The greatest music goes beyond merely entertaining us; instead, it conjures deep and varied emotions by evoking the universal hopes, fears, and experiences of humanity. Few modern artists embody that sentiment as wonderfully as Canadian progressive/post-rock troupe Versa. Founded in 2007, the group has spent over 15 years perfecting their superb chemistry of serene vocals; eloquent songwriting; and majestically ornate, diverse, and engrossing instrumentation across their first four collections (2007’s Versa, 2010’s The Decline & Fall of…, 2012’s Common Things EP, and 2022’s A Voyage / A Destination).
Regarding the decision to split A Voyage / A Destination into two parts (and two releases), the first came in April 2022. Although “the bulk of the material was recorded at the same time,” bandleader Matthew Dolmage confesses, “ultimately, we knew that it’d take a while to finish the remaining songs. As difficult as it was, we knew that delaying the second part would prove to be the right choice for us and our listeners.”
Since 2020’s Party of One EP, Toronto’s Alannah Kavanagh has grown tremendously as an artist. When she started Grizzly Coast at 22, she was playing confessional songwriter-style acoustic shows. Over time, Alannah got a band and they were scrappy – playing gigs and music they thought was fun without putting too much thought into things.
Recorded in just under two weeks, Alannah and her band meticulously explored ideas and made deliberate musical choices to create Grizzly Coast’s transformative debut album, Staying Power. By contrast, Party of One was recorded in one weekend without so much as creating a demo beforehand. The result of bucking down and taking things more seriously? An album that Alannah is incredibly proud of, one that sounds exactly how she envisioned it. Staying Power is a testament to growth, commitment, and the power of trusting oneself in the face of life’s uncertainties.
The Boneheads have kept true to their roots while emerging from the Toronto music scene. They deliver a refreshment of blues-tinged rock ‘n’ roll, combining old school and modern influences that brings a familiarity of the golden age of the blues with contemporary expression.
The band have explored an Americana and roots inflected direction on new single, the infectious and rollicking “Feel The Light.” This highly melodic track finds the band blending bright vocals, driving guitars, and tumbling drums as the song gradually builds into a collective message of positivity.
“Our favourite lyric is ‘Lead me to salvation, from this digital generation of fear and spite’ because it represents breaking free from the attachment to our phones or computers and living life in the moment instead,” explains the group, zeroing in on the song’s ethos.
Melbourne singer-songwriter Rance Lazarus is back again with his endearing new single ‘Butterflies’, which premiered exclusively via AAA Backstage.
“Butterflies” is a song I wrote about someone who, after nearly giving up on love, finally meets someone who seems like they might be the perfect match. It captures the excitement of the early stages of dating, where everything feels new and full of potential—the shared moments, the anticipation, and the hope that this person might truly be ‘the one.’ The butterflies you feel at the beginning, those moments of nervous excitement, symbolize the optimism of love. But in this story, those butterflies eventually fly away, and the relationship falls apart, leading the couple to go their separate ways. Even though things don’t work out, the song ends with a sense of optimism, promising that those butterflies will return again one day—and when they do, they’ll stay for good.
Rance Lazarus combines a fusion of Pop, Indie Rock, and Country, creating a genre-defying sound. Influenced by icons like John Mayer, The 1975, LANY and Ed Sheeran, Lazarus weaves heartfelt lyrics and soulful melodies into his music.
Rance Lazarusdropped his single and music video ‘I Fell For You (Again)’ earlier this year. The music video was premiered live at the St Kilda Film Festival via Clipped TV. The video was premiered alongside releases from heavyweights such as Midnight Oil, The Modelsand Split Enz. The single was aired on over 100 radio stations worldwide and received warm coverage from the likes of Australian Music Scene, AMNplify and The Partae, just to mention a few.
New single ‘Butterflies’ is available on all major online stores and streaming services.
“Lazarus draws you in with an infectious melody that effortlessly weaves heartfelt lyrics, captivating rhythms, and unforgettable hooks”
Forte Magazine
Award-winning DJ/producer W/FRNDS (originally from Toronto and now based in Nashville) began creating music in his late teens while pursuing a professional hockey career and is now blending ingredients of pop, house, country and techno to create a new flavour of music that has something for everyone’s musical taste buds.
As his former folk-rock band broke into the festival scene and started gaining industry hype, his dreams shifted from playing in areas to performing in them. When members of the band started to develop other interests, W/FRNDS followed his passion and began writing and producing music for other artists where he fell in love with the art of collaboration and songwriting.
Latest single, “SOUTHERN DRAW(L),” is a co-release with talented folk artist Paige Penney whose career also began in Canada before bringing her to Nashville. The smoky country track shows reverence to the Southern accent.
Opeongo is the moniker of Midland, Ontario’s Keegan Trumpour and an ever-rotating cast of musicians. Opeongo has released two full length albums (2019’s Miasma and 2021’s we’ll all go with the will-o’-the-wisp); the brand new Eventual Mt. Lee marks their third release, with a fourth underway in the near future.
The songs on Eventual Mt. Lee were informed by the sudden loss of Keegan’s best friend Liam Steffler, with whom they were living at the time of his passing. He considered this album as needing to be written to honour Liam, as well as offer healing to listeners experiencing loss.
This album has taught me that the beauty in this world can help make sense of loss and grief and pain, and that though the joy and love and happiness that is abundant in living can never and should never supersede tragedy and devastation, the two can mutually coexist and help contextualize one another.
As Child Actress, Rena Kozak toes the line between a tangible reality and an infinite universe. While Calgary was her initial foundation, her move to Montreal in 2017 solidified her work not just as a performer and songwriter, but as a sought-out producer and mixing engineer. Having released her latest full-length, Ancestor Worship, last year, Kozak is now sharing the last of the songs she wrote after her boyfriend died in 2012 in the form of an EP entitled Just Fine Never Better.
This year, it became important to Kozak to finish and release the final remaining songs so she can cleanse herself of that phase and see what might happen next. The first two tracks are from early on in her grief phase, while the second two were written in the last couple of years. She wanted to include them on Just Fine Never Better as a way to symbolize forward motion and growth. The EP’s title track was originally written by Kozak’s late boyfriend, Chris Reimer of Women and The Dodos. It’s one that the couple both really liked, and after Reimer’s death, his parents gave Kozak permission to use it with Child Actress.
The official “Just Fine Never Better” music video was filmed in Montreal, QC at Studio Saint Zo and in San Francisco at Musée Mechanique. For a song about staying in, staying sober and taking a night off from the party, this video takes us to a surreal soirée in a psychedelic dream state. Mechanical alter-egos waltz and sing our subconscious thoughts to us while the only thing grounding us to the reality of the human world is a single wind turbine on the horizon. A reminder that even when we let ourselves get swirled away by substances and revelry by night, the wind is always there in the morning as the world turns around us – whether we like it or not.
