Alberta Musician Justine Vandergrift Announces New Album MOUNTAIN STANDARD TIME

NEW ALBUM OUT ON MARCH 17th
STREAM/SHARE 'LITTLE BIRD' HERE

Justine Vandergrift · Little Bird

Alberta musician Justine Vandergrift shares her new single 'Little Bird' out today on all digital streaming platforms. Listen here. 

‘Little Bird’ is the first single from Justine's new album Mountain Standard Time, which is set for release on March 17th. The soft and dreamy track draws inspiration from Justine’s other upcoming release, a new baby girl, due later this month. 

"My co-producer Trevor McNeely wrote 'Little Bird' and pitched it as an idea for the album," says Justine. "It wasn’t a style I was used to singing or writing in but there was just an ease about the tune that pulled me in. I added a verse and when we recorded it live in the studio, we sort of magically eased into it and it ended up making the final cut. Most songwriters don’t like talking about what songs like this are really about, hoping that the listener just feels it. But Trev said he wrote it as a love song for his wife as they were expecting their child. With my own baby girl on the way, it feels timely to share this gentle and uplifting recording with the world."

Based in Cochrane, AB, Justine is an Americana singer-songwriter with an irresistible knack for melody and lyric. On her new album Mountain Standard Time, she reveals a playfulness, confidence, and new depth to her sound with her clear emotive voice drawing listeners into her narratives. 

Produced by Trevor McNeely, Jeff Kynoch and Justine, the trio recorded all the songs on Mountain Standard Time live off the floor. Says Justine: "We truly had a lot of fun with every song. I hope the listeners can feel that." 

'Little Bird' is available now on Spotify, Apple Music/iTunes, and other digital retailers and streaming services worldwide. For more information, please visit justinevandergrift.com.

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JUSTINE VANDERGRIFT
MOUNTAIN STANDARD TIME
RELEASE DATE: March 17th, 2023
01. Little Bird
02. Ain't What It Ain't
03. When I Get Tired
04. A Little More To Life
05. Mountain Standard Time
06. Wine!  
07. Lucky
08. Love & Pain
09. Believe!
10. With A Satisfied Mind
Download High-Res Album Art

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Ottawa Singer-Songwriter Norm Brunet Releases New Single + Video SO LONG

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Ottawa-based country rock musician Norm Brunet is pleased to announce the release of his new single 'So Long' out now on all digital streaming platforms. Listen here. 

'So Long' follows the release of Norm's 2019 Reflections EP and is a classic rocking country track with metaphorical lyrics about living during the COVID pandemic and trying to keep the faith.

“I wrote this track after being sidelined during the COVID pandemic," says Norm. "Not being able to tour took away my livelihood and it was so hard to remain hopeful. ’So Long’ is about what it was like to live through the pandemic as a musician and how it felt to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.” 

A lifelong Ottawa resident, Norm’s artistic ability was evident at an early age. With a diverse appreciation for music, Norm counts among his many influences, the country tinged southern rock sound of the Eagles and Poco, Americana artist Rodney Crowell, and the rocking sounds of John Mellencamp and Bob Seger to name a few.

For the past ten years, Norm has been performing throughout the U.S southern states, playing clubs and festivals and occasional shows in his hometown of Ottawa. He will undertake a series of U.S. club dates starting in Florida this March.

'So Long' is available now on Spotify, Apple Music/iTunes, and other digital retailers and streaming services worldwide. For more information, please visit: normbrunet.com.

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Vancouver Musician Colleen Rennison Releases New Single + Video

LEAD SINGLE FROM NEW ALBUM
PERSEPHONE OUT LATER THIS YEAR

WATCH/SHARE VIDEO HERE

Vancouver musician Colleen Rennison bares her soul on her raw and beautiful new single 'Means To An End' out now on all digital streaming platforms. Listen here. 

'Means To An End' is the first single from Colleen's new album Persephone set for release later this year. The track sets the scene for what we can expect on the LP with Colleen laying it all out for us to see.

“This song is literally ripped from my diary with me sitting in the realization that the best has come and gone,” says Colleen. “It’s the bittersweet recollection of moments passed and wondering if this feeling of loss and melancholy is something that you’ll live with until you don’t live anymore. We first recorded this as a full band and I felt it turned out too CMT and didn’t do the song justice, so I brought the piano player and all around musical savant Alexander Ward back in and we did it with just piano and a little percussion, adding in the live strings which he also arranged later.”

Colleen burst onto the music scene in 2011 with blues-rock group No Sinner. The band made immediate waves with music critics comparing her to blues belters like Janis Joplin or Maggie Bell, but Colleen is entirely her own invention. The voice is technically astounding, but the experience behind it inhabits every note. She entered the film industry at the age of five and that rootless existence as a child actor is still there in her undying commitment to the performance—nobody is more explosively honest or vulnerable onstage—and also in the demons that animate her.

No Sinner achieved enormous success abroad before hitting the wall, painfully, in 2016. Attempts to generate a new career in New York and Austin left the singer in a new kind of limbo, while the bad and dangerous situations persisted. Exiling herself to Vancouver Island only deepened the crisis. Back in Vancouver she was spat out into the Downtown Eastside, where things might have gotten worse—but didn’t. Miraculously, Colleen found the help she needed. She found the right friends, the right kind of support, the internal discipline, and, finally, the creative partner she always deserved. Entering producer Felix Fung’s New Westminster studio in early 2022, Colleen Rennison began work on the record that will stand as the truest expression of her art and her first true masterpiece. 

'Means To An End' is available now on Spotify, Apple Music/iTunes, and other digital retailers and streaming services worldwide. For more information, please visit colleenrennison.ca.

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Ché Aimee Dorval's New Album THE CROWNED Out Today

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FOR TITLE TRACK HERE

"The beauty of Ché Aimee Dorval’s 'Loveless' is the way the song is nothing less than transportive, the Vancouver-raised singer’s blend of glitter-jacked soul and hyper-lush pop a dream-weaver ticket to getting lost in one’s own thoughts." - The Georgia Straight

“New album ‘The Crowned’, fusing pop, soul, and indie elements to produce something potent and original. Just take new single ‘Falling Under’, and the way it pivots between classic soul impulses and fresh energy.” - CLASH

The Crowned, the new album from Vancouver musician Ché Aimee Dorval, is out today on all digital streaming platforms. Listen here. 

To celebrate its release, Ché is also releasing the title track as a 4th single, along with a live music video filmed at The Rickshaw Theatre in Vancouver.

Speaking ahead of its release, Ché said of the title track, “I think sometimes people forget that the fight for equality means just that. Having the same as, rather than more than. That truth always gets lost in the fear and emotions of it all. It doesn’t help that we’re taught that there’s not enough of anything to go around, so you better fight to hold on to your piece. 'The Crowned' is about fighting to share the same space. It’s about climbing up to sit next to the person who has occupied the throne for so long, not to dethrone them."

Last year, Ché released three tracks from The Crowned ahead of its release. The first, 'Blood Red Son',arrived in August, a “fever dream of indecision, regret and resolve.” Then came 'Falling Under', a song “about the pain and heartbreak of watching someone you love lose themselves to addiction.” Most recently, she shared 'Loveless', which is “about giving your love over quickly and readily. Loving without the expectation of having it returned. This song explores the feeling of being compelled to love a person who has nothing to give in return.”

The Crowned shows a side to Ché seldom seen on record before. A more confident and determined thread runs through these songs, signalling the birth of a new era for Ché. Inspired by her love of Trip Hop, Folktronica and Soul, The Crowned has Ché's signature all over it whilst reaching out into new sonic environments.

Pre-pandemic, Ché was working with Bob Rock, who produced half of the album. When we emerged from lockdown, Ché had self-produced the rest. The Crowned tells a story of an artist’s evolution and growth. 

The Crowned is available now on Spotify, Apple Music/iTunes, and other digital retailers and streaming services worldwide via Icons Creating Evil Art, except for Canada, where it is released independently. For more information, please visit cheaimeedorval.com.

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Alt-Pop Duo EIGHT THOUSAND BIRDS Release New Single BLUE HOUSE

WATCH/SHARE LYRIC VIDEO HERE

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Today, global collaboration EIGHT THOUSAND BIRDS release their new single ‘Blue House’ into the world. The hauntingly beautiful track is available now on all digital streaming platforms. Listen here. 

Founded amid the COVID-19 pandemic, EIGHT THOUSAND BIRDS is an alt-pop duo that has never met IRL. Formed in 2021, when Vancouver-based musician Alejandro Zarazua met Johannesburg-based vocalist Hayley Chewins on an online music forum, the two were soon collaborating and creating music virtually.

The result, their debut EP Turn Again and Come Back, is now set for release on February 14th. ‘Blue House’ is the first single to be released from the EP with the track showcasing what EIGHT THOUSAND BIRDS does best, blending personal lyrics and lush eerie melodies.

“I’m a novelist, and this song started out as a story idea,” says HayIey. “I wanted to write about a woman who was trying to drive away from a house and couldn’t; no matter how far she drove, she always ended up back in the driveway. When I realized it was a song, it poured out of me in one go. It’s about our relationship with the past and how sometimes something happens to you that you just can’t close the door on.”

Since EIGHT THOUSAND BIRDS is 100% a long distance music project, the duo admits that there are some challenges that come with creating music with a partner that is on a completely different continent. But despite the obstacles, they decided to forge ahead and create an EP together. 

Hayley explains: “At the beginning of 2022, I asked Alejandro if he wanted to make an EP with me. I sent him voice notes of each of the songs–recorded on my phone–and we started from there. We work in drafts, going back and forth until a song feels right. In that sense, we work separately, but it also comes together in this really cool way. It feels like we’re performing a kind of long-distance magic spell.”

'Blue House' is available now on Spotify, Apple Music/iTunes, and other digital retailers and streaming services worldwide. For more information, please visit eight-thousand-birds.com.

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