bridge of sand. – bridge of sand.
(self-released)
For a young producer-songwriter whose compositions bear a distinct bedroom quality, Travis John conjures profoundly mature and alien conditions for his listeners to navigate. Slinking through the fifth full-length album from John’s bridge of sand. project feels like channel-surfing between states. But the Torontonian’s self-titled album retains a strange coherence. Cataloguing the undelivered promises of parental guardians, mythic idols and cultural role models with a dreary, hypnotic fluidity, John’s restless avant-garde soulscapes drift through leftfield beats and grooves that sputter and stall, samples deployed in methodical bursts like a dream factory letting off excess energy. — Tom Beedham
Dianadelirio – “Junto a Mi” and “Felina”
(self-released)
Colombian-born singer Dianadelirio has had a steady rise since moving to Prince Edward Island in 2023. Her easygoing blend of Latin American rhythms and electronic accents radiates an undeniable feeling of joy. Last spring, she released “Junto a Mi,” produced by Matt Smith, whose credits include Lido Pimienta’s 2020 Polaris Prize-shortlisted Miss Colombia. The whimsical song serves as the title track from Dianadelirio’s upcoming sophomore EP, which also features the single, “Felina,” an ambrosial tribute to her grandmother, a family matriarch she reveres for her strength, bravery, physical beauty and vivacity. — Leslie Ken Chu
The McMillan’s Camp Boys – Sing Their Gospel Favourites: Live at Steeple Green
(Big Turnip Records)
The McMillan’s Camp Boys come from the Rocky Mountains, but since resettling in Nova Scotia they’ve woven themselves into Atlantic Canada’s folk and country music fabric. The duo’s latest release is a nine-song set recorded live in Musquodoboit Harbour, just a short drive from Halifax. Following an introduction by Dylan Jewers of Dartmouth roots label Big Turnip Records, Joshua Douglas Alexander Kaiser and Levon James Lindequist ease into guitar, banjo and fiddle covers of hymnal classics by their favourite bluegrass band the Stanley Brothers, the Carter Family, and more. The album captures the warm intimacy of the McMillan’s Camp Boys’ shows with renditions as seamless as they are timeless. — Leslie Ken Chu
Nadah El Shazly – Laini Tani
(One Little Independent Records)
Laini Tani is an album that defies standard definitions. Mixing together musical and poetic traditions from North Africa and West Asia alongside a variety of electronic genres such as trip hop, industrial, dub, and illbient, Montreal’s Nadah El Shazly has created an album with soundscapes that range from visceral and haunting to euphoric, with each song immersing the listener in a world of Shazly’s design. This is best showcased on the song “Banit,” which employs Shazly’s sombre vocals and the traditional Egyptian Malfuf rhythm, as the almost meditative backbone for the other instruments, to paint a uniquely abstract atmosphere. — Daniel G. Wilson
noonjeem – The Orchids Are Blooming!
(self-released)
In a world on fire, it makes sense to make music that’s angry. But to build a society based on care and fairness, we’ll need to show gentleness, too. The title of noonjeem’s April 4 release, The Orchids are Blooming!, gestures to a vulnerability that unfurls over the course of this album. The music combines candid lyrics with a fantasy-tinged blend of pop, hip-hop, R&B, experimental and electronica, cooking up its own genre of sonic futurism. The spoken words in “In Safe Hands” capture the overall sentiment, speaking of the coexistence of joy and pain and reminding us that emotions build connection. — Sarah Chodos
Orbital Ensemble – Orbital
(We Are Busy Bodies)
With their debut album Orbital, Felipe Sena’s Orbital Ensemble summons the sounds of Brazilian musical genres like ’70s tropicália and MPB (música popular brasileira) and mixes them perfectly with modern psych and progressive rock songcraft. Each song is a melting pot of instrumental rhythms and sounds that can shift from calm and ambient to energetic freakouts in the span of a few minutes. Fuzzed-out guitars dance alongside flutes and saxophones on top of percussive grooves. A shining example is the two-track “Daydreams” suite. Fans of groove-based music will love this one. — Daniel G. Wilson
This article appeared in the 2025 Oct/Nov issue.