Montréal based indie pop duo Down With Space are vocalist/guitarist Rob Helsten and drummer Steve Dumas – the partnership of an English speaker (Helsten) and a French speaker (Dumas) who have found an understanding through music when language can sometimes elude communication.
Their dancy new single, “Not Your Time” was born during a sporadic jam session. It was a cathartic writing process for Rob Helsten, who was working through the grief of losing a friend in a needless accident.
Despite the heavy lyrics and message of the song, this song is meant to be anything but that. It should evoke memories of free, fun, and energetic moments spent with your loved ones.
The video for this track is a collaboration between Helsten and Piotr. It’s meant to portray a protagonist trapped in their own isolation with some mysterious outside force trying to coerce them out of it. In the end, they are brought out of their self imposed confinement to see that there is still an outside world.
Inspirational Norwegian DJ and record producer Matoma, known for songs like “All Night” with The Vamps and “I Don’t Dance” with Enrique Iglesias, has released his newest single “Midnight Sun” with JP Cooper, available now on all streaming platforms HERE. Working together for the first time in their music careers, the incredibly talented artists have seamlessly blended their two unique styles to create one of the top hits for the Summer.
Listen to the new single here:
Staying true to its title, “Midnight Sun” is a light-hearted track that lights up the restful night with its cheerful lyrics and rhythmic beats. The song begins with angelic vocals of JP expressing his love and appreciation for people who chase away the shadows of the night with their goodness and light. After the first electrifying beat drop, the tune becomes impossible to forget with catchy, groovy, and rhythmic instrumentals. In its own right, this song is its own midnight sun.
“I feel like I’ve known Tom for years, although we’ve only met once and “midnight sun” was written over a zoom session. ‘Midnight Sun’ is a celebration of the people who bring light in your darkest moments. I suggested the idea of Midnight Sun as a nod to the very light nights in Norway during the Summer….turns out Tom’s first ever tour was called the Midnight Sun tour so I guess it was meant to be. I have a feeling this is a creative relationship that will last much longer than just the one song.” – JP Cooper
Although “Midnight Sun” marks the first ever collaboration between Matoma and JP Cooper, both artists are no strangers to breathtaking collaborations. Matoma’s previous singles “Take Me to the Sunshine”featuring Super-Hi and Bullysongs,“Never Surrender”featuring Steve Garrigan of Kodaline, “Summer Feeling”featuring Jonah Kagen, scored record numbers of streams in their first week.The all-around artist has demonstrated his raw talent across various genres, proving time after time that he is a driving force in the current electronic world. “Midnight Sun” follows Matoma & A R I Z O N A’s single “Heart So Big.”
Debuting with the album ‘Raised Under Grey Skies’ in 2017, JP Cooper skyrocketed to fame with his single, “September Song,” which peaked at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart. After a long 5 years hiatus, the Englishman came back into the music industry with his second album, ‘She’ in February 2022. As a rising neo-soul singer-songwriter from Middleton, JP Cooper has showcased his versatility through his myriad collaborations with various artists, including Jonas Blue–where his featured “Perfect Stranger” has surpassed 848 million streams on Spotify and is certified platinum in the UK. This time, JP’s collaboration with Matoma will without a doubt be another success that will take his career to another level.
If Show ‘Em What You’ve Got was a brilliantly brash and buoyant slice of R&B, Ostarè returns with something slightly more chilled, more soothing, and more understated. But that is not to say that Deep Down isn’t still filled with the same message of empowerment and inner healing, it is just that whereas the previous single comes at the listener face on, a collection of soul and swagger, attitude, and ambition, Deep Down just throws its arms around you and gives you what can only be described as a sonic hug!
It is built on similarly liquid beats, a cool clubland groove, one that is all about futuristic digital dance timings, pulsing bass beats and smoky clubland atmospheres. But it is, if not exactly subdued, certainly more subtle and seductive. There are times when a message warrants a more full-on and unavoidable delivery system, this is not one of those times and it proves that Ostarè is equally at home seducing her audience as she is seeking to subdue them.And again, there is a deeper message than the music might suggest, if only taken at face value. Dance music is not known for being deep and meaningful, but Deep Down is an exception.
Whilst it is perfect for the clubland set who just want to party the night away, and its infectious grooves guarantee that will happen, lyrically it is a love letter to security, to finding your own safe space, a place where you are comfortable, where you can be yourself…a “place to call home.”Not in the physical sense, more in a soul searching one, as always with Ostarè ‘s messaging, it runs on a more spiritual plane, this is metaphysical music for the modern era, pop for the Aquarian Age, dance music for the delvers into their inner consciousness. Throw away this is not!I probably said the same last time around too, but it is worth repeating.
It is possible that Ostarè ’s marks a real change in direction for pop music, a coming of age for a genre which up until now has been seen as being driven by the fickle finger of fad and fashion. What Deep Down proves is that it is possible to make music which pushes the potential of pop by being both infectious and accessible but also deep and meaningful, not a combination that we have seen on the dancefloor before but perhaps the start of something new.
Deep Down does lots of things but perhaps the most important one is that it raises pop’s IQ by a considerable degree, and that has got to be worth making a song and dance about. Dontchathink?
“Everything in my music is high, loud, and abrupt – because I have something to say,” says Greyson Grimes, vocalist and songwriter of Happy To Be Here. Alongside his co-conspirator and collaborator James Hamilton, Greyson fronts the powerhouse four-piece Los Angeles-based band whose courageous message of hope, healing, and rebirth is portrayed in a riveting new track titled “Me Now.”
Unleashing a voice tinged with melancholy, Grimes is a singularly expressive singer. He says that the story of “Me Now” — co-written with Hamilton — reflects on an inner conversation about ghosting a girl with whom he had a long distance relationship. “The acknowledgment that I’d hurt someone, but I was so wounded myself.” He says that the song was too personal to share. “I didn’t play or perform it for a decade,” he affirms.
Multi-platinum producer Mikal Blue and Dean Dinning, producer, composer, and bassist for Toad The Wet Sprocket, were behind the board at Revolver Recordings for the “Me Now” sessions. Formulating a colossal rhythm section, drummer Cole Walker and bassist Alex Mospanyuk provide a thunderous foundation for the hard-edged guitar grit and the poignant regret that shades Greyson Grimes’ transcendent vocals.
The theme of “Me Now” is artfully illustrated with a narrative video that presents the band performing against a skyscraper backdrop of downtown Los Angeles, crosscut with a sobering narrative depicting a dreamlike overdose. Grimes and Hamilton both share a hard-won sobriety. “We’re happy to be on this side of the dirt and create – and do the only thing we were ever supposed to do,” says Hamilton. Echoes Grimes, “I always struggled with the darkness of the world and the light. Our message is one of relatability, that you are not alone. People who come to our shows are people like us.”
Edmonton writer and pop musician Jason Purcell (they/them) is back with their first musical release in over a decade, with “Ambitions,” a cover of Norwegian pop sensation Donkeyboy’s 2009 euro hit.
The song is about the feeling of giving up on your dreams. Naturally, it evokes nostalgia for a younger, more naïve self whose dreams were so wide and when possibilities seemed endless. As we grow and mature, our dreams narrow in scope, align more with our actual abilities and the conditions of our world, but the bigger dreams and fantasies don’t leave us.
Purcell worked with Tatiana Zagorac on a video and photo set that evoked a karaoke fantasy wherein these repressed hopes and ambitions might play out. There’s an intense intimacy and at times awkwardness to the shots that conveys the feelings of unbelonging inside a dream you’ve let die.
Jordan Lowery, lead guitarist Jay Mills, drummer Chris Melanson and bassist Maxwell Jacobs. Their unique brand of entertainment fuses memorable riffs and a country influence with stage antics and an unforgettable show that will make you get up and dance.
Debut single “Striking Like Thunder” and its accompanying video tells the tale of the heart-wrenching emotions one feels when away from their loved one for a long period of time. “Lowery Mills created this song with mentorship by “Leon Harrison”, founder of “Bandwagon”. Bandwagon has helped us shape our sound and understand the industry better and had us working with pros such as “Ryan Roxie” of “Alice Cooper” and “Kenda Legaspi” from “Creepshow.””
Modern Mystery 
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