Angela Saini is an Indian-Austrian Canadian and country folk-pop artist based in Toronto. The singer-songwriter has forged her identity through unflinching positivity and empowering ideals. While she has experienced some incredible success, being known for her uplifting music through her debut album and two popular EPs, her success has come as a result of some of her darkest moments.

Self-acceptance anthem “It’s Ok” was written for her friend and collaborator Derek who passed away unexpectedly, but it also applies to pandemic depression. “That’s the most personal song I’ve written,” Angela says. “Sometimes we don’t know what to do with sadness and depression, and I want people to know it’s fine to crawl into a ball—it’s okay not to be okay,” she says.

Following in the footsteps of Cohen, and with his deep and sultry Bowie meets Joy Division’s Ian Curtis vocals, Cairo-born Montreal-based singer/songwriter TEROUZ brings his signature retro pop to the scene by curating his original music with his taste for ‘90s nostalgia and ‘70s & ‘80s electro-pop/rock elements.

Along with his co-producer, mix engineer and keyboardist Gabriel Ethier (Garou, Azam Ali, Niyaz) TEROUZ carefully crafts his songs into intimate capsules, where one is intoxicatingly swayed to dive deeper into his cinematic stories. 

“Tiger Girl” is a testament to resilient women and the empowering effects they have on others.

Canadian OBGYN turned singer-songwriter, Kristina Dervaitis, is sharing the first single from her second solo album due this April.

The powerful, piano-led track “Everything & Nothing” focuses on the concept of denial. “Some signs just can’t be ignored without grave consequences,” explains Dervaitis. 

The song’s moody vocals and ominous production underscore Dervaitis’ exploration of how we can over analyze situations and twist any information in order to justify our wants, which often aren’t in line with our true needs.

An American citizen raised in the heart of the Canadian prairies, award-winning roots/Americana singer-songwriter Noah Derksen writes with the groundedness of harsh Manitoba winters mixed with the failed optimism of the American Dream. He currently lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba. 

Noah has teamed up with JUNO-award winning producer Murray Pulver for his third full-length album, out on March 9th via Overdraft Records. Sanctity of Silence follows the arc of love, from start to finish.

The title of his new single says it all: “Love is Such a Hard Thing.“ He elaborates, “You trip, you fall, you get back up, you trip, you fall. So on, so forth. The feeling of lying motionless on your floor, rapid shallow breaths racking your lungs where you think you’re hyperventilating. Where your heart is torn, the deep ache in the centre of your chest. This is the place where this song comes from, in the absolute depths of your heartbreak.”

Nickelas Smokey Johnson (Field+Stream) is a musician and multidisciplinary artist from the Northern forests of Alberta, Canada. Drawing from western folk traditions and the avant garde, he creates a kind of gothic country music defined by Edmonton Journal as “a claustrophobic yet cinematic expression of prairie life, of potential threats, of existential discontent.”

He splits his time between Edmonton and Mossy Trails, his family’s off-grid property where he works as caretaker and curator of a forest populated by a pantheon of large handmade wooden gods, and hosts live music on the Boreal Vegas stage, an open-air, solar powered venue he built with his retired folks. It was here where “Horsecock” was written and the accompanying video was recorded.

Marco DiFelice is a Canadian singer, songwriter, music supervisor, and producer. In the 90’s, Marco was the lead singer of the pop-punk band, Supergarage. After the band dispersed, he found his way into the world of music supervision, where he selected music for films, adverts, and television shows including Orphan Black and Lost Girl. Now Marco is writing songs against the backdrop of his life as Parks N’ Rec. This project — a collaboration between Marco and several producers back at his own Self Titled Studios — deals with lost love, polarizing societies, and self-renewal.

Brand new track, “Peace of Mind,” offers up Parks N’ Rec’s spin on the original by classic rockers Boston and will be included on a full-length covers set to be released this coming spring. A well-written song with a simple melody and lyrics, it reminded Marco that good music comes out of a few basic ingredients.