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:

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.

While Arcade Fire has dabbled in disco-inspired synth-pop in recent years (2017's Everything Now, 2015's Reflektor), the Montreal band's bread and butter has always been the galvanizing rock anthem. On "The Lightning I, II," the conjoined pair of singles released last week — the band's first official new songs in five years — Arcade Fire find themselves hitting the reset button. Drawing more from the likes of Bruce Springsteen than LCD Soundsystem (LCD frontman James Murphy co-produced Reflektor), "The Lightning I, II," starts off as a sweeping, grandiose proclamation, with singer Win Butler assuring listeners, "We can make it if you don't quit on me/ I won't quit on you/ Don't quit on me." Then, when part two kicks in, the pace picks up like a gust of wind (literally in the Emily Kai Bock-directed video), everything coalescing into a whirlwind of handclaps, pianos, xylophone, drums and a steady bassline. "Waiting on the lightning/ Waiting on the light/ What will the light bring," everyone sings in unison, roping us into the eye of the storm with an electric urgency. It's been a long time since Arcade Fire has struck lightning considering the lukewarm response they got on Everything Now, but "The Lightning I, II" has shown us a spark of something exciting. Here's hoping their upcoming album, We (out May 6), is the thunderous return we've all been waiting for. — Melody Lau

Lisa LeBlanc has been releasing one banger after another from her new and fourth album, Chiac Disco, and this most recent single is no exception. "Gossip" opens with a killer bassline and a punchy guitar riff, setting the mood for the album's title. It's a lighthearted song about gossipping at Tim Hortons, and LeBlanc made a video to match: with cardboard sets and kids as adult customers, LeBlanc plays a waitress hungry for the hot goss. A saxophone solo and some horn flourishes really complete the groovy track, which could be a song-of-the-summer contender. (LeBlanc also performed a glitzy version of the song on Quebec TV show Tout le monde en parle, which you should check out.) — Holly Gordon

Pop star Ria Mae minced no words when naming her new EP: Therapy, released March 18, was written after the singer-songwriter moved back to her Halifax hometown during the pandemic, specifically to the street she grew up on. The six new songs — plus a beautiful cover of Selena Gomez's "Love You to Love Me" with Rose Cousins and Breagh Isabel — are a dive into the singer-songwriter's past, mining her relationships and experiences to uncover the whys and hows. "The Old Me" is trademark pop gold from the singer, a soft beat building to a chorus release as Mae sings of a universal push-pull relationship:

Therapy is worth your time as a full project, but "The Old Me" is a cathartic start. — HG

When it comes to generating buzz around his songs, Sage Harris is no stranger to gimmicks. Last year, he performed his song "Meds" while hanging upside-down, and for his latest single, "Figure it Out," he dressed in a lime-green gorilla costume and hit the streets of Toronto with a boombox. It would all seem a bit much if it weren't for the fact that Harris's songs are so gorgeously sung and produced. "You have my full attention, you know my true intentions," he sings in verse two, his voice a melting melisma as he alludes to the charged atmosphere between two friends on the verge of becoming more. "Don't you touch the engine, girl, don't you rev it, babe, if you ain't tryna ride." He describes the song as "'90s nostalgic R&B sound, reinvented," and while he certainly has the vocal chops that era was known for, the production (by Keith Bell and Mark James) is thoroughly current with crunchy piano chords, subtle vocal layering and a sternum-shaking bassline. Watch for Harris's upcoming EP, Best Kept Secret. — Robert Rowat

"If There's No Seat in the Sky" is Saya Gray's first release in two years, and it does not disappoint. Her magnetism is immediately apparent in the music video, when she appears at the beginning in a tight close-up singing: "This is my last life, this is the last chance for you and I." She flits from flexing power and dominance to projecting vulnerability and softness — the song is about a relationship on its last legs, after all. The sonic world she's built for her conflicting feelings to exist in is full of exciting contradictions: from bright moments of scintillating birdsong, and upbeat hip hop vocal samples to sleazy guitar and brash percussion. It's a perfect introduction to the purposeful dissonance of Gray's debut project, 19 Masters (out June 2) and the left-field space she's operating from. — Kelsey Adams