Ouri and Jacques Greene's dancefloor remix, and 6 more songs you need to hear this week

Here at CBC Music, we're always on high alert for the best new songs by Canadian artists.

This week, we're listening to new tracks from:

• Orville Peck.
• Safe.
• Niall Mutter.
• Ouri x Jacques Greene.
• Nemahsis.
• Luna Li.
• Tobi.

Scroll down to find out why you should listen, too.

What new Canadian tunes are you currently obsessed with? Share them with us on Twitter @CBCMusic.

Tune into CBC Music Mornings every Thursday to hear CBC Music's Jess Huddleston and Saroja Coehlo reveal which of these tracks is the standout new Canadian song.

'The Curse of the Blackened Eye,' Orville Peck

Ahead of the official release of Bronco, country trailblazer Orville Peck's second LP, he's treated us to an unexpectedly low key, but brilliant, album opener. "The Curse of the Blackened Eye," which dropped alongside an elaborate video featuring actor Norman Reedus, touches on abuse and wrongdoing in love; a topic undeniably heavy, yet explored here within the gentle sway of a barroom slow dance. The full album drops on April 8, and considering it's my first "no skip" collection of the year so far — every song is solid gold — it's likely we're eyeballing a contender for the best Canadian album of 2022. — Jess Huddleston

'All I Need,' Safe 

On Get Home Safe (Part 1), the new eight-song EP from Toronto's Safe (a.k.a. Saif Musaad), the prevailing mood is sultry, with its nocturnal, downtempo R&B songs addressing desire and the complications of romantic entanglement. "You're my ecstasy, you're my inner peace/ Please don't stress me, come bless me/ Girl, you're all I see," he sings in Verse 2 of opener "All I Need" while a slow compound meter and a molten bassline keep his pure tenor voice aloft. Safe's fantasizing then gets interrupted by a quasi-carnal guitar solo, whose meaning is pretty clear as it plays the song out — Robert Rowat 

'Pass me By,' Niall Mutter

Montreal-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Niall Mutter is back with a dreamy, meditative number. The titular track from his new EP, "Pass me By" feels perfectly suited for that uncertain period when seasons change — as we take stock of how the world moves around us and accept that much of it is outside our own control. But there is always possibility embedded in change. As he sings about the days passing him by, his voice floats along the reassuring guitar melody with a little country twang that adds a richness to his weightless vocals. Mutter wrote the "farewell to a previous iteration of myself" over the course of a year. "I had moved to Montréal on a whim, couch surfing between friends and a new lover. 'Pass me By' is about finding levity in a period of transition," he said in a press release. "It's about pain and self assessment and submitting to things being a bit wacky and out of my control." — Kelsey Adams

'High & Choking (Jacques Greene Remix),' Ouri 

This is a link up I didn't know I needed but I'm thrilled it exists. Jacques Greene's rework of this track from Ouri's 2021 Frame of a Fauna transforms the simultaneously introspective and expansive song into a danceable escape, designed for the late hours of the night, or as Greene describes it: "for a hazed out loft in Chabanel." Ouri used to listen to Greene's music when taking the metro to her conservatory classes in France and said in a press release that "having Jacques Greene remix one of my tracks was a dream." Their eclectic styles of electronic production, with an emphasis on mood-setting and world-building, is what makes this collab so invigorating. Greene has elevated the track in the exact way a remix should, by repurposing stems, turning vocal melodies into accents but still maintaining the heart of the original. It sounds like a love fest of two artists that fully respect and understand each other. Greene shared in a release that "whenever people ask me of artists from Montreal that excite and inspire me, Ouri is at the top of the pile. Shape-shifting and always breaking new ground." — KA

'I'm Not Gonna Kill You,' Nemahsis

In February, Toronto artist Nemahsis shared the story behind her upcoming single, "I'm Not Gonna Kill You," on TikTok, where she has gained a steady following after her song "What if I Took it Off for You?" became a viral hit a year ago. In the clip, she recalls an incident on a flight where the man seated beside her appeared nervous at first, then runs out of his seat once they're in the air. Worried, Nemahsis asks a flight attendant if the man is OK, only to be told that he didn't feel safe sitting next to her: "So this six-foot-something middle-aged dude was scared of me, a five-foot-nothing hijabi Muslim girl." On "I'm Not Gonna Kill You," Nemahsis channels this experience into a stripped-down ballad, her pain and exhaustion coming through as she sings, "You'd like me better as an Emma/ I would've gained your trust sooner with that name/ But that's not my name." Her words are clear and concise, just like her other songs that centre her identity as a way to highlight the cruelty and judgments of others. On the second verse of "I'm Not Gonna Kill You," she even notes the hypocrisy inherent in these interactions, that it's often women of colour who are most fearful of violence enacted against them. Nemahsis is not going to hurt you, as she assures her subject that, but by then she's already endured more pain than that man can ever imagine. — Melody Lau

'What You're Thinking,' Luna Li

Last week, Toronto's Luna Li released her long-awaited debut album, Duality. That title is refracted in both personal and musical ways throughout the album, as frontwoman Hannah Bussiere Kim explores her identity as a mixed-race Korean-Canadian, but also blending her classical background with a more modern sound inspired by pop, rock and R&B. The latter shines through the most on a track like "What You're Thinking," which kicks off with a swirling synth sound, and is later joined by a searing guitar riff and capped off in its final moments with a romantic arrangement of strings and Kim's signature harp. While the track itself indulges in a cycle of obsessive thinking (the chorus is just Kim repeating "What you're thinking" over and over again), the music follows a different path that breaks musical conventions and evolves in unexpected, new ways— yet another form of duality.— ML

'Outta This World,' Harrison, Tobi

Toronto producer Harrison and rapper Tobi have joined forces again for this smooth-as-silk track, their first collaboration since the equally delicious "Beige." Over a low-key, jazzy beat, Tobi raps about growing from an opener to the main event, and what comes with that fame. (He also sings a countdown chorus full of euphemisms, which is just begging for a sing along.) The track comes with a fun buddy-comedy animated video produced by Jack Harrison, with illustrations by Elijah Anderson. "Outta This World" is a welcome peek into Harrison's upcoming album, and we're ready for liftoff. — Holly Gordon