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Songs you need to hear is CBC Music’s weekly list of hot new Canadian tracks.
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Wheat Kings, Allison Russell covering The Tragically Hip
Re-interpreting a beloved song by an even more beloved band is a daunting task, but there’s no one more suited to the challenge than Allison Russell. As the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter wraps her voice around those famous opening lines, there’s a new warmth, a new life that bursts from Wheat Kings, nearly 35 years after we originally heard it. “The Hip unite us. Perhaps never more so than in Gord’s last days with us. Their legacy is living and growing,” said Russell, via press release. The Nashville-based Montreal artist recorded her version of the classic as part of the conceptual cast album for the critically acclaimed musical It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken, which features many songs by the band. “I don’t have adequate words to express how meaningful and moving it was for this Canadian girl who came up in the ’90s, to get to be a small part of it,” Russell said, of the project. The full album will be released on Oct. 23. — Holly Gordon
I Do, Sophia Stel
Sophia Stel’s rise has been swift, but entirely warranted. The Saanich, B.C.-born alt-pop singer released her first EP just two years ago and has already opened for A.G. Cook and Lorde on tour, walked in Paris Fashion Week and been heralded by the likes of NME for her forwarding-thinking, boundary-pushing sound. The latest single from her upcoming debut album, The Greatest Album of All Time, manages to both be an explosion of sound and understated at the same time. On I Do, Stel’s blasé sing-talking delivery of lines like, “You said I’m kinda cold-hearted/ when I get started, everyone’s parted,” complements synths that burst like fireworks, the track a bubbling riot that unleashes completely in its second half. I Do is an utterly cool take on revealing your full self to someone, and leaning into the vulnerability that takes. — Kelsey Adams
How Do You Like Me Now, Helena Deland
Writing often implies an audience, whether it’s private and just for yourself or a piece meant for the world to see. It’s a fine line that songwriters often have to straddle, transforming something personal into a public offering; letting others process and interpret in their own ways. In Helena Deland’s latest song, How Do You Like Me Now, she paints a scene at a party where she eyes a notebook belonging to the party’s host. “I’d die for just one look/ promise I would never read,” she admits, over understated piano notes and a steady drumbeat. “What if you caught me?/ Wait, what if secretly you had been hoping someone would open it?” The rest of the song reveals the contents of this notebook, with a question posed to her, but one Deland is asking her listeners at the same time: “How do you like me now?” — Melody Lau
Pity, Boy Golden
Winnipeg’s Boy Golden turns existential burnout into an effortlessly breezy and wistfully nostalgic melodic escape on his latest single, Pity. Arriving alongside the announcement of the deluxe edition of his latest album, Best of Our Possible Lives, the track delivers a glimmering soundscape of doubled 12-string guitars, driving drums, and a swirling, fretless bass that feels equal parts synth, folk and laid-back Americana. Underneath the track’s warm, sun-soaked production and tender backing vocals from Fontine lies a sharp critique of modern exhaustion, the stresses of city life, and the ongoing chase for constant productivity. “Isn’t it a pity, isn’t it a shame?/ Isn’t it a pity, living in the city?” Boy Golden sings as he captures the quiet desperation of wanting to trade city noise — and the hustle of modern life — for a moment of natural silence. Wrapped up in a melody so inviting, the song has a way of both confronting and soothing the angst it’s addressing, while simultaneously making the weight of the world feel just a little bit lighter. — Stevie Carter