Since the late 1990s, Toronto singer/songwriter Lily Frost has built an impressive body of work that spans pop in nearly all its forms, from vintage to contemporary. On top of that, Lily’s dynamic performing skills and impeccable personal style have cemented her status as one of Toronto’s most beloved musical artists.
Lily is now excited to announce that she has partnered with New York-based KMG Distribution and The Royalty Network to reissue two of her recent acclaimed independent albums, 2019’s Retro-Moderne and 2022’s Decompression. As well, she is sharing the single “Cure For Loneliness,” a jaunty western swing ditty, co-written with Eleni Mandel, and featuring Toronto twang master Nichol Robertson. Lily is celebrating all of this news with a Toronto show on Wed. Sept. 24 at Sauce on Danforth.
Lily’s new partnerships will bring greater international exposure to Retro-Moderne and Decompression, while generating further opportunities for song placements, an area in which she has enjoyed great past success. In 2001, Lily’s song “Who Am I?” appeared on the Crazy/Beautiful soundtrack, and in 2009 she was nominated for a Gemini Award for co-writing “All I Ever Wanted To Be,” the theme for the CBC television series Being Erica. Lily’s songs have also been heard in the shows Grey’s Anatomy, Charmed, Felicity, Stargate SG-1, Workin’ Moms, as well as in commercials for Chevrolet and Hudson’s Bay.
However, Lily is thrilled by the prospect of audiences (re)discovering Retro-Moderne and Decompression, two collections that display the full range of her songwriting abilities. The former shines with infectious hooks, while the latter is grounded in heartfelt alt-country.
============================================================================
Brooklyn's Bird Streets (John Brodeur) is thrilled to present the latest single from their forthcoming album The Escape Artist. "Run For Our Lives" is pop-rock in the classic sense, overflowing with vocal and guitar hooks, and sporting a chorus that will stick in your frontal lobe for days to come. Recorded in Los Angeles with producer Jason Falkner, "Run For Our Lives" is the third single in advance of the new record, following the introspective folk-pop of "It's A Start," and the driving rock noir of "Mistaker."
Brodeur says, “Run For Our Lives has roots in the late ‘90s. I had the first few verses but could never figure out where to go from there–I tried probably a dozen different choruses over the years. I showed it to Jason when we were auditioning material for the record, and he offered up some chords and a melody. It was one of those chocolate-and-peanut-butter moments–his chorus was exactly what the song needed."
The vibrant "Run For Our Lives" music video prominently features members of New York-based theatrical dance troupe The Love Show. Shot in the troupe's own Hidden Jewel Box Theater–a performance space constructed inside a defunct Mrs. Field's Cookies shop at Manhattan's Port Authority–the clip finds Brodeur and his band coming face to face with a merry band of kooks. Viewers may notice subtle nods to one or more George Harrison videos.
The Escape Artist, out October 17, is a self-described paranoid guitar-pop record, that "runs the gamut from claustrophobic folk to angular indie-rock to power-pop to punk-rock freakout." Written and recorded during and after the global pandemic, the album touches on themes of fear, isolation, and existential dread, while serving up the indelible melodies and arrangements that have made Bird Streets one of indie-rock's most underrated artists.
============================================================================
 |
| Photo - Hugo Horsin |
There are seas that no longer make waves. In his new single ‘Mer d’hiver’, Mathis Akengin lends his voice to that very sea, joined by the delicate voice of Claire Passard. A winter sea slowed down, dense, almost frozen, where everything seems to be holding its breath. In winter, the sea becomes a metaphor for suspended time, for life slowed down, for what seems asleep yet continues, silently, to transform.
An old sailor whispers: ‘As-tu vu passer l’orage?’ (Did you see the storm pass by?), the question lingers, simple yet devastating. Did we notice the moment when everything shifted? Was it already too late? The piece moves with restraint, between silences and resonances, like a memory one hardly dares to touch.
At the age when his peers were learning to read and write, Mathis Akengin discovered a passion for a different form of expression: the piano. Like many early talents—often referred to as ‘prodigies’ due to their rarity—the young musician entered the Conservatory at the age of six, where he would study for fifteen years, later adding a stint at the Haute Ecole de Musique in Lausanne. His exemplary path confirmed his natural talent.
However, the youngling from Franche-Comté (France) didn’t want to limit himself to classical music. Contemporary music quickly caught his attention. At the age of twelve, he formed his first band and started his first tours. Little did he know that, a few years later, he would join the blues-rock duo Catfish, a band he had once opened for. Projects multiplied. By the age of twenty-five, his list of collaborations was already impressive. Mathis’ keyboards, both in the studio and live, resonate in a variety of formations with sounds ranging from Dead Chic (rock), Eméa (world-soul), Alexandrie (pop), to Neptune Quartet (oriental jazz). Eclectic, Mathis is also a versatile artist. He’s often sought after to arrange albums, always finding new ways to develop his creativity and skills.
============================================================================
 |
| Photo - Monik Geisel |
Today, Virginia-based Americana pioneers The Steel Wheels announce the release of their new self-titled LP to coincide with their 20 year anniversary as a band. The LP will come out on CD + vinyl on Oct. 31, but won’t be released to streaming services until next year on March 14, 2026, emphasizing the fan first mentality that has been a hallmark of the band’s since their inception. Today, they’ve also shared new single “Chase It All Away,” which combines a pop melody, a New Orleans style jazz piano, frontman Trent Wagler’s twangy vocals and an expansive fiddle solo for a commentary on the hustle of modern-day life.
On the new track, Wagler shares: “Hold it all at once. The diagnosis, the beautiful beach, the hard work coming, the lazy afternoon. How do we measure the need of the day? Is it in widgets moved, checklists marked, or in winding paths taken? How do we keep our inner fire burning to keep curious and passionate, without breaking down when life hits us with the unexpected?”
Their ninth studio album, The Steel Wheels was co-produced by D. James Goodwin (Goose, Bonny Light Horseman, I’m With Her), who mixed the band’s 2019 album Over The Trees. The project was recorded at Goodwin’s new Shenandoah Valley studio during a snowy Virginia winter, and the process was fluid and swift. Sessions were punctuated by peals of laughter and occasional tears as the group embraced vulnerability and leaned into every emotion as it came. The album that resulted captures a band at its creative apex: honoring their roots as a harmony-centric acoustic ensemble but fully leaning into the folk rock that they’ve grown into over the last 20 years.
On the LP, in typical Steel Wheels fashion, Wagler’s lyrics pose big, philosophical questions that he realizes have no answer. The sneakily profound earworm “Easy” they released last month is a perfect example of that – asking if in this age of technology and accessibility, is everything really easier?
============================================================================
