If pumpkin spice latte is available, then it’s time to start amassing songs for fall playlists. These songs may get you started.
1. Arkells, Coeur de Pirate, Aly & AJ, Dance avec toi
Blink Twice (Universal)
Recommended If You Like: Lots of lead-up to albums
Arkells’ seventh full studio album, Blink Twice, will appear on September 23, exactly one year and one day after Blink Once. And if I’ve counted correctly, this is the fifth advance single to appear so far this year. Previous songs have included feature roles by Cold War Kids, Lights, and Tegan & Sara. This one includes some Franco-Canadian help from a couple of Quebec friends. The goal was a song that sounds like everyone is having a good time in Paris.
2. The Cult, A Cut Inside
Under the Midnight Sun (Black Hill Records)
RIYL: If you don’t know The Cult by now…
The Cult seems to be one of those immortal alt-rock bands from the 1980s and early 90s. Their eleventh studio album—due October 7—will coincide with a tour through Western Canada starting this week (September 15) in Vancouver before rolling through Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Winnipeg before dipping into the US. I quote singer Ian Astbury: “At the core of it all, music contains the vibrational frequency of how we once communicated before we could even speak,” he says. “Bird songs, animal calls, string theory, quantum physics, psychedelics. The record ultimately is about finding and uniting beauty in those strangely natural moments.” Understood. I think.
3. TALK, Run Away to Mars
Single (DOOGOOD/Range/Capitol)
RIYL: Elon Musk ambitions, obviously. Oh, and GREAT choruses.
Not a band but a guy originally from Ottawa (he now lives in Toronto) who spells his name in ALL CAPS. Even though this is only his debut single, he’s already achieved significant attention in the US having scored the #1 most-added song to American alt-rock radio a couple of weeks back. And no wonder. The chorus for this one is killer.
4. Rosa Linn, Snap
Single (Columbia)
RIYL: Songs with gang vocals in the chorus
It’s not often we get music from an Armenian singer (System of a Down accepted) so it’s interesting to have a listen to Rosa Linn, a one-time Eurovision contestant who is enjoying a moment thanks to the TikTok virality of this song.
5. Pastel Blanc, Fences
Pastel Blanc EP (Independent)
RIYL: Beatlesque pop cut with stoner/slacker rock
Coming out of Victoria, BC, this four-piece has a winning single from their debut release. I found myself putting this on repeat as I tried to tease out all the different influences at work. Beatles? Definitely. Paquet Courts? Check. A little Pavement? Absolutely.