The best tracks that have come our way in the past week or so and that we highly recommend listening to…
Madam Sad – 2.7 mo. Narcissism
We’ve written about Madam Sad, the Canadian musician, before. Hailing from Hamilton, Ontario, she consistently releases beautifully intimate lo-fi tracks.
Her latest piece comes from the album HRT Vocal Transition – as the name suggests, it’s a record documenting the vocal changes of this trans artist. Narcissism appears around the 2.7-month mark in that timeline, and it’s a truly atmospheric gem. Madam Sad uses dishes as percussion, the instrumental backdrop is subtle – flecks of strings or trumpets occasionally surface—and over it all floats her stunning vocal performance. One for the lovers of emotional lo-fi.
The Dears – Babe, We’ll Find a Way
We’re staying in Canada for this one. The Dears are newcomers to this blog, but this band-slash-loose collective from the Montreal area have been around since 1995. Their 2003 album No Cities Left is widely considered one of the standout indie records of that decade. So this is more on the conventional indie rock side. The title reminded me of a favourite track by The National (and the opening riff kinda hints at that, too).
Their experience shows in this new song – it’s polished and grounded in genre awareness, yet it doesn’t feel stale, as can sometimes happen with long-running acts. On the contrary, it’s fresh, driven by a catchy chorus and a memorable riff. Definitely a solid track – and one that makes me want to dig deeper into their discography.
Skyggekat – heartdrums
For the final recommendation, we return to the European continent. Skyggekat is a shoegaze project based in Copenhagen, Denmark, the solo effort of Jens Wejs, a Danish-Greenlandic musician and former guitarist of the post-rock band The Shaking Sensations.
I usually appreciate this kind of music most in a live setting, but heartdrums grabbed me even in its studio form – maybe it’s that energetic, punchy, almost live-sounding production (drums by Jesper Skovsted), the memorable riffs, or the overall vibe that makes its near-five-minute runtime fly by. It only pauses for a moment before charging back in and building to a guitar solo – raw, fun, and refreshingly unpretentious. I really love this kind of guitar sound – gritty and raw.
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