The snow’s gone, our parkas are back in storage and ‘warming up the car’ isn’t a thing anymore. Just by looking around, it’s easy to peg when winter melts into spring, but there are sonic signs too. It’s almost as if there’s a binary between what a winter track and a spring release are. Case in point? “Peaches,” Justin Bieber’s breezy new offering featuring Daniel Caesar and Giveon, embodies the quintessential spring sound with smooth production and soulful chord progressions. On Liza’s “Done Is Done,” the angelic, choral-sounding backup vocals from Nevon Sinclair are the R&B equivalent to a calming sound bath. This month’s roundup of Canadian releases is all about the fresh sounds bringing us into a new season.
Chiiild, "Sleepwalking"
Fresh off of a collab with Emotional Oranges, Montreal-based multi-hyphenate Chiiild is back with a pensive single to kick off the rollout for his upcoming album, due out this year. The track is perfectly balanced with deep, somewhat dark lyrics and a high-tempo beat that’s easy to dance to. On the chorus, there’s a recurring guitar riff that sounds almost country-esque, bringing the genre-fusing artist to new frontiers. —Sumiko Wilson