Are you a music lover or consider yourself a music connoisseur of sorts? If your answer is yes, then check out these reviews of the latest singles from emerging Canadian artists!
Patient Love – The Neighbourhood Watch
The newest single from Toronto-based indie group The Neighbourhood Watch, Patient Love, is a ballad of falling in love and lowering your guard, which showcases the band’s singer-songwriter abilities.
Lyrically, it feels good. Simple, repetitive, but very beautiful.
Musically, the track is simple. Piano chords placed over drums and an acoustic guitar. Personally, my favourite aspect is the choral harmony that overlaps the lead vocals on the second and third choruses. If you were to play me this song and tell me it was a filler song on The Lumineers’ new album, I would believe you. If you’re a fan of the indie-folk, Lumineers, Noah Kahan type of music, this song does exactly what it should. You can add it to your playlist, or just sing along. It may not stand out, but it’s truly an enjoyable listen.
6.5/10
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/patient-love/1719839253?i=1719839254
Waiting For The Laughter – Iskwe
Waiting For The Laughter, sung by Iskwe, and composed by akaMatisse and herself is a slow roll of some of the most beautiful instrumentation I’ve heard in a long time. The lyrics of the song are somewhat mediocre and don’t really shine through. However, that is most definitely not the point of this song and Iskwe’s beautiful voice is able to take centre stage.
Waiting For The Laughter is a constant build of instrumentation, over the gradual crescendo of a marching snare. The experience of hearing this song for the first time is almost ethereal. Nearly the entire song is a build-up to something which never truly comes, just the gradual fade out of the outro… Almost as if you are, you know, “Waiting For The Laughter”. The highlight of this song is the violin. From the very opening, the violin builds alongside the rest of the track, into an incredibly gorgeous solo during the chorus. As well, the violin during the chorus has a call and response, imitating the lead vocals, which genuinely made me feel like I was ascending into some sort of higher form of being.
Overall, if you are a fan of, or are looking to get into chamber pop music, Waiting For The Laughter is a song to listen to.
8.0/10
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/waiting-for-the-laughter/1720423355?i=1720423366
Subhuman – The Dream Eaters
The Dream Eaters are a dreampop duo who have been making music since their conception in 2015. The most recent single released by the duo is titled Subhuman. Personally, I’m a fan of dream pop music. I enjoy listening to the upbeat synths, the high-pitched vocals, and quick and light drumbeats. However, I absolutely do not enjoy listening to this song. Imagine if you took an 80’s synthwave song, modernized it, and made it absolutely horrific.
The lyricism… Honestly, need I say more. The lyrics are a spoon-fed, jumble of words, which sound like they’re trying to be deep and inspiring but are severely failing at that attempt. The vocals are sung by Jake Zavracky and Elizabeth “Red” Lebaron, the two members who make up The Dream Eaters. And for a duo, their vocals don’t sound pleasing together.
The backing track is upbeat, it’s quick and light. But there’s just something so off about it. The bass synth line just does not fit in with the melody, I think there’s a guitar, but it honestly sounds so off-putting that I can’t tell what instrument they’re trying to play. The only reason this song doesn’t have a lower rating is because there happens to be a synth solo that I enjoy, which shocked me just as much as I’m sure it does you.
As I was listening to this song, I was curious if possibly the band had just missed this time around. I did a little dive into the world of The Dream Eaters, their breakout hit titled Fuck My Skull, in which the opening line is “murder me and fuck my skull”, is somehow a song I would play for my parents before I landed on Subhuman.
If you’re feeling subhuman and needing to be loved, this song will not inspire the boost I think The Dream Eaters had in mind when composing.
2.3/10
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/subhuman/1721265301?i=1721265302
Somewhere Green – Connor Roff
Connor Roff is a singer-songwriter who currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is a heavy and passionate advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community, a yoga instructor, and a dual citizen between Canada and the UK. As well, Roff was a core member of the London Contemporary Voices choir. His newest single, Somewhere Green, is a testament to his vocal ability.
Hear me out, have you ever found yourself longing to frolic in the sunlight of a large empty field? Yes? That’s exactly what this song is. If you have not felt longingly towards this sensation, listen to the song, you will.
Oddly, this song is more of a feeling than it is music. The backing track, composed by James Turner, builds beautifully. The chorus has a very heavy bass, which doesn’t match the subject matter of the song, but I find it works. The lyrics are incredibly descriptive, you really don’t have to use your brain to understand the message being thrown at you. The vocal harmonies throughout the chorus are so subtle that on my first listen, I didn’t even hear them. The subtleness of the harmonies emphasizes Roff’s lead vocals, which are the focal standout of the track. The vocals are so lovely that I couldn’t tell if they were over-pitch corrected, or his voice was just that good.
For indie-folk listeners, I would recommend trying this song out. It isn’t the best song I’ve heard or the worst, but the feeling it provides is so incredibly distinct that it’s worth a listen.
7.4/10
Apple music: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/somewhere-green/1728916021?i=1728916024
Kiss & Smoke Weed – M’Grasker
“Who cares, it’s definitely cool” is the motto of Canadian-based music group M’Grasker, and I must admit, they nailed that one. I know absolutely nothing else about this band, but honestly, who cares because it is cool, it’s so cool. The group’s latest single, Kiss & Smoke Weed, is an incredibly fun song. The title horribly misled me originally, I was expecting possibly a slow R&B or hip-hop song. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the upbeat, funky track which followed my pressing play.
I don’t know how to put into words the way this track makes me feel. The lyrics are fast and they’re well written and they’re sung in falsetto. The drums have a quick tempo and are incredibly groovy. With the addition of a bubbly guitar and an incredible synth solo, AH, the song is just so good. It’s almost as if you can tell they composed this while high and you can tell just how much fun they were having while writing. From this one track, you can sense M’Grasker’s love for music, and they transport you into their bubble of creating solely for the enjoyment of it. It’s an impossible task to listen to this song and not appreciate just how much of a bop it is.
Kiss & Smoke Weed has had a minor chokehold on me since my first listen. Do yourself a favour and play this song.
8.6/10
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/kiss-smoke-weed/1721111372?i=1721111373
Why Can’t I Call You? – Slightest Clue
Post-punk, garage rock band Slightest Clue released a single entitled “Why Can’t I Call You?” leading up to the release of their Carousel EP. The track gives a very grungy feeling with heavily distorted guitar riffs, a solid intro bass line, and a consistent drum line. The Vancouver-based group describes their music as a “quilt made by your nana, not sure how all the patterns fit, but somehow it works”. This song doesn’t fit that description, to me at least. It feels cohesive, the instrumentation works amongst itself and alongside the vocals, the vibe of the lyrics and the subject matter of the song match the track itself. Overall, it fits.
As much as I feel the song works, it’s not overly special. As far as post-punk rock music goes the song is slow and it’s a little bit boring. It feels like a filler track, which piqued my curiosity on whether it really was a filler song. I did a little bit more of a dive into the rest of the EP, and it is quite good.
As far as any emerging band goes, some songs are a hit, and some are a miss. “Why Can’t I Call You?” is a slight miss, but I would recommend listening to the Carousel EP from Slightest Clue.
5.2/10
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/why-cant-i-call-you/1719556027?i=1719556028
Unrequited Love Blues – Moira & Claire, Logan Richard
If you are a fan of indie folk-pop and are feeling an unreciprocated love, which I feel is most indie folk-pop listeners… and I say that because I’ve been there. Moira & Claire have also been there, and they wrote a song about it!
“Unrequited Love Blues” is a ballad of you guessed it, unrequited love. The track is bubbly and upbeat, the vocals blend well together, and the feature Logan Richard was a welcome addition to the song. A ballad of unrequited love may sound a bit tragic, but the song is quite cute and inspiring. Moira & Claire tell the story from the perspective of a girl in love with a boy, unsure if he feels the same. Logan Richard tells the same story from the perspective of the boy, and of course, he does feel the same! The song is very Lizzy McAlpine-coded.
The track is fun, it’s cute, and the lyrics are a little bit on the nose but if you’re in the market for a fun folk-pop song that you don’t need to use your brain too much to understand, then I would recommend giving this one a listen.
6.6/10
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/unrequited-love-blues/1721051751?i=1721051752
Resurfacing – Laurence DaNova
Laurence DaNova is a world traveller and singer-songwriter aspiring to capture the essence of the places he’s been and the people he’s met through the production and lyricism of his music. His latest single, “Resurfacing” was released in January of 2024, and has left me feeling some sort of way ever since.
Before I say anything else about this song, I must let my absolute disdain for the opening line be known. “For you, the one whose ankle is chained to the anchor.” He literally just described the cover photo for the single. The song is meant to allude to the occasional sinking feeling in life, and in the song, he himself dives into the water to save someone and, I think, they both drown and the “shipwreck underneath” becomes their home. Now, personally, I like to think of it as them becoming mermaids but that’s just me. I just absolutely hate how in-your-face that opening lyric is. I genuinely don’t know; it just ruins the entire song for me. Hot take probably but like, we understand what the photo is, and what the song is, you don’t have to describe it to us.
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, the song is okay. I really like the production; the backing track does make me feel like I’m underwater. I don’t like the lyrics, some of them are super in your face trying to be deep, and some of them are so deep that they don’t match, and I can’t tell what’s going on. I’m incredibly confused about where I stand on this song, I hate it but I kind of enjoy listening to it. It sounds good, but like it doesn’t. I am incredibly conflicted.
??/10
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/resurfacing/1715924134?i=1715924139