Luna Li's dreamy psychedelic trip, and 4 more songs you need to hear this week

Songs you need to hear is CBC Music's weekly list of hot new Canadian tracks.

Scroll down to discover the songs our producers are loving right now.

'Golden Hour,' Luna Li

Luna Li recently released her new album, When a Thought Grows Wings, a follow-up to her critically acclaimed debut (and one of CBC Music's best albums of 2022), Duality. It captures a transitional period of the Toronto musician's life, including the endings and beginnings of relationships. On the soft piano-led "Golden Hour," songwriter Hannah Bussiere Kim builds a dreamy soundscape that pulls us into "a slow descent into love," as she described in a statement. "At my core I make a wish for/ Just a little bit more of your love," she admits as she floats from verse to chorus, her vocals layered like irresistible thoughts running through her mind. And in true Luna Li fashion, the track ends with a beautiful coalescence of the sensual and psychedelic in a brief but buzzing guitar solo. — Melody Lau 

'Let It Rain,' Valley

Twinkling bursts of piano sound like raindrops splattering on the ground on Valley's latest single "Let It Rain" from their upcoming album, Water the Flowers, Pray For a Garden. The alt-pop song begins with vocalist Rob Laska singing about a Saturn return: "Change, change, change, change, sometimes it's gonna rain." Time is constant and yet small moments feel stagnant, as Laska and Karah James sing about turning 28 but still getting ID'd at bars. An undercurrent of nostalgia propels the track, and bright melodies sprinkled with synths neatly tie everything together. "It's a special song and one of the only ones that makes me cry on command when listening to it," Laska explained in a press release. "There's a piece of Valley in that song that will forever stay there." — Natalie Harmsen

'Borrowed Light,' Rose Cousins

Halifax-based singer-songwriter Rose Cousins is back with her second single since signing to Nettwerk Music back in June. "Borrowed Light" is a meditative ballad led by gentle piano, and it possesses a nocturnal sensibility, something special you keep for when the rest of the world is asleep. Cousins wrote the song after a late night walk and shared in a press release that it's a "communion with the moon, a reflection on childhood wonder and the less blemished connection to one's inner world." The evocative lyricism inspires introspection, and I imagine myself laying down in a grassy field and staring up at the sky as a child, contemplating my small place in the universe as the cosmos dance above. Next full moon, "Borrowed Light" will be played on loop in my household. — Kelsey Adams

'Offing,' Chastity 

Whitby, Ont.'s Brandon Williams usually makes melancholic emo music under his moniker Chastity. And while his latest single, "Offing," is still lyrically dark, it's sporting a brighter, almost twangy vibe. "This is the most country the project's ever gone, some townie emo," Williams said in a press release. While the track still covers topics like suicide, mixing medications and yearning for the approval of others, Williams notes that the glimmering hope on this song is that it's also about "living to see another day." As he ends the song with the repeated refrain, "If you got approval, I want it," its meaning can slowly shift, from wanting outside validation to perhaps a conversation with himself, on self love and encouragement. — ML

'Pick Up Your Shoes,' Dee Holt

Montreal's Dee Holt is an exciting new voice in Canadian pop, and her first EP, Loving in the Dark, was just released on Aug. 16. "Pick Up Your Shoes" is the penultimate track on the five-song EP, and paints the picture of a dysfunctional relationship that both sides know isn't working, but can't seem to quit. The song has a toe-tapping melody, with moody vocals and an irreverent tone reminiscent of early Billie Eilish. It has a bit more grit than some of the other singles on the EP, showing another side to the emerging singer. If this first effort is anything to go by, Holt feels poised to continuing making waves in the pop landscape. — KA

To hear more about these standout songs, tune in to CBC Music Mornings every Thursday (Canada-wide) with producer Nathan Gill and host Saroja Coelho, and Here and Now with Gill Deacon every Wednesday afternoon (in Toronto). Both are available via CBC Listen.