“We Ain’t Royal” is Greg Rider’s most honest song to date. Throughout Greg’s life, he always felt the need to fit into a certain group. 

When he first got into country music, he didn’t want to be the kind of an artist who just sang about stereotypical country topics. He wanted to write real music about his life that could help others relate. 

Greg’s new track was written three years ago, while he was living in Nashville. He had gotten caught up in trying to fit the mold of what a country artist should look and sound like to the point that his soul felt empty.

This vulnerable, soaring contemporary country track is about opening up and it being okay to ask for help and not bottle your darker emotions up. If you aren’t happy with your life, take action to change your situation.

Jon Stancer is a singer-songwriter and musician, somewhere within the alt-rock-pop milieux. He conjures hooky and occasionally haunting melodies with lyrics – sometimes direct and other times cryptic – that evoke longing, desperation, fear, and hope.

Stancer’s new single, “This Cannot Wait (Until Tomorrow),” is a contemplative and anguished plea to act fast on climate change, set to a delicate and wistful waltz, ambiently awash in piano, upright bass, strings and horns. Produced by Dan Kurtz (Dragonette, theNEWDEAL), this is the first release from his forthcoming EP, In Light Of, expected in early 2022.

Stream “This Cannot Wait (Until Tomorrow)” now: 

Rebecca Hope is a Canadian Songwriting Competition award-winning singer-songwriter and guitarist of Algonquin First Nations and Irish heritage.

She wrote her new track, “Burn for You,” about the danger and beauty of falling in love. She had just returned home from visiting her then-boyfriend across the country when she wrote it. A few days into the trip she had made the decision to end things as he hadn’t given her the honesty or time she deserved.

“Every time you move towards [love], you risk getting hurt,” says Rebecca. “But as I was writing ‘Burn for You,’ it hit me that falling in love and finding someone who is worth the risk of getting hurt is also incredibly beautiful.”

This melancholy folk-country song is resilient and confessional, harnessing the intensity of love’s ups and downs.

“We all deserve to see ourselves as brave for letting go and falling in love,” adds Rebecca.

Described by listeners as an eclectic, electronic folk artist with a DIY bent, Cain Price is a fascinating newcomer in the Canadian music scene. 

The Vancouverite’s gentle new single, “Enamel,” was recorded almost entirely with one microphone, creating an alternative, vocally experimental piece of folk.

While moving into a new space, Cain and his partner got into a few heated arguments, but decided to focus on finishing the job instead of communicating and taking the time to make up.

“Enamel” is about exactly this: focusing so much on succeeding with something that you ignore tying up loose ends in other parts of your life.

Sometimes people would rather talk about anything than have an important (but painful) conversation.

We all wear many masks; one for each situation in life. Joseph Dubuc-Lavoie, also known as Many Masks, seems to be most comfortable with all of them when he is left alone to create. 

His new single, “Her Cold Hands,” is a new track in his oeuvre of heartfelt electronic music, exploring the symbolism of a way to lay the blame of Joseph’s own “crappy decision” on someone else’s cold hands. 

The first song he ever created in Ableton Live, “Her Cold Hands” was born in the dead of winter several years ago but later reimagined through refined production.

This electropop track is thoughtful and inquisitive, welcoming listeners to project their own struggles and victories onto the sound of Many Masks.

While Dustin Finer and Patrick Haggart make no claims regarding powers of interstellar awakening, they do boast a visionary take on saxophone and electronics.

Their symbiotic improvisations generate a single sonic output, blurring the lines of cause and effect. Classically trained, Finer’s “alarmingly proficient” (Popdose) contemporary saxophone techniques have drawn comparisons to Colin Stetson and Bendik Giske. Haggart (aka Stereo_IMG) has used his background in cinematic sound design to build a reputation in Montreal’s techno and experimental electronic scenes as a meticulous craftsman. Together the duo unravels dark, stream-of-conscious narratives as Haggart wields a chain of effects hardware to manipulate Finer’s live saxophone.

Two improvisers. One output. Full send.

Their new album is a journey of hypnotic meditations and digital terror. A voyage into our shared imaginations. An escape to unfamiliar worlds. 

Listen to the EP here: https://finerhaggart.bandcamp.com/album/when-im-thinking-in-your-mind