It’s been a great couple weeks for me in terms of books and music, but I can’t help but notice a trend so far this year that has had me double-checking what year it is. More on that after the roundup.
Roundup
Music
While I’ve been loving a lot of the new music the past few weeks, it’s been a wee bit quiet for album releases. Last week’s highlights for me were both surprises for me: a really solid new album from ’00s mainstay The Fray, and a no-skip release from Brigitte Calls Me Baby, a new band that traffics in retro New Wave sounds. I have mixed feelings about the latter, to be honest. I really love the album and if this were 1982 it would be a part of a revolution, but over forty years later, the sound can’t help but feel … It’s too intentional to feel dated, but at least extraordinarily derivative. But that doesn’t mean I’m not loving it. Yesterday’s ‘most important’ new album was The Way I Am by country star Luke Combs. But for me the standouts were It Will Never Be the Right Time by Hannah Storm, Naomi Scott’s FIG, and Grace Ives’ Girlfriend.
But once again, the past two weeks have also had a lot of great pre-release singles that make me very excited for the new couple months of new music. Check out the highlights below. Of those, I’m most excited for the Holly Humberstone album; her 2023 release remains a favourite of mine, and all three of the pre-release singles so far have been amazing.
Finally, while I don’t often give much attention to cover songs, there have been two great ones released late. The Veronicas released a cover of sombr’s “12 to 12” and The Beaches released their live cover of “Silver Springs.” They’re both brilliant.
Albums
- A Light That Waits (The Fray)
- Irreversible (Brigitte Calls Me Baby)
- The Way I Am (Luke Combs)
- It Will Never Be the Right Time (Hannah Storm)
- Girlfriend (Grace Ives)
- FIG (Naomi Scott)
Songs
- dirty wedding dress (Bleachers)
- Cruel World (Holly Humberstone)
- The Biggest Dick (Amy Shark)
- SWIM (BTS)
- 12 to 12 (The Veronicas)
- Silver Springs (The Beaches)
- Trouble (Grace Ives)
Reading
After a few weeks firmly in the way-backlist, the past week I’ve had a mostly happy return to mostly new releases. The biggest highlight by far is the new novel from Saleem Haddad, Floodlines. At this point it’s hard to imagine it not being my top read of the year. Other wins were Sanaz Toossi’s play English, and the sci-fi mystery novella Nobody’s Baby by Olivia Waite.
- The Bottle Factory Outing (Beryl Bainbridge, 1974)
- Holiday (Stanley Middleton, 1974)
- A Language of Limbs (Dylin Hardcastle, 2024)
- The Soul’s Journey Into God (St. Bonvaenture, 1259)
- Thirty Love (Tom Vellner, 2026)
- Floodlines (Saleem Haddad, 2026)
- English (Sanaz Toossi, 2023)
- That’s What Friends Are For (Wade Rouse, 2026)
- Nobody’s Baby (Olivia Waite, 2026)
Focus on: Long Live the ’00s?
I always say that there’s nothing less cool than what was popular ten years ago, and nothing more cool than what was popular twenty years ago. This is always most noticeable in fashion and in music. But the past six months or so seem to have taken this very literally, with long-dormant (or at least pop-culturally on the far-back-burner) ’00s musical artists making a huge splash. I first noticed it at the end of last year, when Heated Rivarly introduced ’00s Canadian mainstays like Feist and Wolf Parade (to say nothing of Tattoo) to a new generation. But this year the trend has been very noticeable, with stand-out albums from Jill Scott, Hilary Duff, The Sheepdogs, Voxtrot, and The Fray. And today, I woke up to a new single by Deathcab for Cutie (and the news that they’ll be dropping a new album in June), and an amazing cover of sombr’s “12 to 12” by The Veronicas.
I’m not sure this has any deep meaning, other than perhaps being representative of the long-expected shift back towards guitar-driven rock. But either way, it’s interesting to witness.
Matthew Root 