RGM presents The Maple Leaf Roundup #16
Canada has produced a mind-melting amount of must-hear music so far this year and, as we reluctantly tiptoe into the autumn months, she shows no sign of slowing down. The leaves outside may be turning, curling and falling but the RGM Maple Leaf roundup is, as ever, bursting with life and promise. The recent harvest has been so rich and abundant that it won’t be long before we come knocking with more, but let us not get ahead of ourselves. For now, just see if these perfectly ripe beauties can’t banish your September blues.
We begin in Thunder Bay, Ontario, with The Honest Heart Collective who have been pleasing crowds around those parts since 2013. Their latest single, ‘Linework’, muses on the theme of permanence via tattoos and long-term friendships. THHC belong to the endangered species known as Proper Actual Rock Band and ‘Linework’ is aflood with the band’s unfakeable energy and enviable chemistry. If you think Matchbox Twenty in their fresh-faced prime and double the size of the cojones then you’ll be getting close. Vocalist Ryan MacDonald’s magnetic delivery sits somewhere between The Killers’ Brandon Flowers and Bert McCracken of The Used and, for now at least, we can only dream of how cool it would be to see the band play live. Until the days when dreams come true, The Honest Heart Collective have a back catalogue waiting to be plundered, so, knock yourself out.
Credit: Norman Leong Photography
Eagle-eyed readers may remember the name S.K. Wellington (aka Sarah Kemmers) from our review of her rather special 2018 EP Where The Earth Meets The Sea. The Calgary-based singer songwriter, who is blessed with a particularly warm and versatile voice, has recently resurfaced with two brand new tracks: ‘Like A Ghost’ and ‘Without Breaking Your Heart’. The latter is an acoustic ballad with a cardiac pulse; swelling from a downbeat, Sade-smooth verse into a boundless and regret-filled chorus. The former is more experimental, its beats and atmospherics teaming up with restrained guitars to tether Kemmers’ kite-like vocal across the plains of its own soaring middle section. We dare to hope that there might soon be more such delights to follow. As is our sworn duty, we shall keep you informed.
One of the most affecting tracks to grace the Maple Leaf Roundup in a very long while has to be Sam Lynch’s devastating (and devastatingly brilliant) ‘Good Year’. Spoiler alert: this is not a song about tyres. The singer songwriter from Vancouver has shot possibly The Loneliest Music Video of All Time to accompany the song’s portrait of a solitary, emotional stasis - a state that seems particularly apt for 2020: “How will it end?/When Will I Know?” With spare piano and vocal at its core, the song is imperceptibly stalked by strings, bass and drums that rise together like a tidal wave but never break. Lynch is yet to reveal a release date for the album proper but this track is so good we’re hoping she won’t keep us waiting long.
Next, Toronto’s Jessa serves up a slice of what you might call smart-pop in the form of her latest tune ‘Airplane Mode’. Taken from the singer-songwriter’s upcoming debut, Simple Songs (out this Friday), the single’s time changes keep us on our toes and help to elevate the track way beyond the realms of the throwaway. Jessa has had a previous life leading The Jessica Stuart Few - and was also the subject of the touching CBC short documentary Finding Fukue - but the Jessa project marks a new beginning for the musician, as she leaves behind the band format and explores different musical textures. Like so many love songs, it depicts a romance in its infancy but ‘Airplane Mode’ views it through the prism of the ever-connected modern age. Like I said, smart-pop™.
Finally, an admission: I make no apologies for the fact that, some days, I just need an ever-so slightly camp disco banger to cheer me up. I know that, even if you won’t admit it, you do too. It’s ok, I won’t tell anyone. The good news is that I’ve recently become acquainted with the Hamilton-based duo Family Of Things, who have dropped a jam so tight (I literally have no idea what I’m saying now) that I felt it incumbent upon me to share. Said jam is ‘YKB’, which is a brand new bonus track taken from the recently released deluxe version of Oscilloscope, their 2019 debut LP. As all previous words in this paragraph prove, I have absolutely no frame of reference for this kind of music. All I know is that it really, really cooks. I hope you agree.
If you need even more Canadian produce to see you through the autumn then be sure to stop off at the reviews section where more in-depth wordage on albums by Ben Kunder, Ken Yates and Evangeline Gentle awaits. As I mentioned, another bountiful basket of the home-grown fruits of Canada is hot on the heels of this one, so we hope you’ll join us for the next Maple Leaf Roundup. Until then, be good.
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.