Owen Maxwell

Creative spurs don't always come to you in a straight line. For Laurent Bourque, endless touring and the usual grind back to writing again just left him in a rut. So instead he began a venture into writing with others that led to over 100 songs and eventually his latest record Blue Hour. We caught [...]

Starcrawler - Devour You (Los Angeles, CA) After getting a little extra attention with their cover of the Ramones "Pet Sematary" earlier this year, the freaky energy of Starcrawler is back. Though it's still a rock riot, their focus on spirit over overtly new-sounding tracks leave [...]

Angel Olsen - All Mirrors (Asheville, North Carolina) While Angel Olsen's most recent acoustic compilation might have left fans a little curious as to where she was headed next, the powerful songstress has expanded her sound magically once more. With songs that morph and twist in emotion as much [...]

Taking a break can be daunting for a band, but a productive time away is a great excuse, or alibi for that matter. For Sweet Alibi, this meant a lot of rearranging their dynamics and how they wanted to sound going into their latest record. We spoke to member Amber Rose, ahead of Sweet Alibi's October [...]

Whitney - Forever Turned Around (Chicago) There's a warmth and comfort in Whitney's music that at times allows their music to flow together regardless of albums. And while this can make their latest effort feel all too similar to what's come before, fans will see the rich details in strings [...]

Photo credit: Eric Yu Early success can be lost on some, but for Ottawa's Emma Lamontange it's been a constant source of gratitude. Since winning the She's the One competition at Bluesfest at just 16, Lamontagne has focused in on music as career and is on the heels of a new record. We [...]

Tove Lo - Sunshine Kitty (Stockholm, Sweden) Whether you've heard of Tove Lo from her Top 40 hits or her unabashedly explicit pop, it's undeniable how satisfying her grounded and uncensored brand of pop feels. So while she mixes dark radio pop with often radio-unfriendly subject-matter, Tove [...]

Alex Cameron - Miami Memory (Sydney, Australia) While the sense of humour and character-based darkness behind his music hasn't changed, Australia's Alex Cameron is letting his arrangements stray more. "Stepdad" lets its tempered monotony allow for a narrative drive and a stronger [...]

Photo credit: Rachel Pick Jill Barber has seemed to evolve so much with each album that a tour covering all her material seems daunting. But with her new Dedicated to You tour, Barber is ambitiously putting all the power in her fans hands, and excitedly. As she explores how her fans react to her [...]

Caravan Palace - Chronologic (Paris, France) It's been quite a while since the electro-swing royalty Caravan Palace had graced us with a new album, and its seems like they've been morphing in this time. While it's certainly a notable adjustment from their strict dance-focus music, the sonic [...]