Americana Folk duo Clever Hopes (Andrew Shaver & Eva Foote), have released their debut album, Artefact. Written in Australia after the breakup of a deeply rooted love, the album tells the tale of heartbreak through honest and vulnerable storytelling, with just a touch of whimsy. We caught up with Andrew and Eva to talk about the stories behind the making of the album and collaborating with a dream team to make it happen. Artefact is your debut album. It follows a resolution Andrew made to begin writing more music after directing a play full of songwriters and wanting…
Author: Cassandra Popescu
Silverstein hit the stage at HISTORY in Toronto on December 12, 2021 to play an incredible 3-set show. Like most of us, fans had been waiting since 2020 to finally experience the band’s 20-year anniversary show, and Silverstein certainly did not disappoint. The band kicked things off with a set full of high energy numbers, including a medley of some fan favourites that had been requested over comments and DM’s on social media throughout the pandemic. The second half of the show included a stripped-down acoustic set. Lead singer, Shane Told, sat down to tell the stories behind each song…
JUNO Award-winning group Good Lovelies have been bringing the holiday cheer to venues across Ontario with their 2021 Christmas Tour sharing their classic holiday songs, timeless winter selections, and original material. The tour began on December 8th in Kenora, ON, and will end on December 22nd in Kingston, ON, including a stop in Toronto as they headline the brand new Massey Hall. Tickets for all the shows can be found here. “We are so proud that we kept this tradition alive last year with a virtual tour but you can imagine what it will mean to us to see your…
July Talk took over HISTORY in Toronto for the second night in a row on December 10, 2021, as part of the Live at Last tour. If there’s one thing July Talk knows how to do, it’s create an experience with every show they put on. From the live performance itself to the lighting and design of the show, it seemed every creative choice was helping to tell the story of each song they performed. Co-lead singers Leah Fay and Peter Dreimanis have a playful on-stage chemistry that’s unique to their performance. Pair that with the juxtaposition between Peter’s raspy…
When you ask most artists why they’re chasing fame, the answer isn’t typically one of distributing love to the world. We usually associate wealth and status with the desire to rise up, win awards, and be somebody. And if they do share a fluffy response about changing the world, it doesn’t always feel genuine. But that isn’t the case for Mauvey, a Vancouver-based singer-songwriter, who just released his digital project The Florist. “I want to win so badly because I want to distribute love so badly…the reason I want to be the biggest artist on the planet is so I…
On November 22, 2021, I got to see the show I was supposed to attend on March 13, 2020: Dan Mangan at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto. After 20 months of waiting and email notifications about rescheduled shows, we finally gathered together at the Danforth Music Hall. Dan stepped onstage, and said to the crowd, “Welcome to night two at the Danforth!” in reference to the would-be 2020 gig, which was meant to be the second in a string of shows, “We finally made it!” Dan Mangan is one of those artists with the ability to remain earnest and…
Chicago singer-songwriter Alexander 23 took the stage at the Velvet Underground in Toronto on November 23, 2021, as part of his most recent tour, aptly titled Oh No, Not A Tour!. His latest EP, Oh No, Not Again! was released in February 2021 and contains a handful of tracks that helped me (and I’m sure many others) get through the combination of winter/pandemic blues we were collectively experiencing coming out of 2020. Needless to say, I arrived at the venue ready for a cathartic experience and, quite frankly, ready to cry. But, what immediately struck me about his live show is…
Toronto x Brampton multi-award-winning artist/producer/DJ Haviah Mighty has shared her latest project, Stock Exchange, the follow-up to her Polaris Music Prize-winning album 13th Floor. The mixtape highlights Haviah’s expansion as a producer and features a cast of incredible collaborators, including North Carolina’s Jalen Santoy, LA-based Old Man Saxon, Toronto artists Grandtheft, TOBi, Spanish artist and Latin GRAMMY winner, Mala Rodriquez, UK artist Yizzy, and more. The title for Stock Exchange refers to a realization Haviah had over the grip that social media, streaming platforms, numbers, and analytics hold over artists in our digital landscape, “These statistics that we use to…
Soulful, nostalgic, heartwarming, one heck of a dance party: these are some words and a phrase used to describe LAWRENCE’s performance at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto on November 17, 2021. LAWRENCE is an eight-piece soul-pop band led by sibling duo Clyde and Gracie, who has been writing music since they were kids. Having grown up listening to the likes of Stevie Wonder, Randy Newman, and Aretha Franklin, it’s no surprise the group put on a soul-filled show to remember. Arriving at the Danforth Music Hall found a lineup of excited fans stretching down the Danforth, all the way…
Reggae artist and singer/songwriter Naomi Cowan hit the stage at El Mocambo in Toronto as part of the Lemmon Stage Discovery Series on November 16, 2021. Lemmon Stage, founded by live music mavens Lemmon Entertainment, in partnership with El Mocambo is supporting music industry recovery by providing an ongoing professional development platform for emerging artists. Lemmon Stage is the only year-long program at the El Mocambo, presenting live performance opportunities for new talent. Naomi Cowan is touted as one of the top rising female artists in Caribbean music. Cowan is the daughter of two influential figures in the reggae and gospel…
Whale and the Wolf hit the famous El Mocambo stage in Toronto as part of the Lemmon Stage Discovery Series on November 10, 2021. Lemmon Stage, founded by live music mavens Lemmon Entertainment, in partnership with El Mocambo is supporting music industry recovery by providing an ongoing professional development platform for emerging artists. Lemmon Stage is the only year-long program at the El Mocambo, presenting live performance opportunities for new talent. Alberta-based Whale and the Wolf is an independent band with 6 singles charting in the Top 40 for Canadian Active Rock, a Billboard Top 40 placement, 13 months of…
Singer-songwriter Brooklyn Doran has released a cathartic new breakup anthem with her latest single, Fuck That Guy. The track tells an all-too-relatable story of being involved in a toxic relationship but eventually moving on to the point where you can confidently say, “fuck that guy,” and knowing you’re better off without them. “Fuck That Guy is an anthem for anyone who has ever dated a shitty dude who did them wrong,” says Brooklyn, “The song is an upbeat and empowering folk-rock song that tells your ex to ‘go to hell.’ Pushing from folk into a decidedly more indie-rock space, the…
JUNO Award winners, The Fretless, have teamed up with a handful of influential Canadian artists to bring us Open House, a collaborative new project pairing the rich texture of a string quartet with stunning vocal arrangements. Comprising of Ben Plotnick (Fiddle/Viola), Karrnnel Sawitsky (Fiddle/Viola), Eric Wright (Cello), and Trent Freeman (Fiddle/Viola), The Fretless released Open House October 22nd via Birthday Cake. Since April, the band has been releasing a beautiful collection of singles, with their version of Maggie Rogers’ Alaska featuring Taylor Ashton as the first one. Follow up singles included James Blake’s Retrograde featuring Ruth Moody, a collaboration with Dan Mangan on his single Troubled…
Joy Crookes has shared her most introspective and truthful work yet with the highly-anticipated release of her debut album Skin. The 22-year old singer-songwriter draws on personal experiences from adolescence and early adulthood to present listeners with her full self in the 13-track album. The result: a cathartic collection of stories touching on topics like casual sex, feminism, gentrification, mental health issues, and more with honesty and care. “Skin is my debut album and the proudest work I have made to date,” says Joy, “The word skin massively resonates with me as biologically it is one of the strongest parts…