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| Photo - Tyler Dawson |
Almost three years after his critically acclaimed debut album All I Know, Vancouver alt-country artist Elliot C. Way is back with a new single “Fool’s Gold,” a song that combines ‘70s soul and outlaw grit with a double-shot of raw truth that Way pours straight down your throat.
“Fool’s Gold” was originally written and recorded by The Wild North, Way’s former band and a staple of the Vancouver country rock scene. The song quickly became a fan favourite, and Way continued to perform it after embracing life as a solo artist. Over time, the song became more than just a throwback; it evolved into a show-closer, a ritual, and an anthem that fans had to hear at every show. Recognizing its power and enduring appeal, Elliot brought the original members of The Wild North back together—now that most of them are now members of City & Colour—to re-record it, this time through the lens of his modern outlaw country sound.
With his long-time friend, producer, and original Wild North bassist Erik P.H. Nielsen at the helm, the track was recorded at a former Vancouver CBC studio where Nielsen is now building a new facility. Lyrically, “Fool’s Gold” is a reflection of Way’s journey through life as a songwriter and survivor in the ever-changing music industry. Built around vivid, sometimes dark imagery and triumphant undertones, the song is an epic ride through personal struggle, perseverance, and the hunger to keep pushing forward.
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Selken is the bummer pop/indie rock project of Chicago songwriter Heather Styka. Styka writes lyrics-forward songs that “make you feel as if you are peeking into her diary” (No Depression) with a “talent for telling stories and connecting emotionally” (Glide Magazine). While the melodies of Selken draw from vintage pop and alt- country, the instrumentation layers indie rock with a shimmer of ambient synths. Selken ’s debut album, The Winds, is a cathartic exploration of personal and societal sea change, of burying old dreams to make room for new ones.
After over a decade of touring nationally and releasing five albums as a solo folk artist, Styka was grounded like the rest of world in 2020, which allowed her to realize she desired a change — to shift from solo acoustic songwriter to a full band. Styka teamed up with producer/multi-instrumentalist JG Shadid to create Selken. Styka and Shadid met at The Red Room in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood. For over 11 years, Shadid and friends have curated and operated this under-the-radar listening room and community hub of the Chicago music scene. Shadid’s wide-ranging expertise as an Emmy-nominated composer, educator on YouTube’s Reverb channel, folk songwriter, and founder of Gentle Bear Studio equipped him as an ideal collaborator for Styka, with a mutual appreciation for song craft and a mutual disdain for the confines of genre.
JG Shadid’s credo, “Make the noise you want to hear,” combined with Styka’s desire to embark on a more playful and experimental project, spurred Selken to push past more traditional acoustic instrumentation to pair siren-song vocals with layers of electric guitar, synths, bass, and drums, with a dash of vintage-pop glamour and groove. Shadid and Styka tracked the record for over a year, meeting weekly in Shadid’s Chicago studio to strip down each song to the melody and build up the layers through collaborative experimentation. In live performance, Styka swaps her acoustic guitar for an electric bass, Shadid becomes the band’s piano/synth player and electric guitarist, and Jake Hawrylak — lead singer and songwriter of his own band, Maiden King — plays drums.
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| Photo - Paul Husband |
Welsh indie band Melys return with a bold and uncompromising double single release, tackling themes often left in the shadows. Frontwoman Andrea Parker leads with fierce vulnerability, addressing domestic abuse in Bruises and calling out industry sexism in 5 Star t*ts, a track inspired by a real-life incident involving a dismissive and misogynistic single review from members of a very well known band in a prominent 90s music publication, stating they would award Melys another star if she (Parker) had big tits!
“The fact everyone thought it was acceptable and funny just made it worse for me as a young, nervous girl with a complex about the way I looked,” Parker recalls. “It was only made worse by the fact the publication replicated the quote on the front page too. The thing that makes me angry is the fact that 25 years later and this attitude is still going on today, literally nothing has changed!”
5 Star t*ts features a blistering guest performance from Pendulum guitarist Peredur Ap Gwynedd, whose sharp, staccato riffs perfectly complement Melys’ signature mix of driving guitars, punchy bass, and kinetic drums. A live favourite, the track balances raw energy with pointed commentary.
In contrast, Bruises is a slow-burning, brooding track that showcases Parker’s clear, emotive vocal delivery. Delicate and haunting, her voice carries an air of fragility that gradually intensifies, building to a powerful close.
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Mel Denisse - going nowhere.
Mel Denisse is a genre‑bending artist‑producer whose songs land between raw guitar grit and left‑field pop. First hooked on her dad’s acoustic at ten, she spent her teens recording demos in cracked software and, by eighteen, hustled onto a Myspace‑era tour.
Years ping‑ponging between Nashville and L.A. sharpened her writing and production: warped alt‑rock beds under ethereal, classically tinged vocals, spiked with the Eastern scales she soaked up while splitting childhood between Florida and Turkey. Lyrically, she digs into duality, obsession, and the tug‑of‑war between self‑preservation and self‑destruction.
Influenced by everything from Failure and Deftones to Tori Amos, Mel chases what she calls a“controlled collision.” Her voice drifts like smoke, then snarls and cracks on the next beat while jagged guitar loops pulse beneath. “I like to ‘frankenstein’ a track,” she says. “If a heavy riff and a delicate melody look wrong together on paper, that’s exactly what pulls me in.”
Her latest single "Going Nowhere" is a melancholy alt-rock/shoegaze track inspired by the fantasy book 'The Serpent & the Wings of Night' (by Carissa Broadbent). With a nostalgic and reflective atmosphere, it ties to themes like survival by staying unseen, loyalty vs. self-preservation, and trying to move forward with nowhere to land. Her new music overall has crossovers with fantasy books and is a large part of her writing, especially on her upcoming highly anticipated EP due early 2026.
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Nashville duo Haunted Like Human today release “Growing Pains” the final single from their forthcoming album American Mythology (out 11/21/25).
“Growing Pains” is a protest song exploring the whitewashing of American history and the true price of progress.
“The history that many of us are taught is often touched up to gloss over and justify the ugly truths and feed into the idea of American exceptionalism, when in reality, the American empire is just as guilty as any other of idolizing expansion and power at the cost of everyone and everything else.” - Dale Chapman.
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