Being bipoc and white, Toronto’s Matt Fasullo always struggled with his artistic identity. When he discovered his love for music, it became a diary of sorts, giving him an outlet to vent and discover who he truly was.  From the infancy of experimenting with music in his parent’s basement to 7 years of him maturing his sound, Matt splices together the warmth and rawness of folk music with the underbelly of alternative electronic.

“OHSOPROUD” their latest work is a detailed and sonically divergent production with sampled old home videos and the general static and pop they give off. Inspired by a year long dance with psychedelic drugs that left Matt further away from what he hoped they would give him. “They broke me down, shattered my ego, and I learned that there were some harsh consequences to treating your mind like a toy. I faced some harsh realities that I still live with to this day. This song is about a time I lost my mind, only to find it in a million pieces and slowly putting it back together over the years.”

At the end of the writing and recording process Matt had this profound statement we could all find comfort in “I need to embrace my life as it currently is. Instead of pandering to some idea of who I think I should be.”

Toronto artist Victoria Staff writes music for the same reasons that we all run and bake and hang out with friends and family – it makes us feel better. Writing music has always supported her through mental health issues, and it gave her a way to process complex emotions at a really young age. She writes music to help herself, and she shares it to help other people. On her latest ethereal and sorrowful single “Campfire” she does just that, lending a voice to those in silence by a far too prevalent atrocity. 

“When I was 16, I was sexually assaulted. At the time, I had no idea what to process what had happened to me and no way of telling people. I wrote “Campfire” as a coping mechanism, a way to tell the people around me what I had experienced, what I was going through. What inspired me to release it is looking back I felt like there were lots of songs about overcoming trauma and being the bigger person in the face of hardship, but I wanted a song that talked about how it felt to be in the eye of the storm. I want this song to support people who don’t have a way to voice their experience and are still in the place of processing.”

A veteran of the Montreal music scene, Patrick Krief has been releasing music for nearly two decades, first as a member of The Dears then via his own projects including Black Diamond Bay and, most recently, as a solo artist.

His self-reflective song, “Eloise,” is about meeting someone at the wrong time, and looking back years later, wondering what might have been. The lyrics feel like a love letter to a long lost love, asking when the two lovers might meet again. It was partly inspired by his own parents’ love story. 

“My father followed my mother from Morocco to several other countries as her family moved from place to place in search of a better life,” Krief explains. “Ultimately they found a life together in Montreal in the early 60s. I imagined what it might have been like had my father lacked such persistence. And in that character, I imagined the longing he might feel for the rest of his life.”

NYRE is a Toronto-based singer/songwriter who has been making waves in the alternative pop scene with her unique sound and captivating lyrics. Her music often incorporates dark and moody elements, combining electronic beats with enchanting vocals and introspective lyrics.

Her fierce new song, “Glitter with a Vengeance,” represents an enchantingly powerful and strikingly beautiful force that captivates all in its path. Glitter’s sparkle cannot be dulled and it uses the heartbreak of the past to shine intensely with even greater force, as if the glitter is determined to be noticed and cannot be ignored.

The song is a perfect representation of NYRE’s dark alt-pop style, while sprinkling influences from artistic neighbours like Halsey, Olivia Rodrigo, and Billie Eilish throughout the track. The vocals and music enhance each other entirely to create a truly mesmerizing and unpredictable storyline.

Toronto’s Theo Tams has released his take on the R.E.M. single, “Losing My Religion,” to coincide with Pride Month. The artist’s moody and intense rendition of this song has a personal resonance, given his queer identity and the toxic role that religion played in his upbringing. Beginning as a piano ballad, the song develops a darkly electronic tone as it unfurls.

Kingston, Ontario band Kasador – Cameron Wyatt (vocals/guitar), Boris Baker (bass), and Stephen Adubofuor (drums) – have woven years of tumult through their mid-late twenties into something powerful and real: a tight-knit, sincere, and caring rock and roll band hitting full sprint, with their sophomore LP, Youth, about memory, relationships, and how the relentless passage of time shapes and constantly reshapes all of those things. 

Recorded at Bathouse Studio with The Glorious Sons’ Brett Emmons producing and Nyles Spencer (Half Moon Run, July Talk) engineering, it’s a bright, punkish, emotional guitar-rock record that ultimately tracks the process of learning to be okay with not being okay. Vic Florencia (Olivia Rodrigo, Jason Mraz, Five For Fighting) mixed the record and Peter Letros (Beyonce, Duran Duran) mastered. Hurled into uncertainty, Kasador embraced the fact that things won’t—can’t—last forever, working together to make sense of the gap between youthful dreams and very adult realities.

People often put up a hardened exterior to protect themselves, but underneath that exterior is a vulnerable and genuine human experience. “Quit Your Crying” is an unapologetic anthem delving into the very real frustrations that stem from watching a meaningful relationship crumble before your eyes and resorting to putting up barriers in response.