Big Brave – Ardor

One of the heavier bands of the Montreal scene, Big ‡ Brave aims to find the balance between post-rock, drone soundscapes, and the heavier interpretation of doom. This investigation started in 2014, with the band’s debut record, Feral Verdure, and was followed just a year later with Au De La. The difference between the two albums was noticeable, as Au De La found the band leaving behind its standard rock forms for long form compositions on tracks like “Let Us Rest Our Dead Anon” and “Tussles”. By extending the length of the tracks, Big ‡ Brave allocated more time in experimentation with grooves and hammering repetitions, bringing forth a succinct stream of consciousness to the table. Their latest record, Ardor, dives further into this mentality, with the number of tracks being further minimized—just three presented here—and the duration maximized (the shortest track is 11 minutes long). (PopMatters)

Elliott Brood – Ghost Gardens

Several things spring to mind when one thinks of veteran folk rockers Elliott Brood: steely acoustic guitar strums, banjos and lyrics that address more bygone Canadiana than a Pierre Berton book, with all of those lines sung in a twangy downhome delivery. What we fans of the Ontario alt-country troop don’t expect, however, is for its members to put out tracks like “Searching,” one of the highlights from their new album Ghost Gardens.(Exclaim!)

Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton – Choir of The Mind


Seaway – Vacation

In ‘Vacation’, the Toronto lads have produced a pop-punk album that’s loved-up and lonely in equal measure, conjuring up nostalgia for things that haven’t even happened yet.(ROCKSOUND.TV)

The Wilderness Of Manitoba – Across The Dark