Blundstone Playlist VI

Since 2013, PEI's Dylan Menzie has been steadily building a catalogue of acclaimed, award winning music. Drawing inspiration from acts like Wilco, Fleet Foxes, and Vampire Weekend; Dylan Menzie is a combination of folk, rock, and pop elements best described as Indie Pop Americana. His sprawling and dynamic vocals have allowed him to tour around the globe and play at iconic festivals like the Cambridge Folk Festival and the Edmonton Folk Festival.⁣
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His 2020 LP “Lost in Dreams” was an exploratory record. The album bounces from genre to genre and the production showcases Menzie’s songs in a softer, more controlled environment focused on lyrics & vocals. With his next record, Menzie aims to continue this evolution.⁣
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Constantly pushing forward, Menzie released a new acoustic EP in September 2022.⁣

Lance Sampson aka Aquakultre traces roots through his childhood home in Halifax’s Uniacke Square community to his ancestors in Africville, through the United States and ultimately to Nigeria. His music and lyrics are a poignant reflection of this truth, the story of his personal evolution, and his place in the community as an African-Nova Scotian.⁣
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Listening to Aquakultre’s DON'T TRIP is like stepping into a Halifax house party in full swing. Throughout 12 jam-packed songs, CBC Searchlight award-winning rapper and neo-soul songwriter Lance Sampson is joined by over 20 guests from locations spanning the globe.

Kelly McMichael is a vocalist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and commanding performer based in St John's NL, from Peterborough ON. McMichael’s commanding vocals and timeless Pop/Rock songwriting is delivered with warm tones, gritty guitars, and dreamy synths. Her debut LP ‘Waves’ showcases thorough pop/rock analysis with lush production and a hot lineup of backing musicians to support Kelly’s playful, emotive songwriting.

Self-taught artist from Chibougamau now living in Montreal, Lucill (Raphaël Bussières) covers his musical universe with indie, pop and alternative rock that is defragmented with folk touches. With his calm voice, he presents straightforward pieces that depict a raw reality. All this on an inclusive framework.⁣
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Lucill began his solo career with a critically acclaimed namesake EP in 2018 that won the Indie Rock EP of the Year award at GAMIQ 2019, followed by a debut album Bunny, released in 2020 and described as an anthem for his generation. Lucill released his second opus Snake eyes in February 2022, his brightest work to date.⁣

Mariya Stokes is a country artist and songwriter, with a 70s-pop flare. If Kacey Musgraves and Meghan Trainor had a country-soul love-child, the result would be Calgary-based country artist Mariya Stokes. Country Music Alberta’s two-time reigning Horizon Female Artist of the Year (2019 & 2020) has four single releases under her belt and is currently recording her debut EP.⁣
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Stokes has opened for acts including Doc Walker, Lindsay Ell, Jade Eagleson, Ru-Paul’s Drag Race superstar Trixie Mattel, and Jann Arden. In addition, she was the 2019 runner-up in Project WILD, a country-focused artist development program run by WILD 95.3 FM (Calgary) and Alberta Music.⁣ Stokes was a 2020 Artist in Residence at the Women's Centre of Calgary. A past volunteer at the Calgary Drop-In and Rehab Centre, she worked on two charity records and independently organized numerous coat drives for the organization.⁣

Joey Nowyuk is a chart-topping, award-winning singer and songwriter from Pangnirtung, Nunavut. Raised by a community that instilled in him the value of culture and language, the roots and indie-rock musician started writing songs as a child. Nowyuk’s beat-heavy,⁣ guitar-driven songs – some in Inuktitut, some in English – tell stories of life, love, and growing up in the North, always shining a ray of optimism and hope throughout.⁣
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With the release of his debut album, Tumitit, and his latest Inuktitut covers album, Inuugama, Nowyuk continues to rise in the music scene. His songs “Nalligigakku (Because I Love Her)” and “Pray (Tussiaq)” have both reached #1 on the Indigenous Music Countdown. Nowyuk is also an Indigenous Music Award winner and a three-time winner of the Qilaut songwriting contest. His ongoing successes put him in the ranks of celebrated Inuit artists, strengthening their language and culture through music.⁣

“When you need an escape, take a trip to the beach with Astrocolor.”⁣
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The new album Paradise (Amelia Recordings) guides you to a magical and exotic land of tropical house, bossa nova, trip hop, and lounge. It’s an expertly crafted dream, a pillowy playlist to unwind when you need to get off the hamster wheel and onto the hammock. Paradise was written to conjure the perfect vacation from beginning to end, with an impeccably smooth soundtrack that drifts effortlessly between hypnotic instrumental music and spaced out vocal flourishes. Just picture St. Germain meeting Khruangbin for a Mai Tai by the pool.⁣
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Winner of the 2022 Instrumental Artist of the Year award at the Western Canadian Music Awards, Astrocolor’s catalogue has over 6 million streams on major platforms and is regularly played by flagship CBC National shows. Joined by vocalist Cayley Thomas, Astrocolor is your one-way ticket to paradise.⁣

Learn more about Astrocolor on their website.

Born and raised in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Metis artist Grace Clark has had a passion for music since the age of 3, when she began playing piano. At age 7, Grace picked up the fiddle and quickly immersed herself in the northern performing arts community playing at various festivals and hosting local open mic nights in Yellowknife. She taught herself guitar in high school, and has since blossomed into the singer and songwriter we know today.⁣
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Grace’s sweet melodies and passionate lyrics build a delicate but enticing world, reflecting on love and loss, and themes that you will want to dive right into. With hints of blues in her vocals, she created a dynamic indie pop sound with an emotional edge. Grace released her first single “Untouchable” in June of 2020, followed by a live EP in June of 2021, and has since joined Yellowknife recording label “One North Recordings,” where she has been collaborating with other northern musicians and producers.⁣

In the Ojibway language, the word Zoongide’ewin means “bravery, courage, the Bear Spirit.” It’s no wonder Daniel Monkman adopted Zoon as his musical moniker. The Hamilton-based musician has spent the better part of his 28 years finding and channelling his strength to overcome such adversities as racism, poverty and addiction.⁣
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Music saved Monkman’s life. And, on Zoon’s debut album, Bleached Wavves, he paints a message of hope and fortitude, lessons he learned studying the Seven Grandfather teachings after experiencing the lowest point of his life.⁣ Bleached Wavves is notable not just for its breathtakingly inimitable sounds and giving birth to a newfangled subgenre (see “moccasin-gaze”), but also for its modest, resourceful creation, the sign of a true sonic genius-in-the-making.⁣

A 5x International Songwriting Competition finalist, 2020 East Coast Music Award nominee for Songwriter of the Year and 5x Music New Brunswick award winner, Townes' self- deprecating banter disarms any live audience and sets the stage for his beautiful and honest songwriting. An alternative folk artist, Townes’ 12-track sophomore album ‘In Frames’ was released to critical acclaim in the fall of 2021.⁣
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Think David Gray meets Death Cab For Cutie. High energy, but intimate. Beautiful, and clever.⁣

Turning nocturnal with necks mock turtle, our Local Kiwi Jr takes neon flight off the digital cliff - like The Monkees starring in Blade Runner : like Michael Mann directs Encino Man. Ten songs with synth shimmer, zen gongs with yard strimmer. The signs along the highway read “LESS BAR, MORE NOIR AHEAD.” Ah those late summer, Joe Strummer, Home on the Range Rover Blues.⁣
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Kiwi Jr. brings the Chopper to a new space, demilitarizing the technology just like flasks, aviators, and cargo shorts. Graceful in the air above, but when the Chopper lands there's chaos on the ground. Kiwi Jr. shout, “Look Out!” When it gets close it'll blow the hat right off of your head.⁣

Joey’s nostalgic folk songs live in spruce forests, dog parks, and all along the Trans-Canada Highway. Though much time is spent cutting kindling and hauling water around a Klondike cabin, her critically acclaimed sophomore album, Ever Ahead, was brought forth in 2020. Produced by pedal-steel legend Aaron Goldstein, it is an undeniable road-trip record that’s “rife with playful poetry and sees O'Neil casually bounce between tongue-in-cheek lyrics and a true sense of heartbreak” (CBC Arts). With themes of dogs, trucks, and mental health, she presents a fresh, queer perspective to some classic country tropes. Thanks to vulnerable vocals, canorous string plucking, and striking steel solos, this ode to the road reminds us to keep on truckin’, as the next adventure is ever ahead. Having shared stages with Julie Doiron, Basia Bulat, and Jennifer Castle, she often ventures back and forth between the Yukon and Ontario hypnotizing audiences with intimate anecdotes from her off-grid routine and long-haul highway life.⁣

Confronting bristling anxious energy with highly-pronounced pop edges, Slow Down Molasses of Saskatoon, Sask. Canada has never been shy about traversing shifting sonic territories. And on their latest LP, entitled Minor Deaths, the four-piece plunge deep into delay trails and feedback decay with a sound steeped in existential dread and simmering guitar rock post-punk sunshine. Easily their most concise and devastating work yet, Minor Deaths is a suite of eight songs that make controlled swerves into melodic indie rock landscapes while paying homage to the tightly-wound nervousness of post-punk unease.