North Carolina born, Mexico City based vocalist, songwriter, and producer, Meraki Trice is sharing a new single entitled “Waste Your Breath,” written in the aftermath of a transactional relationship.

The hazy and ethereal song mixes analog, digital, and acoustic sounds to create a richly produced soundscape which Trice likens to the feeling of walking in the clouds or floating in the air. “Waste Your Breath” blends elements of electronic music, rnb, and pop to create a highly melodic plane of existence.

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

Waste Your Breath is a commentary about dating as a queer person, from my experience I have had many partners mislead me and themselves about their intentions. The title comes from a statement that my grandmother used to say when she knew me or another person was about to lie, she would say “Don’t waste your breath” as in I know you are about to lie. This song to me is a refusal to go along with half-truths or out right lies, but to be honest and clear about the intentions of others with me, and I with them. 

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

The video takes place after a crash landing on a foreign planet, Meraki as depicted in the video stumbles from the wreckage to hallucinations of his lover. He searches the landscape to find the love that feels just on the edge of being reciprocated. However their efforts are to no avail, the video looks to explore imagery of queer love, in its less marketable elements. To show the lack of commitment and unhealthy attachment styles that exist within the community and I have personally experienced in many of my relationships. Even queer love in 3023 has a bit of sour with the sweet. The inspirations for the video were many afrofuturistic and Scifi novels from the Parable of the Sower to Dune 

3. What was the process of making the video?

The production timeline for the video included 9 months of planning and execution. We created every costume and accessory in collaboration with designers from Mexico, Argentina, and the United States. The script was created before the music, or songwriting had begun. The main priority was to create this futuristic world filled with queer love and tell a story that could resonate with people in and outside of the community. From there the script was created, and permits were secured with the Mexican government since the video location was in one of Mexico’s more primer national parks. Meraki and 3 dancers learned choreography that was created in collaboration with a rising Venezuelan choreographer, the set was designed to be constructed on location inside of the mountains by our art department. Shooting spanned two days, thousands of miles above sea level, in rain and fog with 4 different shoot locations spread in and around Paso de Cortes, a mountain pass way that sits in between two active volcanos. From there we colored the video to evoke more of an otherworldly look and then shared it with the world. 

Stonehocker’s powerful vocals are the focal point of any show. Accompanied by acoustic guitar, minimalistic electronic beats and samples, the live shows capture the unique, alternative sounds of his music. As a personable and unique individual, Stonehocker puts on a well-crafted performance with songs from his multiple albums.

Stonehocker’s music is a dialogue of his learning about himself, how to love and forgive himself. The lyrics are an examination of the conflict in his own life. His latest track, “I Am Divided,” is a driving arrangement that speaks to feeling lost in life and conflicted by your own decisions.

I am broken, there is a war inside of me, but am I lost?
– Stonehocker

Sarah Brix is a Canadian singer/songwriter multi-instrumentalist performing in the genre of alternative pop. Now based in Toronto, Sarah was born and raised in the picturesque town of Elora before moving to the city to pursue a career in music. She recently graduated from Seneca College for performance, songwriting and music production and since then has performed at multiple Toronto venues such as The Supermarket and Handlebar. 

Sarah’s brand new single, “Ended Here,” tells the story of being ghosted by her best friend and working through the loss and plethora of emotions that she experienced. The song was produced by Columbian producer and mixing engineer JUYI.

The song was inspired by the experience I went through when I was ghosted by my best friend. For three years, we had been inseparable and one day she completely cut off communication out of nowhere. This song not only tells the story of working through my emotions but is also a message to my long lost friend. – Sarah Brix

Snez is the artist name of Ezra Mendel, a hip hop artist from the Annapolis Valley, NS. Snez’s versatile fusion of elements from rock and pop with hip hop and rap are key aspects of his style. As a young teen, he dropped his first two singles which immediately garnered attention in his home town and would be asked to freestyle at parties, leading to being referred to as the “Jewish kid who can actually rap.” He is currently building his local and online audience and working on his first full-length release. 

The inspiration for new single, “Never Enough,” comes from Snez’s regular inner back-and-forth dialogue about his struggle with substance abuse, pride, overthinking and self-worth. He also opted out of working with a professional producer to record, mix and master the track themselves to add a personal and unpolished feel to the raw lyrics.

The music video for “Never Enough” by Snez is a visual representation of the fight for control between a man struggling with substance abuse and the temptations that follow him. The video begins with the man seeing a daunting woman with black eyes in the bushes, representing these self-deprecating impulses. The man returns from the pool as a blue, more erratic version of himself. The unnamed woman is seen lurking in the background throughout the video and providing substances to the man, who has been entirely consumed by this blue alter-ego. 

The lyrics feature a fight for control between my two conflicting personalities, Ezra and Snez; a desperate man trying to keep his head above water, and the drugged up alter ego pulling him under. For the last several years I have been struggling with substance abuse, and in trying to better my lifestyle, stay sober and make better decisions I noticed something always compels me to do otherwise. – Snez

In this era of bottomless content consumption, pssyclwz is committed to creating campy content for outsiders who can’t relate to songs written by popular girls. After a year of imagination and production, the pssyclwz EP dropped May 2024 and was very well received. pssyclwz can’t stop/won’t stop writing bangers to turn bad days into dope tracks, and will continue to release singles while she works on her debut album.

pssyclwz and self-proclaimed “goddess in progress hermaphrodite” Delilah Jolie have spent over a decade collaborating, spirituality bonding through their worship of Lana Del Rey, and supporting their respective creative pursuits. The duo teamed up on the brand new single, “party animalz,” an acoustic sad girl song turned party bop. Reminiscent of Bloodhound Gang’s “The Bad Touch,” this summer jam oozes 90s nostalgia.

I’m all about the alter ego when it comes to art and wish everyone embraced this perfect medium to understand their “shadow side.” The hypersexualization of pssyclwz that seems like a direct contradiction to healing is very much in gest and a commentary on being misunderstood in my pursuit of validation, but thankfully writing music has filled that void. For all the times I haven’t been able to say what I mean, it’s very satisfying to find the perfectly sassy words and to share them as intended without stuttering or defecating. – pssyclwz

Opeongo is the moniker of Keegan Trumpour and an ever-rotating cast of musicians. Keegan is from Midland, Ontario. Opeongo has released two full length albums (2019’s Miasma and 2021’s we’ll all go with the will-o’-the-wisp); fall 2024’s Eventual Mt. Lee marks their third release, with a fourth underway in the near future.

Like everything you’ll hear on Eventual Mt. Lee, the mournful single, “Ceiling Rats,” was inspired by the passing of Keegan’s best friend, Liam Steffler; inspired, too, by the beautiful, albeit short, existence he blessed those around him with. At the time of his passing, they were living together in a basement unit on Westmount Avenue in Toronto, Ontario. There was a problem with rats or mice or rodents of some sort in the ceiling in between their unit and the folks on the main floor. 

After Liam passed, Keegan was sorting through all of his stuff in the apartment, and he liked to imagine that it was his late pal’s ghost that he was hearing, rather than a bunch of rats roaming around. Not too great at humour amidst intense grief, the song’s title is Keegan’s self-described “sad attempt” at such.