It’s time for Your First Listen, where we show you songs you need to discover this week!
This Indie88 feature is presented with Bay Bloor Radio.
Each week we feature five remarkable songs that you need to hear on Your First Listen on air. In case you miss them on air, you can catch up on the weekly tracks right here. Your First Listen airs every day on Indie88 beginning at 10 a.m.
Online, we expand the list with a couple more tunes. This week, we’ve gotten some amazing fresh cuts from Dan Mangan, Housewife, Ocean Alley, Phoenix, and more.
Check out 8 songs you need to discover this week below.
Ocean Alley – “Home”
Australian rock outfit Ocean Alley have detailed plans to release their fourth studio album, Low Altitude Living, set to arrive independently on October 14. The band shared a new single, “Home,” to go along with the record announcement.
“Home” was born out of the band’s opportunity to slow things down when the world screeched to an economic halt in 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dan Mangan – “Just Know It”
Two-time Juno Award-winning singer-songwriter Dan Mangan has announced a new album, Being Somewhere, arriving October 28 via Arts & Crafts. Mangan also shared a new single, “Just Know It,” to go along with the announcement of his sixth studio record.
“This is a song about shooting yourself in the foot, told from the foot’s perspective. There’s barely any gray area left in the middle ground,” Mangan explained of the piano-driven track in a release. “We are so averse to seeing the other side achieve a win, we would rather that all sides lose.”
Housewife – “You’re Not The Worst”
Housewife also shared a new single, “You’re Not The Worst,” to go along with the announcement of the forthcoming five-song EP, You’ll Be Forgiven.
“It’s about undervaluing yourself and allowing people who are overbearing and arrogant to affect you emotionally,” the band said of the new song in a release. “Why am I spending time with someone who doesn’t respect me or my time? Then finally working up the courage to cut them out of your life when you’ve had enough.”
Phoenix – “Tonight”
French indie-pop quartet Phoenix have officially announced their seventh studio album, Alpha Zulu, is arriving on November 4 via Loyaute/Glassnote Records. The group previously shared the album’s title track, and today have delivered another new song with “Tonight.”
The new track features Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend sharing vocal duties with Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars. The video for “Tonight featuring Ezra Koenig” was shot in Tokyo and Paris and includes footage from the latter’s Musée des Arts Décoratifs.
Marcus Mumford – “Stonecatcher (featuring Phoebe Bridgers)”
File this one under an unlikely duo we never knew we needed. Marcus Mumford released his solo record (self-titled) today, which features the cut “Stonecatcher” he recorded with Phoebe Bridgers. Mumford told NME that Bridgers has been his “friend for a long time.”
METZ – “Come On Down (featuring IDLES’ Joe Talbot)”
Canadian noise-rockers METZ have teamed with IDLES frontman Joe Talbot for a new song, “Come On Down.” The song “was originally recorded during the Atlas Vending sessions but never fully finished,” METZ’s Alex Edkins said in a statement. “During the pandemic I really gravitated towards the idea of collaboration as a way to fill the void left by the loss of live music.”
“METZ have been a band we’ve looked up to since they came into our lives and made things better,” Talbot said in a release. “I will never forget the first time I saw them or any of the other times. Allowing me to sing with them is a gift and I hope you like it. I love it and I love them. Long live METZ.”
Skye Wallace – “Tooth and Nail”
Toronto-based singer-songwriter Skye Wallace announced plans to release her new album, Terribly Good, which will arrive on October 28th via Six Shooter Records. Wallace coupled the announcement with the release of a new song, “Tooth and Nail.”
“‘Tooth and Nail’ shouts defiance at all the expectations of failure I’ve met along the way, be it from outside sources or my own brain,” Wallace said in a release. “The road here has been long, but creating music that makes me whole, and getting a chance to connect with people and feeling something altogether – That’s what it’s all about.”
SOMBRA – “Premeditated”
Montreal-based producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Matthew Cataldo has shared a new single, “Premeditated,” under his SOMBRA banner.
“This song is all about my everyday attempt to avoid falling into the same mistakes and traps as those before me. It’s about wanting to find and establish yourself, and in doing so, feeling like you have agency, rather than just accepting your destiny,” Cataldo said in a release.
