The Dream Eaters - Jenna DeVries - Pony Gold - Serious Child

The Dream Eaters - Dead Friends.

Brooklyn, NY/Toronto, ON-based indie rock/pop duo The Dream Eaters return with their macabre yet comic new single, “Dead Friends,” a track that transforms loneliness and loss into something strangely celebratory. Blending humour with the surreal, the song tells the story of a trip back to your hometown, only to realize the life you once knew has vanished. Friends are gone, but their ghosts remain – so you invite them over for dinner.

“It’s about taking a trip to your hometown, and the loneliness of realizing that what you knew as your life there has disappeared,” explains Jake Zavracky (vocals/guitar/programming). “So you go back to your apartment and have dinner with their ghosts. It’s humorous and surreal but also about celebrating the moments we shared with the people who have left us.”

What makes “Dead Friends” unique is its unflinching embrace of the macabre through something as ordinary as food. “I don’t know that anyone has ever written a song about making dinner for ghosts,” adds Zavracky. “It’s also about food, and how we use food to show love. Making dinner for people is the best way to show love for your friends.”

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Jenna DeVries - Malibu Monroe.

Jenna DeVries releases new cinematic country track, "Malibu Monroe." The single is out now. With her new single, “Malibu Monroe,” Nashville standout Jenna DeVries, already a rising star, blends genres to create a cinematic country-pop storyteller track, all while showcasing the same powerful, unique vocals that have made her one of the most compelling new voices in Nashville.

“One day, I was looking through Pinterest and I stumbled across this photo of Marilyn Monroe before she was famous. She was up on the cliffs of Malibu… I remember looking at the photo and thinking, surely the person who took this photo was in love with her… and maybe she was in love with them. Then I wrote their story… It’s called Malibu Monroe. I think we all deserve the kind of love that makes us feel truly seen - that is what this song is about.”

Produced by powerhouse Don Miggs, the track layers glossy, atmospheric production with DeVries’ unmistakable vocal strength. From the opening escape - “Baby let's get out of town / we can drive with all the windows down” - to the soaring chorus - “Cause you make me feel / like Malibu Monroe / take me to the highest spot on the coast” - DeVries captures the romance of Old Hollywood through a modern lens.

Jenna DeVries · Malibu Monroe

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Photo - Victoria Black

Pony Gold - High Road Reverie (Album).

While growing up in Smithers, British Columbia, Theresa Anne Bromley developed a strong connection to the Telkwa High Road, a place where she spent countless hours dreaming of how she would create a life outside of her small community, and coming up with ideas for the songs that would eventually make that happen.

In 2023, she released her first music as Pony Gold, the EP Take Me Somewhere, which propelled her onto the national stage with its blend of folk, soul, bluegrass and alt-country. Pony Gold is now set to return with High Road Reverie, an 11-song collection that pays tribute to those formative years on the Telkwa High Road, and all the heartbreak and hope it now symbolizes for Bromley.

Produced by Leeroy Stagger and featuring backing by members of City & Colour, fiddler Kendel Carson, and Bromley’s husband Matt on slide guitar, High Road Reverie formally establishes Pony Gold as an important new voice on the Canadian roots music scene, following in the footsteps of Kathleen Edwards, Neko Case and Feist.

“This record reflects both continuity and growth—tying together past and present, and setting the stage for what’s next,” Bromley says. “The album tells my story through raw, honest songwriting, touching on addiction, grief, an adverse small town upbringing, a father imprisoned, the unconditional love of a horse, and the resilience that comes with recovery.”

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Serious Child - Dusk on the 33.

Serious Child is back with a hypnotic orchestral-pop single which explores the connections between us all- ‘Dusk on the 33’, out this weekend.

The song tells the story of an old woman riding the bus all day to keep warm, and no-one noticing her. Inspired by a Georgian lullaby, ‘Iavnana (Violet Nana)’, ‘Dusk on the 33’ has a slightly otherworldly off-kilter piano-led psychedelic lilt to it, with the poignancy of the old woman’s story nestled within.

The accompanying video for the track was created via an intergenerational dance project between Three Score Dance Company and MA students from the University of Chichester and perhaps shows that beneath everything there’s an underlying connection between us all in our daily lives. Contemporary dance routines from both and younger dancers meet when Young drives them all on their daily bus commutes as the track’s orchestral pop melancholy grows more and more hypnotic.

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Tullycraft - The Altons - Rogan Mei - Pony Gold

Tullycraft - Jeanie's Up Late Again and Blaring Faith by The Cure.

The indiepop nerdy cuddle-core pioneers Tullycraft are back with a new future classic indiepop single/video "Jeanie's Up Late Again and Blaring Faith by The Cure" off their upcoming new album Shoot the Point, which comes out on August 22nd on HHBTM Records. If you are a indiepop fan the albums are filled with inside jokes and music nerd easter eggs. Bouncy, snarky, very tongue in cheek, and always good for a couple of laughs.

Over the years, Tullycraft has penned a handful of songs that practically define the twee movement in America. The chorus "fuck me, I'm twee" was the refrain that launched a thousand t-shirts. “The Punks Are Writing Love Songs” introduced bratty punk to hummingbird twee. "Pop Songs Your New Boyfriend’s Too Stupid to Know About" encapsulated an entire music scene in a single song. And yet despite this, for most, the band exists somewhere near the edges of obscurity. Occasionally, they receive a nod (like when their album 'Old Traditions, New Standards' was featured on Pitchfork's list of the 25 Best Indie Pop Albums of the ’90s) but these spotlights don’t tend to happen as frequently as one might think.

While the mainstream has largely ignored Tullycraft, their status in the indie pop underground is undeniable. Formed in Seattle in 1995, they are considered to be one of the bona fide pioneers of the American twee pop movement. Touring relentlessly during the last gasp of the truly independent indie-underground, they influenced countless young bands. They were once called “the Johnny Appleseed of Indie Pop — making their way across the country, leaving new bands, zines, and record labels to sprout up in their wake."

Indie pop icons Tullycraft are back! After six years of whatever bands do when they’re not making albums, legendary troublemakers Tullycraft are back with a new studio album, Shoot the Point.

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The Altons - Love You Like That.

The Altons return with a one-two punch of sublime summertime sounds. Featuring the ever-soulful Adriana Flores on lead vocals, "Love You Like That" finds the group exploring a funkier, crossover sound that masterfully blends the infectious hooks of classics like Foster Sylvers "Misdemeanor" with the feel-good bounce of contemporary R&B. On the flip is "I Try I Try" - a floaty, mid-tempo banger off of their smash debut LP on Penrose, Heartache in Room 14.

The Altons are a soul rock group with a twist of Latin inspired flavors and rhythms. Their music is driven by intense grooves from the rhythm section that will bring you to your feet, while soulful leads inspire lovers to dance a little closer. When they take control of any stage you can always expect a fun and energetic time.

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Photo - Mckenzie Reive

Rogan Mei - Lefroy.

Drawing from a life spent between wild northern landscapes and intimate moments of reflection, Rogan Mei returns with “Lefroy,” a hopeful and heart-pulling indie folk track about self-discovery, resilience, and return. Anchored in quiet emotion but expansive in imagery, the song is part meditative memoir/part mountain summit.

Inspired by a painting of Mt. Lefroy by Lawren Harris – viewed during a visit to the McMichael Gallery on the anniversary of his mother’s heart transplant – “Lefroy” emerged as a metaphor for personal reckoning. “As we stood looking at this mountain, I imagined myself climbing it,” says Mei. “The first line and melody just popped into my head, and I wrote the rest in the days that followed.”

The track’s evolution mirrors its lyrical arc. Originally longer and more subdued, “Lefroy” was restructured for live performance as part of Canadian Musicians Co-operative’s Showcase tour before being recorded for his upcoming Dickies Green Plaid Jacket EP. Rather than opt for a studio, Mei and his band recorded it in the house he grew up in – immersed in nature, memory, and intention. “Everything (except the female vocals) was recorded in the same room, by people I know, playing real instruments,” he says. “Very few records are made that way anymore.”

Rogan Mei · Lefroy

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Pony Gold - Impossible Dream.

After a run of well-received shows and growing attention across Canadian radio and press following the release of “Big In The City,” alt-country artist Pony Gold returns with “Impossible Dream”, out now via Neon Moon Records. She has also announced her upcoming album High Road Reverie, set for release on October 3rd.

Written in the early stages of her sobriety, “Impossible Dream” feels like someone surfacing for air, only to find the world above just as suffocating. Over steady, unshowy instrumentation, Gold reflects on the quiet grind of survival; where rent, debt, and disappointment circle like clockwork. It’s not a plea for sympathy so much as a hard-won admission: sometimes, even hope feels out of reach.

“I wrote this song in the early days of my recovery when I was just beginning to navigate life without substances. It came from a place of anger, and reflection on how I had been living, where I was headed, and the deep frustration I felt with the state of the world,” she says. “These days it feels like no matter how hard you work, you cannot get ahead. The cost of living is relentless, and for many of us, survival means choosing between groceries, rent, or something to numb the pain. The weight of debt, the fear of bills, the sting of realizing a hundred bucks barely gets you through the checkout line - it can all feel hopeless.” 

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