RGM presents The Maple Leaf Roundup #15
Canada is overflowing with music. The best songs, having risen to the top, float over the ocean and bubble through the waterways of the UK where we are poised, net in hand, to scoop them up from the little stream that runs behind RGM HQ. We’ve caught some lovely things for our latest Maple Leaf roundup and now we invite you to sit with us in the sunshine and admire each one before we gently lower them back in again to continue their journey downriver.
Our first catch comes in the form of Calgary’s Wyatt C. Louis. ‘Dancing with Sue’ is the first single from the singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist’s as yet unnamed album, which is coming later in the year. Its easy, folk-flavoured country shuffle (replete with some rather fine trumpet from Keath Mueller) is the perfect soundtrack to a hot summer’s day as Louis invites us to kick off our shoes and join the dance. The song is a deeper celebration of what he describes as the “powerful female teachers” in his life who’ve inspired him “to dance, to be strong and to be free”. And I, for one, am more than happy to drink to that.
Staying on the subject of drinks, we feel it’s our duty to introduce you to the preposterously fresh faces of Milq, so named presumably because they are yet to start on solids. Their irresistible new single ‘Summer Again’ is taken from the Edmonton trio’s debut EP tired. They say it’s their “first holistic statement as a band” by which I think they mean it’s their debut EP. It’s a smooth slice of marshmallow-soft pop, constructed around keyboard and drum sounds pulled directly from 1984, which I suspect was several years before any of the band members’ parents were even born. I’m just thankful that they cut a tune as good as this before growing old and unnecessarily sarcastic like me.
We’re tripping over so many fantastic new artists here at Red Guitar Music that it’s easy to forget the established acts who’ve been spreading their metaphorical honey on our figurative toast for years, if not decades. One such veteran is Ottawan singer-songwriter Lynn Miles, whose latest single further cements her status as something of a Canadian National Treasure. ‘We’ll Look For Stars’ - the delicate title track from Miles’ brilliant new album, out on July 3rd - is a classic of Emmylou Harrissian proportions that more than holds its own alongside the best work of her impressive and enduring career.
Over in Fernie, British Columbia, five-piece Shred Kelly have just released their fifth album, Like A Rising Sun, and the infectious, blistering rock of their current single ‘Underground’ is the sound of a band in full stride. Lyrically, the song addresses the problem of switching off from a world that is always on, which, let’s face it, can be a huge struggle. Sonically, ‘Underground’ reflects the energy and confidence of the album as a whole, which is a textured mix of roots rock and high-octane bluegrass …and is considerably more enjoyable than I’ve just made it sound.
Finally, we welcome back Torontonian quartet Jane’s Party, who last visited us in Maple Leaf #5. Having started life as a covers band at university in 2006, Jane’s Party swiftly turned to their own writing talents and have been releasing records and collecting compliments back home since 2009. A spin of their 2019 LP Casual Island illustrates why. The Rembrandts-esque, guitar-driven janglings of their recent single ‘Change Her Mind’ speak of the band’s affection for retro pop and their ability to write a sure-fire summertime hit. We think it’s high time they went global.
And so, with another quintet of hot tips shared, it’s time for us to leave the water’s edge, hang up our fishing apparatus and go inside to refresh our glasses. It’s warm out there but we hope that our latest roundup of Canadian coolness will see you through the sizzling heat of the coming weeks until we see you again.
The Maple Leaf is a Rich Barnard production for Red Guitar Music.
And we’re back! “From whence?” I hear you cry, in your florid way. Back from Canada, of course. We swam all the way, on our backs, our music-loving arms filled with a freshly picked bunch of hot new songs, gifted to us from our creative compadres ‘cross the waves. Imagine that. And we did it all for you.