Lan'do's brazen grime track and 4 more songs you need to hear this week
Fresh Canadian tracks to listen to right now
Here at CBC Music, we're always on high alert for new songs by Canadian artists.
This week, we're listening to new tracks from:
- Motherhood.
- Bells Larsen.
- Jeff Bird.
- Lan'do.
- Marci.
Scroll down to find out why you need to listen.
What new Canadian tunes are you currently obsessed with? Share them with us on Twitter @CBCMusic.
To hear more about these standout songs, tune in to CBC Music Mornings every Thursday and Toronto's Here and Now every Wednesday afternoon, both available via CBC Listen.
'Tabletop,' Motherhood
New Brunswick avant-rock trio Motherhood is back with another single, winding us up just in time for its upcoming June 24 full-length release, Winded. "Tabletop" opens with Brydon Crain's droning guitar before dropping into verses that balance space, percussion, guitar and punctuated vocals for a hypnotic march. The chorus punches the song open, and Crain and Penelope Stevens' vocals keep the tension while everything else unwinds. "Tabletop" is three glorious, unpredictable, rock-fuelled minutes, with Crain, Stevens and drummer Adam Sipkema showing us that, after a decade of making music together, they're tighter and more dynamic than ever. — Holly Gordon
'Double Aquarius,' Bells Larsen
Contrary to the song title, Toronto-born singer-songwriter Bells Larsen isn't a big fan of horoscopes. This lead single, off of their upcoming debut album Good Grief (out Sept. 9), is actually poking fun at those who might blame their blues on astrology, a sentiment that Larsen repeats throughout the acoustic track: "Yes I know that I'm a mess/ But don't forget I'm also a double aquarius." Inspired by the tongue-in-cheek songwriting of Soccer Mommy and Courtney Barnett, "Double Aquarius" is full of memorable lines drenched in witty, self-deprecating humour about watching reruns of Glee and killing the mood at a party by playing Sufjan Stevens. But it's the kernels of truth that lie beneath that make this such a relatable listen, illuminating inner battles that we all have on a regular basis. Larsen said in a press release that this song was born from "one of the darker periods" of their life, but the bouncy, upbeat melody is a gentle reminder to not take things seriously, that some of our thoughts can be absurd when said out loud — just like the idea of blaming our emotions on our horoscope. — Melody Lau
'The Shield of Redemption,' Jeff Bird
"I learned early on in my career that the recording process is less about capturing notes and words, and much more about capturing magic," says composer, harmonicist and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Bird. After wowing us with his all-Hildegard von Bingen album, Felix Anima, in 2018, Bird has returned to cast a spell with a new Hildegard arrangement, backed by the Fames Project, a 20-piece string orchestra from North Macedonia. His arrangement takes the spirit of Hildegard — an exalted state of devotion — and enfolds it in a timeless serenity that recalls Arvo Pärt's Spiegel im Spiegel. A shruti box plays a drone while Bird's harmonica begins an unhurried exposition, to be joined first by upper strings, then lower strings, and then, at 2:14, a hair-raising, slowly walking bass. Bird confirms this is a foretaste of a new Hildegard album. Fans in Ontario can catch him in concert on June 24 at the Paul Morin Studio in Alton. — Robert Rowat
'16 Bit,' Lan'do
What Lan'do creates with Toronto-based supergroup No Tourists is magic but it's always a treat to hear an artist that's part of an ensemble on their own, to see them flex their lyrical ability over the length of an entire track. On his latest solo single, produced by No Tourists' resident producer universes, Lan'do spits over a grime beat, the kind that's gritty, cold and dares the artist to keep up with it. He does so with ease. Icy and menacing synths flood your ears as Lan'do dominates the track with brazen and self-referential rhymes. "This song is like a soundclash from beginning to end. From the constant flow switches to the changes in vocal pitch, its straight attack mode," he said in a press release. "A lot of the inspiration, in terms of the delivery, came from the Jamaican artists I grew up listening to like Capleton, Bounty Killa and Elephant Man." The song reaches its peak three quarters in and Lan'do unleashes a feverish, urgent diatribe in patois: "Mash up di ting, bruk up di yard." Then, just as quickly as the moment arrives, it's over and he's cooled off, back to spitting the chorus over the sinister beat. — Kelsey Adams
'Terminal,' Marci
Marci is the solo project of Tops keyboardist Marta Cikojevic, and on her upcoming self-titled debut album (out Aug. 5) she teams up with bandmate/producer David Carriere to craft dance songs that cut with emotional honesty. That's exactly what Cikojevic's latest single "Terminal" achieves. Powered by a sparkling synth soundscape, Cikojevic is entranced by the music surrounding her, but she's never able to fully shake off everything and escape, singing: "Into the evening with my demons, gonna have a ball/ I gotta move into the groove." (Funny fact Cikojevic reveals in a press release: "David [Carriere] and I wrote the seed of this song while we were pregaming for a party that turned out to be shit.") Hopefully, as listeners, we too are able to lose ourselves in the buoyant sounds, even just for a brief moment. — ML