Sufferin Mall is the project of Yoyo Comay, a musician and poet from Toronto. It is a space for him to explore the relationship between desire and suffering. Initially, this exploration will take the form of a musical project, Crushed, which will be released in 2022. The sound of the EP is twisted metal and spun sugar, like licking honey off of a razor blade.
The bridge of lead single “The Chase,” with its near nonsensical stream of syllables, is fine-tuned to provide maximal sonic pleasure. While poetry and pop music might seem to be at odds with one-another, these two practices are connected by Yoyo’s obsession with the sonic properties of language. In both cases, he is always looking for the sounds which hit the ear just right and are chewy in the mouth.
Yoyo is half of dream-folk duo Lottery with Elyse Parr, and a founding member of the Toronto Experimental Translation Collective. He is currently completing his Master’s in Creative Writing at the University of Toronto, where he is working on a novel which builds upon the Sufferin Mall universe.
Calgary-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Bourne is about to transport you to another era with his psychedelic new song, “Anemone Sound.”
There are a few unconventional things happening in the song, musique concrete nods with long strains of backwards cymbal and flute sampled from cassette recordings that Ryan made. There’s also these traffic sounds inspired by a transition in Mingus’ Cumbia & Jazz Fusion where all these jungle bird sounds and traditionally-inspired Cumbia elements suddenly pivot into a midtempo bebop and it feels like you’re suddenly seamlessly transported to Greenwich Village in the 50s… Ryan definitely wanted to emulate this transportive quality.
“I wanted to play with this metaphor of a lover being a siren or a sea god, a mythical psychedelic creature whose love took you through a kind of ego death,” says Ryan. “In this sense it could refer to spiritual love, spiritual transformation, the death of the old, rebirth of the new, illuminated self.”
Toronto-based pop singer-songwriter Mia Baron pens lyrics which touch on how challenging it is to figure out who you are and what you want. Baron’s songs show that for her, the sky’s the limit.
“Constant Contact,” her latest release, draws inspiration from a battle with addiction that the artist endured. Emotive vocals join with synthesizers and guitars to narrate a ballad which grapples with the loneliness that Baron felt when she was hiding her addiction from others.
The track blossoms into full indie electronic pop production as Baron asserts herself. Baron sees “Constant Contact” as a reminder of the isolation that facing hardships can bring, along with the relief and support that comes with letting go of the fear of being judged.
Over the past decade, JoJo Worthington has emerged as a distinctive presence in creative Canadian music, pairing deftly penned songs with spectacular sonic landscapes. Having wandered through the “lost, enchanted forest” (Bandcamp, New & Noteworthy) of 2016’s breakthrough album, \\, and sailed the seas of her epic avant-pop odyssey TCYK, BAPTIZED I sees this visionary songcrafter adorning her armour, grabbing her sword, and beginning a quest towards the divine.
The thunderous song, “Win Butler,” is a cacophony of feelings. It’s about the juxtaposition of wanting to succeed in the music industry and make art, while there are adverse and tragic events happening everyday, all around JoJo. Over the pandemic, it felt like the last thing anyone needed was more music.
When JoJo was in high school, she loved Arcade Fire (and still does), and she romanticized moving to Montreal to make amazing music. When she did finally move there, she was living downtown, and was heartbroken by the housing crisis and how many people were living on the streets here. Pursuing her dreams seemed like an incredibly selfish and insignificant thing to do, while people outside her apartment were just trying to get their basic needs met. The lyrics are inspired by some of the conversations she’s had with those people, and the conflict she felt as she pursues a career in music in this broken world.
The song ends with the sound of a tape being stretched, stomped, and ripped apart, to emulate producer Will Crann’s idea of the sound of God picking up the song and crumpling it up.
“The song is not really about Win Butler personally. I have nothing against him whatsoever,” says JoJo. “I honestly really hope he listens to it. I just wanted to call the song that because of my love for Arcade Fire’s music and how much it impacted me growing up. I wanted to move to Montreal, be in a 10 piece stadium art rock band and live the dream.”
BAPTIZED I finds JoJo making sense of her surroundings by looking inwards and going deep. On one hand, this means looking back and reconsidering formative memories and intimate relationships; on the other, it means looking critically at the present: seeing the local outcomes of ubiquitous housing crises, systemic racism, and mass misinformation. Through unprecedented vulnerable songs, Worthington works to make sense of what has happened, find spiritual purpose, and strive towards wisdom.
Up and coming alt-rockers, Rebelle, of Wakefield, Québec, are sharing “Head On Fire,” a raw and angsty call to take a stand for yourself and reject a toxic relationship.
This energetic and cathartic rock track calls out an individual for their games, declaring “I’m going to shed some light expose the lies you’ve submersed.”
Recorded during the chaotic and frustrating period of March 2020 in Toronto with producer Anton Delost, “Head On Fire” is an electrifying and assertive show of strength.
Queens County Roots is home to the blues rock songs of New York City-based guitarist Marlon Hurt. Collaborating with Jesse Maxwell, Hurt has created “Feed The Hungry,” harnessing the age-old metaphor of love as sustenance.
Jesse Maxwell’s vocals lead this track into an R&B vein, complete with ethereal and yearning lyrics, such as, “I have a thirst that I can’t seem to quell by drinking deeply from a wishing well.”
Undercurrents of neo-soul, prog, and major key blues rock flesh out this soaring and eclectic track.
“Feed The Hungry” is taken from The Moon Sessions, Queens County Roots and Maxwell’s collaborative EP, which features a collection of songs that deal with intolerable situations.
There is an uplifting quality to this music, approaching difficult topics with a positive outlook and clear-eyed vision.
Modern Mystery 
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