RGM presents The Maple Leaf Roundup #20
Okay Canada, go easy on me. I somehow find myself in February 2021 trying to pick five chunks of hot new music for this feature, having amassed a ruthlessly edited shortlist of around 35. How did this happen, Canada? I can only account for the disappearance of an entire January by weeping before a hand-drawn graph of an alarming home-learning curve. You’ve made me choose, Canada, and it’s been hard. Nevertheless, here I am again, your most loyal of servants, educating the RGM readership on the subject of your latest and loveliest musical works of wonder.
Julie Neff photo credit Valentina Caballero
We begin the first Maple Leaf of the year with Toronto’s Julie Neff, whose vocal delivery echoes both Stevie Nicks and Frazey Ford. The Toronto-based singer songwriter’s recent single ‘Swagger’ stridently announced her excellent new EP Over It on 27th January. Swinging effortlessly between tender and tough - often in the same song - Over It is peppered with songs that boast rock urgency, pop smarts and real depth. ‘Swagger’ follows the breathless crash of previous single ‘Siren Call’ and we’d also recommend the stirring affirmations of ‘What Am I Doing This For’ as a soundtrack to your morning exercise routine.
If you want something even more energetic, then come with us to Charlottetown, PEI, where Andrew Waite’s latest single ‘Ain’t Goin’ Out Like That’ is more likely to underscore a naked, pre-breakfast, barefoot sprint across a frozen wilderness than some gentle in-house yoga. The song’s unstoppable, driving rock goes hand in hand with its ‘don’t give up’ sentiment and Waite’s vocal performance here has to be the very definition of lusty. It is an anthem of which Springsteen would surely be proud and - more importantly - an early contender for my Saxophone Solo of the Year award. Our advice? Put some running shoes on before listening.
Photo by Mat Dunlap
We return to Toronto for something rather different now: not so much a workout as a cool and aloof gentle head-nod (think John Cusack in High Fidelity). We think you too should try bobbin’ your noggins to the saturated synth sounds of ‘Andre’ by Small Sins (aka Thomas D’Arcy). The track is the first to be taken from the imminent album Small Sins Volume II, which sees D’Arcy returning - after a break of some ten years - to his most celebrated project, having spent the intervening time as a successful songwriter and producer. If it’s not too much of a stretch, imagine a world where Ben Folds is fronting The Cars. Yep, the world of Small Sins is similar to that one. Pack a bag, the shuttle will be launching shortly.
Photo credit: Graeme Stewart-Robertson
Meanwhile, over in New Brunswick, there’s a Talking Heads-go-disco feel to ‘No Hot Cargo’, the latest single from The Backstays. The song doubles as a somewhat languid protest song about the Canadian arms trade and a tribute to historical activism in Saint John, where the band are based. Simultaneously right-on and groovy, ‘No Hot Cargo’ has a vintage, new-wave warmth and Pete Johnston’s inscrutable warble is the perfect partner to the song’s quirksome synth breaks. We await news of their forthcoming album, Tributaries, which will follow the band’s promising self-titled debut EP from 2018.
Photo By: Alicia Friel
We finish up in Windsor, Ontario, in the warm embrace of singer songwriter Brendan Scott Friel, who put out the fantastic LP, Quiet Cars, in 2019. Brendan is joined by Crissi Cochrane on ‘Cheap String Lights’, the musical equivalent of molten Belgian chocolate being poured on to silk sheets. The sweet and smooth nature of proceedings may prove too much for some but, frankly, I am smitten. Impeccably produced and beautifully played, it’s the sort of ballad that could give in to production clichés but the inventive arrangement, heavy on atmospherics and percussion, saves it from drowning in a sea of its own syrup and instead turns it into something magical.
Oh, Canada! Your ability - as a nation - to produce a seemingly endless flood of such fine music is starting to look a little bit like showing off. Just saying, Canada. Keep this up and I might be minded to chuck it all in and start a column on Mongolian metal instead. And yes, that is a thing. I have an inkling, though, that you’ll tempt me back to you with your musical trinkets and treasures. I have the feeling, Canada, that you’ll be reading about more of your best bits here again, sooner than you think.
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.