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Swedish Singer-Songwriter Jonas Carping Releases ‘Always & Evermore’ Side A With Focus Song “This Whole World’s On Fire”

Eric Alper
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Swedish Singer-Songwriter Jonas Carping Releases ‘Always & Evermore’ Side A With Focus Song “This Whole World’s On Fire”

Swedish singer-songwriter Jonas Carping releases his powerful new song “This Whole World’s On Fire” today, a stirring piece of Americana that arrives as the lead song from his fifth studio album ‘Always & Evermore – Side A,’ out now. The song finds Carping at his most searching and elemental, delivering a meditation on collective uncertainty and the persistent human need for connection through imagery that is as cinematic as it is intimate. From its opening lines, “This whole world’s on fire / Chasing ghosts, on hell-bent desire,” the track pulls listeners into a landscape of restless longing and quiet resolve.

Carping, who is based in Lund in the south of Sweden, has spent more than two decades honing a voice and a craft entirely his own. Having first emerged from the Stockholm music scene with his band The Glade before launching his solo career in 2012 with the debut album ‘All The Time In The World,’ he has steadily built a body of work rooted in the great traditions of American folk and roots music. He describes his approach as an MTV Unplugged session where there is no plugged version, and nowhere is that commitment to pure acoustic storytelling more evident than on “This Whole World’s On Fire.”

The song’s origins carry their own compelling arc. Written during the global pandemic, when the world felt suspended in a state of collective unease, it sat quietly in Carping’s catalogue until the passage of time gave it an even greater resonance. As conflicts multiplied across the globe and the sense of crisis proved not to be a singular moment but a recurring condition of modern life, the song found its moment. Carping has spoken to the realisation that, somewhere in this world, the world is always on fire, and that understanding gives the song an urgency that reaches well beyond any single news cycle.

Produced by Amir Aly at YLA Studios in the south of Sweden and mastered by Björn Engelmann at the legendary Cutting Room in Stockholm, “This Whole World’s On Fire” is a testament to what happens when a song is allowed to breathe in its most natural state. The recording, like all of ‘Always & Evermore,’ was captured live in studio with just Carping and his guitar, chasing what he calls the unperfect perfect version of every song. The result is a recording that feels honest and lived-in, where every note carries weight. The line “We all got bills to pay / We all got roads to travel / Down the mistakes that we have made” lands with the plainspoken moral clarity of the finest classic Americana writing.

“This Whole World’s On Fire” also speaks to one of the most compelling cultural conversations in music right now, the return to the album as a full and intentional listening experience. ‘Always & Evermore’ is structured as two long-form tracks, Side A and Side B, presenting its eleven songs as a continuous journey rather than a collection of isolated singles. Carping arrived at this format through a deeply personal experience, inheriting a vast record collection and rediscovering the joy of listening to albums in full, from first note to last. The project stands as a genuine counterpoint to the shuffle-and-stream culture, inviting listeners to sit with music the way an earlier generation was invited to sit with ‘Desire’ or ‘Rust Never Sleeps.’

Side A is available now across all streaming platforms, including Spotify and SoundCloud, and on Bandcamp at jonascarping.bandcamp.com. Side B is set for release in September, alongside the full album on vinyl in collaboration with Heptown Records. The vinyl release represents yet another layer of intention in a project that has been shaped, at every turn, by a belief that music deserves more than a passing moment of algorithmic attention.

With cover artwork and photography by Hicke Jakobsen, ‘Always & Evermore – Side A’ stands as Jonas Carping’s most unguarded and fully realised work to date, a record that trusts the song, trusts the listener, and trusts that a single voice and a single guitar can hold a whole world’s worth of feeling. “This Whole World’s On Fire” is that record’s opening statement, and it is one worth hearing from beginning to end.

Toronto’s International Songwriting Competition Honouree Henry Lees Launches a Joyous Indie Pop Rocket with “Into Your Orbit”

Eric Alper
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Toronto’s International Songwriting Competition Honouree Henry Lees Launches a Joyous Indie Pop Rocket with “Into Your Orbit”

The recent Artemis II lunar fly-by captured global fascination and reignited the spirit of exploration in many of us. Watching the intrepid crew – including Col. Jeremy Hansen, the first Canadian to travel to the vicinity of the moon – carry out their mission and land safely back home was an awe-inspiring adventure with the most satisfying ending. Fueled by that spirit of exploration, award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter Henry Lees has since been counting down to launch day for his cinematic, hook-powered new single, “Into Your Orbit”.

“Into Your Orbit” is an uplifting, driving pop anthem that celebrates the undeniable attraction of first love and how good it felt, and still feels, to be near that special person.

“Love has its own gravitational pull,” notes Lees, “especially that world-changing first time you fall in love with someone. For a lot of us, that first love carries on for a lifetime because it feels that strong and right – like being the first person to discover something, or someone, uniquely precious and beautiful.”

But now I float above your surface

And I still feel that sweet, familiar pull

Into your orbit

“Into Your Orbit” has already received pre-release industry accolades as a semi-finalist in the AAA category in 2025 for the prestigious annual International Songwriting Competition, Lees’ fifth ISC honour since 2021. The song is also a selected addition to the exclusive library of L.A.-based Imaginary Friends Music Partners, an agency that has placed music in popular programs such as The Young and The Restless, Shameless and America’s Funniest Home Videos.

“Into Your Orbit” is the magical result of a first time collaboration between Lees and notable Icelandic producer/composer, Frosti Jónsson. With waves of synths, piano and electric guitar gliding over a driving beat with percussion accents like starbursts supporting Lees’ alternatively reflective and soaring vocals, the track is an exciting journey into new sonic realms for the Toronto-based singer-songwriter.

“Co-writing with Henry was a really smooth and fun creative process,” recalls Jónsson. “I also love challenging my collaborators and pushing them out of their comfort zone; Henry can verify this. But I’m really happy with the outcome.”

“I hadn’t ventured very far in the direction of electronic music before,” offers Lees, “but from the initial co-writing session to the final mix, I marveled at Frosti’s amazing creativity and storytelling ability using elements from both the electronic and organic music worlds.”

Jónsson, now based in Tampa, Florida, has placed his solo music and other collaborations in many productions including Netflix’s Temptation Island, a variety of HGTV home renovation series, and true crime series featured on Peacock, Amazon Prime, Tubi and elsewhere. Jónsson also releases his own electronic instrumental music as Bistro Boyand performs live internationally.

“Frosti’s music is deliciously atmospheric and evocative. He can expertly set a scene and mood before anyone would sing a word,” says Lees. “I am very intrigued and excited about what we’ve created and continue to create together.”

“When I write and produce I let emotions lead the way, trusting the process and approaching it with an open mind,” explains Jónsson. “When Henry shared his initial ideas and the lyrical theme with me everything started to come together rather quickly. The outcome is this uplifting, almost anthemic song that hopefully captures the exhilarating feeling of Henry’s lyrics about first love and the nostalgic memories of it.”

“Into Your Orbit” is Lees’ fifth single and follows “Smoke”, a collaboration with Canadian artist and producer-on-the-rise, Sean Thomas(Joey McIntyre, Debbie Gibson, New Edition). “Smoke” was a semi-finalist in the 2025 Unsigned Only music competition and has enjoyed airplay on college and community radio across Canada and internationally in Europe and the UK, Mexico and South America. Prior to “Smoke”, “Free This Love”, another collaboration with Thomas, gathered five song competition honours including a Top 10 Finalist award from the 27th USA Songwriting Competition.

In 2022, Lees celebrated his first number ones as a songwriter when triple Maple Blues Award nominee Chris Antonik’s album “Morningstar” hit #1 for two weeks on Roots Music Report’s Top 50 Canada Albums Chart, with “Back to the Good” — one of six songs Lees co-wrote with Antonik — also hitting #1 on the RMR. He also released “Walking With Fear”, a personal song supporting those dealing with anxiety disorders, co-written with multi-award-winning singer-songwriter David Leask and produced by Leask with JUNO winner Steve Dawson and The Henhouse Express. The single was released in partnership with Anxiety Canada in support of Action Anxiety Day.

More music is always on the way from Lees, with three more singles and a full EP in the works for 2026 – 27.

In the meantime, “Into Your Orbit” is rocketing into the digi-verse with the hope its reach will be out of this world.

Jazz Singer Molly Johnson Announces New Album ‘Talk To Me’ Featuring Haviah Mighty And Jim Cuddy, Out June 26

Eric Alper
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Jazz Singer Molly Johnson Announces New Album ‘Talk To Me’ Featuring Haviah Mighty And Jim Cuddy, Out June 26

Recognized as one of Canada’s greatest voices, Molly Johnson announces her new album Talk To Me, arriving June 26 via Universal Music Canada. The 10-track project combines music from Johnson’s recent All I See and Long Time Running EPs with four new recordings, including lead single “Holiday,” out now, further showcasing her unmistakable voice and continued artistic evolution.

Across the album, Johnson collaborates with artists from across generations of Canadian music, including JUNO Award-winning rapper Haviah Mighty, rising producer and artist CUBE, and Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo. The result is a deeply collaborative body of work that blends soul, jazz, R&B, and rock through Johnson’s singular artistic lens.

At the heart of the album is “Talk To Me,” a call-and-response collaboration with Haviah Mighty centred around listening, dialogue, and connection across generations. Pairing Molly’s signature vocal style with Haviah’s sharp lyricism, the track reflects a meaningful exchange between two distinct voices and perspectives.

“What does a 67-year-old woman and a 21-year-old kid have in common? A real love of great music,” says Johnson about working with producer and artist CUBE. “I really believe we need to listen to younger voices, and I feel so excited that I get to be part of this new generation of music. The future looks bright to me.”

The album also features Johnson’s stirring interpretation of The Tragically Hip’s “Long Time Running,” recorded with Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo. First released in 1991, the song remains a defining piece of the Canadian musical canon, here reimagined with a sense of intimacy and reverence that honours its enduring legacy.

“This has been a long time coming,” says Johnson. “I’ve always wanted to record a duet with Jim. We’ve been friends for years, so to finally collaborate on a song by our beloved The Tragically Hip feels like real magic.”

Across the album, Johnson is joined by her long-time collaborators, including Davide Di Renzo, Mike Downes and Robi Botos, whose enduring musical partnership remains central to her sound. New recordings including “Holiday,” “Happy,” “Sunday Morning,” and “Just As Bad As You” further expand the album’s rich and deeply collaborative musical world.

Ron Pastore Releases New Single “Robot Hands” From His Neo-Psych Album ‘Turtle Rock’

Eric Alper
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Ron Pastore Releases New Single “Robot Hands” From His Neo-Psych Album ‘Turtle Rock’

Ron Pastore, the New York-based composer, multi-instrumentalist, and sonic architect behind one of independent music’s most quietly thrilling catalogues, releases his new single “Robot Hands” today, the lead track from his latest album ‘Turtle Rock,’ out now on all major streaming platforms. Built from analog synths, live drums, layered improvisation, and the kind of head-nodding, forward-leaning groove that has defined Pastore’s sound across five albums in five years, “Robot Hands” is an immediate and fully realised entry point into a musical world that rewards the curious listener enormously.

‘Turtle Rock,’ the album, arrived with a story behind it as vivid and specific as anything in its grooves. Pastore, a software engineer by day and a compulsive music-maker by instinct, was hiking with his family in Virginia in the period following the release of ‘Bokeh,’ his previous record and what he considered at the time to be his finest work. He was feeling the familiar low that follows a long studio-infused high, five years into making albums without putting much effort into promotion beyond emails to friends and family. The hike, the weather, and the blood flow gave him a moment of clarity that landed as both permission and direction: he loved what he was doing, it was alright to want real fans, alright to promote, and alright for some people not to connect with it. By the time he reached the summit, he had spotted a metallic emblem in the ridge of a stone shelter that read Turtle Rock, and a new album had its name, its concept, and its energy. The following year brought thousands of new listeners, messages, and what Pastore describes as proof that people were hearing the same thing he did while making it.

The album’s central conceit is a fictional riverside bar, a random weeknight in the glow of the eighties, lousy weather, strangers, and a strange band taking the stage. Turtle Rock is both the bar and the setlist, a spontaneous dance party that happened because someone showed up when they were not sure they should. Pastore has described loving the idea of all of those elements colliding in one room, and the music reflects that collision with real warmth and kinetic energy. The recording process is characteristically meticulous despite its improvisational heart: live drums from collaborator Guy of Gisborne, mixing and mastering by Mic Angelo at Mix Palace on Long Island, and Pastore himself handling composition, production, sax, piano, guitar, and synthesizers across the seven-track album.

What began as a productive escape in his home office, with a world of endless responsibility waiting on the other side of the studio door, turned into something far more sustained and necessary.

Pastore has been building this body of work with remarkable consistency since the pandemic years first gave him the space and the permission to make something purely for himself. What began as a productive escape in his home office, family life and deadlines and bills all waiting on the other side of the studio door, turned into something far more sustained and more necessary. His daughter even plays cello on “The Nautilus,” a detail that says everything about how this music has become woven into the fabric of his life rather than separate from it. His process is both structured and instinctive: the first half of any given year devoted to raw idea generation, beats, piano sketches, melodies sung into his phone; then 80 to 100 ideas competing on index cards down to fifteen, to ten, to seven, until only the ones that demand to exist survive. His previous album ‘Bokeh,’ a seven-track record released in September 2024 and available on limited edition 180-gram vinyl via Bandcamp, drew comparisons to the layered minimalism of the finest contemporary experimental work and demonstrated a composer with both a distinctive sonic vocabulary and the patience to let it fully breathe.

For a composer who describes the mix as the final testing ground, half finishing the work and half celebrating what the ideas became, ‘Turtle Rock’ is a record that sounds like exactly that: a celebration, arriving fully formed from someone who has been quietly getting better at something he loves, one album at a time.

The Sling Sisters Release Tender New Single “The Reason” and Announce Packed 2026 Tour Schedule

Eric Alper
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The Sling Sisters Release Tender New Single “The Reason” and Announce Packed 2026 Tour Schedule

The Sling Sisters, the powerhouse Blues-Americana-Country trio from Cambridge and Toronto, Ontario, release their gorgeous new single “The Reason” today, a warm, string-kissed love song that showcases an entirely different dimension of a band already celebrated for their grit, groove, and three-part harmonic fire. Where their debut album ‘What I Hope to Find’ arrived in January 2026 with Nashville swagger and roots-driven confidence, “The Reason” pulls the lens in close, trading the dance floor for something quieter and more lasting: the moment you realise that someone you love has become the thing you believe in most. It is a song for anyone who has ever been caught off guard by the depth of their own heart.

Written by Elana Harte and Kim Jarrett and produced with the same meticulous global sensibility that has defined the Slings’ recorded work, “The Reason” features lead vocals from Suzie Burmester and a stunning ensemble that spans four countries: drums by Chris Barber from Sheffield, UK, bass by Bruno Migliari from Rio de Janeiro, electric guitars by Vitaliy Tkachuk from Odesa, Ukraine, acoustic guitar by Elana Harte in Toronto, and cello by Ben Trigg in London, England. That cello is central to what makes the track so striking, lending the song the kind of orchestral warmth and emotional depth that few roots acts dare reach for. The result is one of the most fully realised performances Suzie Burmester has ever committed to tape, her voice carrying the song’s central turn with completely disarming ease: “I could’ve lived my life in black and white / But you looked at me / Took me absolutely by surprise / And I can see / I was pretty sure I had it right / But now I know.”

The song’s journey from cynicism to conviction is mapped across its verses with the kind of unhurried honesty that has always been the Slings’ greatest strength. “There are just so many things / That I can’t believe in / Like wishes, prayers, and fairy tales / That everything has a reason,” it opens, before the chorus arrives with the warmth of something genuinely earned: “You, you are the reason.” It is a song that trusts its listener to meet it where it lives.

The Sling Sisters formed in one of those origin stories that sounds almost too good to be true but is entirely real. Elana Harte and Suzie Burmester had orbited each other’s world since their teenage years in Montreal without ever properly meeting, until a chance gig in Kitchener brought them together when Elana’s duo partner fell ill, Suzie sat in, and Kelly Mulholland jumped on stage from the audience. That night the Slings sound was born, fully formed and unmistakable, built on three voices that lock together with the kind of instinctive harmonic intelligence that cannot be taught. The band has since built a devoted following across Ontario and Quebec through exactly the kind of honest, community-rooted live music that “The Reason” so perfectly embodies.

Led by award-winning songwriter, vocalist, and producer Elana Harte, whose production approach draws on old-school principles of stereo field and placement to create recordings that feel genuinely alive and three-dimensional, the Slings have developed a sound that sits at the intersection of Blues, Americana, and Alt-Country while remaining entirely their own. Their debut album ‘What I Hope to Find,’ released January 31, 2026, drew coverage from Canadian Beats, Roots Music Canada, Cashbox Canada, The Table Read Magazine UK, and The Path Radio, among others, and the Nashville-recorded lead single “Chasing Whiskey With A Kiss,” featuring session legends Buddy Hyatt of TOTO on keys and Brent Mason on electric guitar, announced the band to a national and international audience with considerable force.

“The Reason” deepens that story beautifully, demonstrating a trio capable of moving between full-hearted swagger and the quietest kind of emotional truth without losing a step.

The Sling Sisters are headed to stages across Ontario and Quebec throughout 2026, with a full schedule that takes them from to listening rooms to summer festivals and autumn club dates. 

TOUR DATES

June 20, 2026 – The Prop House – Hamilton, ON
July 3, 2026 – TWB – Kitchener, ON
July 9, 2026 – Sankofa Square – Toronto, ON
July 23, 2026 – Endless Summer – Sauble Beach, ON
September 11, 2026 – Bestival – Kitchener, ON
September 19, 2026 – Cafe Mariposa – Montreal, QC
October 3, 2026 – Paris Pub – Paris, ON
November 21, 2026 – Paris Pub – Paris, ON

For Ernest Release Debut Album ‘Cinema,’ a Handcrafted Orchestral Folk Journey Through Grief, Healing, and the Quiet Work of Rebuilding

Eric Alper
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For Ernest Release Debut Album ‘Cinema,’ a Handcrafted Orchestral Folk Journey Through Grief, Healing, and the Quiet Work of Rebuilding

For Ernest, the Niagara-rooted indie folk duo of Michael Saracino and Tara Stanclik, release their debut full-length album ‘Cinema’ today, a luminous and deeply considered record that arrives as one of the most moving and fully realised singer-songwriter statements to emerge from Ontario in recent memory. Written, produced, and performed by Saracino and Stanclik in their own barn studio and brought to life over two extraordinary months in early 2026 with nine guest musicians, ‘Cinema’ is a ten-track album conceived and sequenced as a single continuous thirty-minute piece, a film score without a film, as the duo themselves have described it, and an unflinching, ultimately hopeful passage through some of the heaviest experiences two people can carry.

The album’s origins are rooted in a period of profound and compounding grief. Tara lost her brother to addiction, and shortly thereafter Michael’s mother was hospitalised in the ICU with Guillain-Barré syndrome, leaving the duo in what they describe as an emotional vacuum where nothing could be fully processed. The songs that slowly emerged from that period became the framework for ‘Cinema,’ and as the pieces accumulated and connected, the duo recognised something genuinely cinematic taking shape. They responded by fully embracing the score format, opening the album with an overture that previews the musical themes to come and closing it with a reprise that draws those threads together, giving the whole work the narrative architecture and emotional coherence of something built to be experienced in full, from first note to last.

The result is a record of rare intimacy and ambition in equal measure. At its acoustic heart, ‘Cinema’ moves with the fingerpicked warmth and male-female vocal harmonies that define the For Ernest sound at its most elemental, the kind of close, unhurried musical conversation that has earned the duo airplay on SiriusXM’s North Americana channel, placement on Spotify editorial playlists, and hundreds of thousands of streams since they formed in 2023. But ‘Cinema’ reaches considerably further, with the duo assembling a remarkable ensemble that includes violinist Joelle Crigger, who has performed with both the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and The National Ballet of Canada, alongside Niagara-based musicians Phil Martin on double bass, Marshall Bureau on vibraphone and drums, Taylor Hulley and Al Saracino on percussion, Dan Serre on ambient electric guitars, and vocalists Laurel Minnes, Jillian Rene Smith, and Connie O’Connor. Mastered by Kristian Montano with artwork by Charlotte Mikolajewski, the album is a genuinely handcrafted work, each element chosen and placed with the care that only artists recording in their own space, on their own terms, can bring to bear.

The album’s five song titles map the emotional terrain of the journey with quiet precision: ‘Darker Score,’ ‘Be My Only,’ ‘Unlearning,’ ‘Recovery,’ and ‘Rebuild.’ Each one earns its place in the sequence. “Plant seeds in times of peace,” Saracino and Stanclik sing on the opening track, “then the roots are down deep when things burn / Nothing here is evergreen / These changes come in waves / And we can’t ignore the darker score / That plays us out sometimes.” By ‘Unlearning,’ the album reaches toward something more active and purposeful: “There is more life / On the other side of grief / You are not your wounds / You’re not your darker score / You’ll carry this / While finding a space for more.” And by ‘Rebuild,’ the final destination, the language has turned toward the tangible and the generous: “Just beyond that old hill / There’s a skyline that’s filled / With everything you’ll ever need / You’re allowed to be still / You’re allowed to take time / To rebuild.” It is the kind of songwriting that trusts its listeners completely, offering no easy resolutions, only the steady, earned movement toward light.

For Ernest live up fully to the ambition of this material on stage. Their performances range from deeply intimate acoustic sets to expansive, loop-layered soundscapes that feel considerably larger than the sum of their parts, and on April 30 they assembled a twelve-piece band to perform ‘Cinema’ in its entirety at Honsberger Estate Winery in Jordan, Ontario, playing to a sold-out crowd of 150 people in what those present described as a captivating and genuinely singular evening. The duo perform next on June 6 at Motel Chelsea in Gatineau, Quebec.

Tom Lavin & The Legendary Powder Blues Bring Their Landmark Blues to Toronto and London, Ontario This June

Eric Alper
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Tom Lavin & The Legendary Powder Blues Bring Their Landmark Blues to Toronto and London, Ontario This June

There are bands, and then there are institutions. Tom Lavin & The Legendary Powder Blues belong firmly in the second category, and this June they bring their irresistible, roof-raising blend of blues, swing, jazz, rock and roll, and R&B to two of Ontario’s finest listening rooms for what promises to be among the most celebrated shows of the summer. On June 24, the band takes the stage at Hugh’s Room Live in Toronto, and on June 26 they bring the party to Aeolian Hall in London, Ontario, both shows getting underway at 7:30 pm. Tickets for both dates are on sale now at powderblues.net/tour.

For over four decades, Powder Blues has stood as Canada’s premier blues band, a distinction earned not through industry favour but through the sheer, undeniable force of the music itself. The story of how they got here is the stuff of legend. When their debut album ‘Uncut’ was dismissed by major labels who declared there was no market for the blues, the band bypassed the gatekeepers entirely and went straight to radio, where switchboards lit up with listeners demanding to know who they were hearing. 30,000 sold in a matter of weeks later, those same labels came running. To date, Powder Blues has sold over a million records worldwide, a number that speaks for itself with the kind of authority only the music itself can earn.

The band’s journey has taken them to stages and festivals that read like a hall of fame itinerary all on their own. They have headlined the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, won the Blues Foundation Award in Memphis, Tennessee, taken home a Juno Award for Best New Band, and toured the United States and Europe alongside an almost unbelievable roster of legends including Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, James Brown, Albert Collins, James Cotton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

At the heart of it all is Tom Lavin, the Vancouver-based guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer, and bandleader who has shaped Powder Blues from its very first note. Raised in the city where the blues found its electric soul, Lavin came to Vancouver carrying that inheritance and proceeded to build something entirely his own, writing the band’s best-known and most beloved songs including ‘Doin’ It Right (On the Wrong Side of Town)’ and ‘Boppin’ With the Blues.’ His influence has extended far beyond the Powder Blues catalogue, with gold and platinum records to his credit for work with Prism, April Wine, Long John Baldry, Amos Garrett, and many others. The BCMIA has recognised him as Guitarist, Singer, Songwriter, and Producer of the Year, and the American W.C. Handy Award stands alongside his Juno as testament to an artist respected on both sides of the border and well beyond.

2026 marks the band’s extraordinary 48th anniversary, a milestone that would be remarkable for any act and is all the more so for a band that has never stopped swinging, never stopped touring, and never stopped bringing the kind of joy that fills a room the moment the first note lands. A Powder Blues concert is one of those rare live experiences where people from seven to seventy find themselves side by side on the dance floor, united by music that is too good to resist. More than a dozen CD titles and a DVD continue to sell worldwide, making Tom Lavin & The Legendary Powder Blues one of the longest-standing and most beloved musical ambassadors this country has ever produced.

TOUR DATES

Jun 24 — Toronto, ON — Hugh’s Room Live — 7:30 PM

Jun 26 — London, ON — Aeolian Hall — 7:30 PM

Seattle’s All-Women Garage-Rock Road Warriors The Darts Light the Bonfire on ‘Halloween Love Songs’

Eric Alper
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Seattle’s All-Women Garage-Rock Road Warriors The Darts Light the Bonfire on ‘Halloween Love Songs’

A joke in a Paris interview grew teeth and became a whole record. Seattle’s The Darts return with their most ambitious album yet, ‘Halloween Love Songs,’ out now on Adrenalin Fix Music. Produced by Grammy winner Mark Rains at Station House Studio in Los Angeles, it captures a band at full voltage, a road-seasoned unit distilling years of touring and late-night writing into a sharp, cinematic garage-punk statement. Listen here.

The spark came during a 2024 Rock n Folk interview, when singer and keyboard player Nicole Laurenne joked that Halloween deserved more than one novelty hit. By the time she got home, the idea had sharpened. “I didn’t want an album that was just monster-costumes on the playground,” she says. “Side A is full of colorful, early-evening energy, the kind of songs you could blast while the neighborhood lights are flicking on. But Side B is the soundtrack for after dark, when the bonfire is raging. It’s for sweaty middle-of-the-night dancing, making out on a bed of empty candy wrappers, and spinning through an all-nighter apocalypse.”

It’s a concept album without the gimmick, more a two-sided mood built from years of shows where danger, joy, humor, sweat, and catharsis all live in the same hour. Side A opens with the slinky strut of “Midnight Creep,” a live favorite with its own custom dance, then expands the early-evening palette through “Zombies on the Metro” and “Every Night Is Halloween,” driven by Nicole’s Farfisa grit, Rebecca Davidson’s guitar snarl, Lindsay Scarey’s low end, and the heavy snap of returning original drummer Rikki Styxx.

Side B is where the night deepens. “Apocalypse,” inspired by the medieval Apocalypse Tapestry in Angers, France, hits with a caveman stomp, Mudhoney-thick fuzz, and a “No Kings” refrain Nicole wrote about shedding oppression, a line that later surfaced as a protest chant across the US before the band had released a note. Cuts like “The Devil Made Me Do It” and “Darkness” push into heavier, chant-driven, hypnotic territory built for sweaty clubs at one in the morning. It’s garage rock with a pulse and a shadow, still wired to The Cramps, The Trashwomen, The Seeds, and Death Valley Girls, but sharpened with modern muscle.

What sets this record apart is the sense of intent. It’s bigger, more focused, and feels like a culmination of years spent on trains, in vans, on festival stages, in basements, and through lineup changes inside the tight-knit world of international garage-punk. The Darts are no strangers to global attention, having sold out shows across Europe, the UK, and North America, moved vinyl faster than labels could repress it, landed KEXP sessions, and earned fans from Dave Vanian to Stephen King to Jello Biafra. True to form, they’ll follow the release with another year of heavy touring across the US, Europe, the UK, and Japan.

The Darts On Tour 2026:

6.10 Jersey City, NJ

6.11 Washington, DC

6.12 Richmond, VA

6.13 Raleigh, NC

6.14 Wilmington, NC

6.17 Savannah, GA

6.18 Athens, GA

6.19 Atlanta, GA

6.20 Nashville, TN

6.21 Louisville, KY

6.23 Indianapolis, IN

6.24 Cleveland, OH

6.25 Rochester, NY

6.26 Lake George, NY

6.27 New Haven, CT

6.28 Brooklyn, NY

8.26 Eugene, OR

8.27 Portland, OR

8.28 Seattle, WA

8.29 Vancouver, BC

8.30 Olympia, WA

Liverpool Experimentalists DBA! Let Go on New Single “Falling Out”

Eric Alper
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Liverpool Experimentalists DBA! Let Go on New Single “Falling Out”

The feeling of clinging to something for the wrong reasons drives the latest from DBA!. The Liverpool alt-rock specialists have shared new single “Falling Out,” out now, alongside the announcement of their second EP ‘I was born, I was dead,’ which is also out now.

Frontman Sam Warren laid out the song’s emotional core. “It’s a track touching on the feelings of restriction and claustrophobia in situations that you find yourself clinging on to for the wrong reasons,” he explained, “and then the subsequent sentiments of relief and renewal that come with the decision to let go.”

DBA! have a genuinely distinctive origin story. The band was birthed in a DIY demo studio tucked into the literal basement drain of a Liverpool nightclub, and over the last 18 months they’ve become major figures in the city’s indie landscape. Heavily influenced by Eels, Pavement, The Breeders, Elastica, and Beck, they earned widespread recognition with debut EP ‘skip! Worried,’ picking up plaudits from BBC 6 Music figures including Iggy Pop, Huw Stephens, Craig Charles, Abbie McCarthy, and Emily Pilbeam.

“Falling Out” follows EP lead single “a poet and a clown” and showcases the band’s trademark sensibilities, with support from Dork, DIY, So Young, Rolling Stone UK, The Line Of Best Fit, CMU, and Rough Trade. The press has captured the appeal well, with Dork calling them chaotic, cathartic, and defiant, and DIY pointing to their raucous riffs and vocoder-splashed vocals.

On the live front, the band recently made their debut stateside trip for New Colossus Festival in New York City, with a summer of festival appearances now taking shape.

Indie-Folkster Luke James Williams Turns Greed Into a Cautionary Tale on “Full Moon”

Eric Alper
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Indie-Folkster Luke James Williams Turns Greed Into a Cautionary Tale on “Full Moon”

A fable about wanting too much anchors the latest from Luke James Williams. The rising indie-folk artist has released “Full Moon,” another taste of his second album ‘Limes Hotel,’ which is out now. The track is a cautionary tale of greed that closes on a haunting, Kate Bush-esque outro.

The message sits right at the surface. “Full Moon is about the dangers of not knowing where to stop in our pursuit of what we want,” says Luke. “Gluttony can lead people to do very stupid things that put themselves and others in grave danger. The hunter becomes the hunted in this part fable, part cautionary tale.”

The accompanying video, made by UK-based filmmaker and photographer Matthew Oaten, features two ballet dancers in pursuit around London’s Barbican. “When I listened to Full Moon, I was struck by the sense of pursuit running through it, the idea of desire becoming predatory,” says Matthew. “I saw it as a reflection on greed, competition and the futility of capitalism, and wanted the video to express those ideas physically. I’m grateful to Luke for trusting me to follow that instinct and create something true to the song.”

‘Limes Hotel’ marks a bold step into a new chapter, an intimate collection rooted in contemporary folk yet unafraid to wander, full of unexpected textures, tonal shifts, and emotional risk. Guided by Luke’s unmistakably English vocal and sparse, atmospheric instrumentation, the album emerged from an intense period of grief following the loss of two close friends, tracing questions of mortality, belief, connection, and the quiet work of piecing yourself back together.

Despite its origins in sadness, the record leans toward renewal, what Luke calls “new shoots reaching up towards the sun; the hope and promise of new life rising from the darkness.” He adds: “Grief is universal but it often feels very isolating. I hope this album, whilst having been born out of a very dark time, can give a little light and some comfort to people going through similar experiences.”

Williams hails from Cambridgeshire, and his debut EP ‘Drove’ (2018) earned early support from BBC Radio 6 Music’s Tom Robinson, who named “Still In Bed” his 6 Music Recommends Track of the Week and later his Track of the Year So Far, with further airplay from Lauren Laverne, Steve Lamacq, and Tom Ravenscroft. His debut album ‘Our Blood Is Red’ arrived in July 2022 to glowing reviews, and Bandcamp tapped it as a New & Notable release.

Renowned for his emotionally resonant live shows, Williams has supported Thea Gilmore, Mark Chadwick of the Levellers, Charlie Dore, and Megson, and played Cambridge Folk Festival before his first UK headline tour in autumn 2022. Once called “the James Taylor of the Fens,” he’s carved out a distinctive voice in modern British folk, full of vivid, poetic songwriting delivered with warmth and honesty. With ‘Limes Hotel,’ he cements himself as a songwriter of rare emotional clarity.

Tour Dates:

Friday 12th June — Junction J3, Cambridge

Thursday 23rd July — South Mill Arts, Bishops Stortford

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That Eric Alper

Eric Alper is a 6-time nominee for Publicist of the Year during Canadian Music Week and has overseen the publicity campaigns for over 183 JUNO Award-nominated albums (and 16 in 2025), 45 Grammy-nominated albums, including 47 JUNO Award, 58 Canadian Folk Music Award, 126 Maple Blues Award-winning albums and is also truly honoured to work with some of the biggest and most important artists of our time.

Contact me: eric@thatericalper.com

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