Folk and Americana singer-songwriter Julian Taylor is sharing “City Song,” the latest release featured in his upcoming Anthology collection, out on October 20th, which reflects on his storied career as frontman of Staggered Crossing, the Julian Taylor Band, and his work as a solo artist.

“City Song” draws its inspiration from Julian’s first travels as a touring musician with Staggered Crossing. “I had not anticipated that life on the road would be so tough and so unglamorous. It’s a song about trying to justify being away and my own desire to explore a world that I hadn’t yet but also partially regretting the way that I had chosen to do it,” explains Taylor.

The mournful folk song is a troubadour’s tale of touring across Canada, buoyed by dreams but frightened by the reality of being unable to make ends meet in Julian’s early days as a working artist.

On her sixth album, singer-songwriter Norma MacDonald explores new songwriting tactics, reimagines old demos, and conducts sound experimentations that expand her folk and country influences into 60s pop, Motown harmonies, and jangly early millennium indie-rock. 

“The Heart Wants” was actually a song that was written back in 2011. However, it never fit in with her release at the time (her third album, Morning You Wake). Over the years, MacDonald tried rearranging and producing the song in different ways but it didn’t seem right. Luckily, MacDonald’s band and producer Dan Ledwell didn’t give up on it and saw her vision through, capturing that dreamy sound that kept slipping through their fingers until now. 

Jaclyn Hull, aka JAXXEE, seamlessly weaves through the rich tapestry of music history, blending the timeless allure of blues and soul with contemporary soundscapes to create a truly unique and entrancing musical journey. Her journey as a musician is a testament to her passion and dedication. Discovering her voice later in life, she has since embarked on a remarkable musical odyssey. Her sultry vocals are a force of nature, transcending eras and touching the deepest corners of the soul. With raw power and genuine emotion, JAXXEE‘s voice becomes an instrument of transformation, carrying her listeners to a place where trip-hop and funk merge in perfect unity.

On the new single, “so tired,” she delves deep into the universal experience of late-night self reflection. Exhausted from that constant feeling of not being enough, it is a plea for some relief. Recording live off the floor forced JAXXEE out of her comfort zone as she and producer Neil James Cooke-Dallin did things on the fly. She learned that this is the thing that makes her unique – singing from her heart and soul with the power and emotion held deep within.

Much like their name, Whale and the Wolf’s unique sound is sonically immense and wildly fierce in its energetic intensity. Unapologetically authentic with a generous helping of playfulness, they’re audacious yet accessible. WATW skillfully incorporates the band’s multiple musical influences, perspectives and personalities to create their own distinctive maximal sound, sans ego. 

“Living In My Head” was the first track that the band recorded remotely during lockdown. The experience proved to be a challenge to write together as they worked on the song individually, and adapting to this songwriting style allowed them to really focus on the individual parts, making them quite nuanced and complex, while still working together to serve the song as a whole. 

The focus track comes from their 10 song LP, Envy. There was a long recording process for the album – five of the songs were written with producers Jimmy Mansfield and Paul Rogers before the pandemic, and five of the songs were written after with Brian Moncarz. Lyrically, the themes came from an honest self-reflection. We can all acknowledge that we are imperfect in many ways, and in allowing that truth, we are able to further explore the key theme of envy.