Wolf Castle's joyful return, and 6 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 find out what CBC Music producers are listening to this week.

'I Won't Stop,' Wolf Castle

Why's life so complicated?
Must we get lost in the conversation?
Less I wanna talk, I need affirmations,
Show me how to move, bring me that elation

With the first solo single since his 2021 album, Da Vinci's Inquest, Wolf Castle is keeping the vibe light, fresh and dancey. "I Won't Stop," a track about "escaping the weight of the world" as the rapper described via email, has an easy flow, cruising atop a synth-pop beat that feels quasi tropical and built for snapping and shuffling along. "Gimme one-two-steps, find me sway to the left," he fires off in the first verse with lyrics that crave interaction, before he hits the pre-chorus looking for "that elation." As Wolf Castle pushes us to leave the darkness behind and find some joy with him, he has us craving something else: more new music. — Holly Gordon

'Take my Hand,' Jeremy Dutcher 

The first English words we hear on Jeremy Dutcher's sophomore release, Motewolonuwok, come on the album's third track. Over a gentle piano intro, Dutcher extends a literal welcome to listeners: "Take my hand/ Walk with me." It's a message of love that was passed on to him by his mentor and elder, Maggie Paul. She then tasked him to "sing this for the young people — they're forgetting how to love each other." That one verse Paul offered him sat around for a while until he shared it with a friend, Montreal singer-songwriter Basia Bulat, who went off and wrote seven additional verses for Dutcher to use as he pleased, making this track a result of collaboration and community. It uses English to honour the Wolastoqey language Dutcher performed entirely in on his debut album, Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, while also asking for a common ground, as he sings on the track: "Take my hand, but not my light/ The words that we find are new." — Melody Lau

'8AM in Charlotte,' Drake

Fans know to expect a memorable Drake track whenever a song title contains both a city and a timestamp (think: "5AM in Toronto" or "4PM in Calabasas"). On his latest single, "8AM in Charlotte," Drake gets introspective and moody. The gospel vocals on the track give it the emotional weight it needs as he airs out his thoughts on his enemies, being at the top of his game and more. But it's not entirely a heavy song, as Drake finds a way to get his quips in about failing relationships, doing so in the most film bro-y way possible: "I say we gotta talk about us, I feel like Jordan Peele," and "Cause your words don't match your actions like a foreign film/ and now there's silence in the lamb like the horror film." It's a lengthier song, clocking in at over four minutes, but in that time he analyzes fame, shows love to his friends and adds to his repertoire of Canadian references: "Shania Twain notepad, I'm making it line dance." It was the perfect song to drop before finally releasing For All the Dogs to show the laundry list of items weighing on the mind of the oft-memeified star, who leans into his petty persona in the accompanying music video. — Natalie Harmsen

'Faceplant,' LØLØ

There's a pretty literal story behind Toronto pop-punker LØLØ's latest single, a song about falling head over heels over someone: LØLØ actually faceplanted while leaving a guy's house once. "I tripped and fell face first into the concrete," she recalls in a press statement, "earning me a broken jaw (on both sides), a broken nose, a broken chin, and four lovely stitches across my face." The song itself rides the rush of that feeling of newfound love with its upbeat melody, at times resembling Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle" and other times the Killers' "Mr. Brightside" (the latter which LØLØ mashed together with this song in a social media post). "Faceplant" is an anthem for those who fall so hard for someone that they sometimes crash headfirst, which can be both fearless and risky. — ML 

'Autoroute,' Evan Shay feat. JMF

It's intriguing when musicians with solid foundations in jazz lean into pop and adjacent musical styles, and that's what Montreal-based saxophonist and producer Evan Shay is doing on his new EP, Autoroute, due out Oct. 17. "I'm trying to bring elements of jazz, trap music, drum 'n' bass, metal, ambient and free improvisation together in a way that reflects me as a person and artist," he told CBC Music before citing a whole array of influences: Kaytranada, Planet Giza, J Dilla, Backxwash, Slipknot, Kenny Beats and Kim Cass, to name a few. He says the title track "captures the feeling of being lost in your thoughts on a long commute" and it is indeed a dreamy, meditative fusion — smooth, but with substance. Joining him is JMF (a.k.a. pianist and producer Jean-Michel Frédéric — "definitely an unsung hero of Montreal music," Shay says), whose neon-tinged keyboard lends the tune a sophisticated, nocturnal aura. — Robert Rowat

'Elijah,' Moneyphone

The latest single from Moneyphone's upcoming album, World Peace Inside Me, touches on recurrent themes for the Toronto duo: community, family and existentialism. Euphoric synths ring throughout "Elijah," as Eno Ncube raps about depression, the desire to flex, stressing out his mom and the folks he needs to take care of. How to balance it all — all of our desires, needs and responsibilities — is the question "Elijah" seems to be asking. In their continued foray into electronic music, Moneyphone experiments with elements of trance, synth-pop and techno to produce a song full of big, swelling moments. The duo are as much visual storytellers as they are musical ones and there's a cinematic quality to all their songs that is befitting of their artful music videos, the most recent directed by singer David May.  — Kelsey Adams

'Just Like Candy,' Russell!

Toronto's Russell! has returned from his musical hiatus sounding rejuvenated. His brand new single, "Just Like Candy," is a refreshingly soulful and smooth R&B bop that allows the former rapper to show off his buttery vocal abilities. The artist starts the song off with a raspy and gritty intro before leading the listener into an impassioned hook and outro. The song's production is inviting, with a twangy guitar loop and a steady drum pattern. The self-described "Mr. Sweethartt" pleads for a love that feels more distant than anything else. "I've been lonely without you/ suffering at home/ missing your body/ it's been way too long," he sings before closing out the song. "Just Like Candy" acts as a re-introduction to the artist, ushering in a new era of art and music that is aligned with his blend of unabashed vulnerability and confidence. — Bhaven Moorthy