Owen Marchildon is a songwriter and guitarist who has been part of the Toronto music scene since 2002. His creative output has been prolific, producing volumes of his own music independently since 2005; 10 full length albums, one EP and several singles under four different monikers – Purple Hill, Rough Skeletons, Marchildon! and High Wasted. Owen also played bass for the critically lauded math rock quartet From Fiction and later with Julie Kendall’s surf-soul project 1977.
2024 sees Owen pulling back the veil of all his previous monikers and releasing new music under his own name. His debut album, Dangling Towards Heavy Sunlight, is a masterful fusion of rock ‘n’ roll nostalgia where power pop melodies meet witty, vivid storytelling. It’s an album that feels both familiar and fresh, a love letter to classic rock ‘n’ roll with enough personality to stand on its own. Longtime bandmates and collaborators, Jordan Bruce and Brent Hough, spread out the sound, complimenting the style, imagination and fabric of Owen’s songwriting.
Highlighted track, “Weather Gurl,” tells the story of someone harboring a secret crush on a weather anchor, capturing the ache of unrequited love with clever, vivid lyrics. The song is a delightful blend of classic rock influences brought together with a fresh twist.
Puma June, an “emerging Canadian artist you need to hear” (Exclaim!), is a Toronto-based multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter, and producer. With an eclectic array of influences from Stevie Wonder to Billie Eilish and everything in between, her music is a unique blend of pop, funk, hip-hop, and R&B – a genre-bending sound that is both nostalgic and distinctive to the listener. With a clear political point of view, Puma June’s feminist-laced songwriting pushes unfiltered honesty and centers around regaining power in one’s life, with a particular focus on women’s/gender issues, familial trauma, and the battle of self-doubt as an artist.
She entered 2024 as a Round 11 recipient of the RBCxMusic x The Prism Prize MVP Project Grant, which she used to make a music video for her single “My Body, My Problem,” released earlier this summer. Puma June has lots on the horizon for 2024, including being selected for SOCAN Foundation’s EquityXProduction Level II program, an initiative designed to help develop skills for women in music production, as well as one of RBCxMusic’s ‘First Up’ Artists for 2024, a prestigious artist development program and workshop series, powered by MusiCounts.
Latest single, “Bad Habits,” is an unapologetic jazz and hip hop infused pop track off her upcoming debut EP A Woman That They Want. The song’s themes explore the idea of bad habits being the internal battles like self-hatred and shedding trauma, rather than solely the traditional idea of bad habits.
East Coast Music Awards “Entertainer of the Year” nominee Robert Thomas is a natural storyteller. With an energetic and welcoming voice, he highlights the stories of our lives with empathy, energy and humour. Based in Moncton, New Brunswick, Robert has written for artists across many genres including Bonnie Raitt, The Chicks, Kenny Rogers and Mister Mister.
Robert’s creativity is ably matched by his acoustic duo, The Session Men. Ray Legere (fiddle, mandolin, vocals) may be the most renowned and prolific acoustic musician in the Maritimes. He has performed with Alison Krauss, Tony Rice, Natalie MacMaster, The Chieftains and a host of others. Jon Arsenault (guitar, keyboard, percussion, vocals) is a superb multi-instrumentalist and captivating performer. Together, Robert Thomas and The Session Men weave all-original songs into a highly entertaining musical biography of Robert’s long career as a published songwriter with Capitol/EMI. His forthcoming album is produced by JUNO Award-winner Catherine MacLellan.
Robert’s new acoustic single, the poignant and reflective “A River Runs Through,” came to fruition from multiple inspirations – the natural beauty of the Trout River, the passing of time and the late writing of Johnny Cash which he found a parallel in.
As I grew older, particularly over the last five years into my mid 60s, I was surprised to find the same thing happening to me as a songwriter. It strikes me that the road ahead of me is now very much shorter than the road behind. My children are grown and the river of my life is flowing inevitably away from me. Because I am not particularly spiritual, I think Cash’s later work opened the door for me to venture into the same territory – questions of mortality, God and what is still to come. – Robert Thomas
With a foundation in Canadian roots rock and a penchant for crafting noisy guitar jams, Cuff The Duke‘sunique blend of genres has consistently escaped the confines of simple classification, earning them an honoured place under the umbrella of “alternative.” Six albums, a pair of JUNO nods, countless miles clocked on the road, including sharing stages with iconic acts like Blue Rodeo, Hayden, Sloan, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, and Calexico. Then, poof! A 10-year vanishing act, playing only a handful of shows in that time. But like all great tales, theirs has a twist: Cuff The Duke has reemerged from the shadows.
The band’s comeback album, Breaking Dawn, is a deeply personal exploration of frontman Wayne Petti‘s journey with mental health. Petti, who has spent the past eight years working as an artist manager for renowned acts like The National, Owen Pallett, Broken Social Scene, and Jennifer Castle, found himself struggling with the idea of balancing his roles as both a manager and an artist.
https://bfan.link/breaking-dawn
I struggled with the idea of working with incredible and inspiring artists in that capacity and still being an artist in my own way. I finally realized that the only thing stopping me was ME. There are no rules about how one can and cannot be creative. I realized that it didn’t matter to me how it came out and who listened to it; all that mattered was that I allowed myself to create something just because I finally felt that I needed to. – Wayne Petti
The songs on the new album reflect Petti’s process of coming to terms with his mental health, capturing the various stages of his journey. The musical interludes throughout the record serve as a representation of the ever-present anxiety that he has learned to navigate. At the same time, the songs themselves offer a sense of relief and catharsis.
Originally written about a woman sailing out to sea in search of her husband, who was a sailor and didn’t return from his last trip because of a storm, Breaking Dawn’s focus track, “Ballad of the Breaking Dawn,” serves as a basic metaphor of setting out to find one’s way and one’s self and ultimately feeling completely lost at sea.
