetism of real, troubled people and their freewheeling energy.

3.What was the process of making this video?

The process was rooted in a lot of experimentation as an editor. I’m not a video editor by any means, but I like to approach the editing suite like I do a digital audio workstation. Most things I do musically are patchwork experiments and I like to apply the same technique to filmmaking. I don’t think I could ever work with an editor, but the guy who shot it–a friend named Benjamin Collins–knew what I was going for and gave me the tools I needed.

‘E’ is an attempt to stylize and leave much of the song up to listener interpretation. By giving things concrete names, it makes everything very topical. I always like to find a way to have my listeners move with me by presenting a song with a certain kind of allure in mystery. Hence the ‘E’ – it stands for anything you’d like. – Custie