MAYA COOK DEBUT ALBUM ‘SALT’ OUT TODAY

March 21, 2025

LISTEN / SHARE ALBUM RELEASE WEEK SINGLE “BLACK ICE” HERE

**MAYA COOK’S DEBUT ALBUM, SALT, OUT TODAY VIA AAKULUK MUSIC**

**BUY / STREAM SALT HERE**

Photo Credit : Andrew Morrison // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Today, multidisciplinary artist Maya Cook releases her debut album salt, out via Aakuluk Music and shares the album release week single “Black Ice. "I wrote ‘Black Ice’ over several rainy winter Vancouver nights, sitting on my ocean green carpet in front of the fire,” says Cook. “The song came, and it took some time before I really knew what it was about. It’s about leaning into and feeling what my body has to say, being present with the sensations of the world around me, and the healing that needs to be done through that."

LISTEN / SHARE “BLACK ICE” HERE
**BUY / STREAM SALT HERE**

MORE ABOUT MAYA COOK + salt
Maya Cook’s journey into music was paved by her path as a multidisciplinary artist. As a circus performer with Artcirq, the renowned performing arts collective in Igloolik, Nunavut, Maya has spent years expressing herself with dynamic acrobatics and sharply crafted storytelling. Her debut album salt, recorded at Aakuluk Music Studios in Iqaluit, Nunavut, is a testament to her artistry in a different medium—one that swings between the soulful melodies of soft jazz and the infectious energy of folk rock.

Maya’s artist identity is shaped by her two lives, one in Vancouver, BC, and the other in Igloolik, Nunavut. The influence of these two worlds in her music has been both spontaneous and transformative. “It sometimes feels like I’m two separate people” she says. “I have these strong ties to the Salish Sea where I grew up, and my family and friends who hold me there, as well as to the land and community in Igloolik. Sometimes that feels like it’s splitting me in half, but really, it’s through living in Igloolik that I came to recognize and appreciate the strength of connection I have to where I’m from. Creating art, both circus and music, has been a profound way of exploring how all of my pieces are woven together, within myself and in my relationships with the land and people around me”.

LISTEN / SHARE “ANSWERS” HERE
BUY / STREAM “ANSWERS” HERE

salt brings together Maya’s reflective nature and her curious spirit, offering listeners a vivid sonic landscape inspired by a life in coastal BC and steeped in the Arctic’s contrasts—its beauty and challenges, warmth and cold. The album’s eight tracks each reveal a piece of her world and her heart. Themes of healing, introspection, connection, and community, run through the record. Songs like ”Metal In My Bones” channel the quiet contemplation of rainy Vancouver nights, while tracks like ”Silarjuaq” pulse with raw energy and defiance, fueled by the beauty and vibrance of the tundra. Maya’s voice, rich and emotive, soft and silky, guides listeners through her world, blending seamlessly with instrumentation that mirrors the rhythm of life in the North.

For Maya, salt is more than an album; it’s an exploration of the balance in-between: in-between north and south, hurt and healing, strength and softness… it’s the spaces between our bodies and where sky and ocean meet. “salt is an album about that which connects us to our bodies, to the ocean, and to one another. Writing these songs have been my way of sitting with and feeling how hard, but also how incredibly beautiful, this world is.” she reflects. With this debut, Maya proves she is an emerging voice in the Nunavut music scene.

LISTEN / SHARE “SILARJUAQ” HERE
BUY / STREAM “SILARJUAQ” HERE

salt was produced by Jace Lasek, the renowned producer behind acclaimed albums by Aasiva, Terry Uyarak, and The Jerry Cans. Lasek’s expertise shines through, seamlessly blending Maya’s unique voice and artistic vision with rich, atmospheric production. His ability to bring out the depth and texture in northern artists’ music makes salt a stunning addition to the legacy of projects he’s helped shape, further amplifying the soundscape of the Arctic.

Recorded under the crisp fall skies in Iqaluit, salt is a love letter to the North, to the Salish Sea, and to all the water in-between that connects them. It is an invitation to share in Maya’s vision of resilience and beauty, to close your eyes, and to feel the rhythm of the tides under your skin.

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SALT TRACKLIST
01 Answers
02 Woman
03 Metal in My Bones
04 Silarjuaq
05 Winter Again
06 Cold Coffee
07 Black Ice
08 Please

MAYA COOK ONLINE
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YOUNG FRIEND AVOIDS THE U.S., ANNOUNCES CANADA ONLY TOUR, SHARES NEW SINGLE FROM UPCOMING DEBUT ALBUM

March 21, 2025

**YOUNG FRIEND’S DEBUT ALBUM MOTORCYCLE SOUND EFFECTS DUE OUT APRIL 4, 2025 VIA NETTWERK**

ANNOUNCES HEADLINING CANADA ONLY SUMMER TOUR + JUNOfest PERFORMANCE | TICKETS HERE

WATCH / SHARE “TROUBLE” HERE
BUY / STREAM “TROUBLE” HERE

**PRE-SAVE MOTORCYCLE SOUND EFFECTS HERE**

Photo Credit: Zachary Vague // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Today, Vancouver indie rocker and artist-producer young friend announces his first headlining Canadian tour. “We wanted to just do a Canada only tour,” shares Drew Tarves. “It just didn't sit totally right going to the U.S. right now considering everything that's going on.”

The tour kicks off on June 3rd in Windsor, Ontario, and wraps in Edmonton, Alberta, on June 28th. Prior to that the 2024 JUNO Award- nominated artist will perform in his hometown during the 2025 JUNOfest on March 29th at the Fox Cabaret as well as March 28 at the RANGE Magazine x Play MPE JUNO Party at Fluevog Gastown. Tickets for the tour can be found HERE, and the full list of dates along with the tour poster are below.

young friend is also excited to share “trouble”, the last single before unveiling his debut album, motorcycle sound effects. “trouble” paints a dusky atmosphere as he reflects on a love that wasn’t meant to be. The sparse, almost improvised-sounding backing band adds to the spontaneous feel — like an early morning realization that things won’t be the same.

Tarves elaborates on the song’s meaning: “‘trouble’ feels to me like a bunch of dads that get together once a week to jam and play music with each other. The song itself is slow and a little loose, but feels like it hits all the right moments. trouble is meant to feel a bit like a walk down memory lane. You realize now this person wasn't any good for you but at the time it made you feel so alive.”

WATCH / SHARE “TROUBLE” HERE
BUY / STREAM “TROUBLE” HERE

“trouble” follows recent singles like “i like girls”, “soft light”, “golden rule”, and “boyfriend material”. Due out on April 4 via Nettwerk, young friend’s debut album, motorcycle sound effects, was recorded in September 2022 and co-produced alongside David Marinelli (FINNEAS, JAWNY, Wallice).

MORE ABOUT YOUNG FRIEND
Drew Tarves' music as young friend feels classic and immediate all at once, capturing the nostalgia of post-adolescence while diving deep into a pool of self-reflection. His next project is bursting with big feelings and perfect golden light. It feels messy and raw, like long summer nights piling into the back of a pickup truck with all your friends, sprinting to catch the last summer sunset, taking off your shoes and dancing in the grass, falling, getting back up.

WATCH / SHARE “THE REAL DEAL” HERE
BUY / STREAM “THE REAL DEAL” HERE

A trained dancer for most of his adolescence, the 24-year-old Vancouver native switched artistic disciplines after spending time jamming with his musician friends. "I found out very quickly that I loved it," he recalls. "It was my favorite thing to do." Armed with a guitar and a laptop, Tarves started hashing out early songwriting attempts on GarageBand as he found his own style that suited him: "It was all about experimenting while trying to find what worked for me."

WATCH / SHARE “I LIKE GIRLS” HERE
BUY / STREAM “I LIKE GIRLS” HERE

In 2022, Tarves released his indie-pop debut EP HOW DID WE GET HERE?, and quickly followed it up with a sophomore in 2023 titled scaredy cat. 2024 brought in his first Canadian and international touring, as well as a JUNO nomination. Now, young friend is prepping his debut full-length that’s produced by friend and frequent collaborator David Marinelli (FINNEAS, Ashe, JAWNY, Wallice, spill tab). The album pulls inspiration from a multitude of places and artists, landing in this comfy space of new and familiar while also making room for self-discovery. It will take you along for the ride of your life. “This album takes notes from a lot of different artists and bands that I really love, and as a result, it is this sort of genre-bending fever dream album.”

WATCH / SHARE “SOFT LIGHT” LYRIC VIDEO
BUY / STREAM “SOFT LIGHT” HERE

“Motorcycle sound effects is really just about growing up. It’s about the people you encounter and the experiences that make you into the person that you are,” explains Tarves. “I really wanted to capture all the sides of the coin; the shitty sides, the side where I was wrong, the side where I did the right thing, and it still didn't work out, the side where something is new and exciting and it's all you can think about, all of it.”

WATCH / SHARE “GOLDEN RULE” HERE
BUY / STREAM “GOLDEN RULE” HERE

YOUNG FRIEND 2025 SUMMER TOUR DATES
Mar 28 - Vancouver, BC @ Fluevog Gastown (RANGE Mag x Play MPE JUNO Party)
Mar 29 – Vancouver, BC @ The Fox Cabaret (JUNOfest)
Jun 03 – Windsor, ON @ Meteor *
Jun 04 – Guelph, ON @ Sonic Hal *
Jun 05 – Toronto, ON @ The Drake Underground *
Jun 06 – Hamilton, ON @ Bridgeworks *
Jun 08 – Montreal, QC @ L’Escogriff *
Jun 12 – Penticton, BC @ Dream Café ^
Jun 13 – Kelowna, BC @ Red Bird Brewing ^
Jun 14 – Kamloops, BC @ The Night Shift on 5th ^
Jun 17 – Calgary, AB @ Modern Love *
Jun 18 – Fernie, BC @ The Northern *
Jun 19 – Red Deer, AB @ Bo’s Bar and Stage *
Jun 25 – Regina, SK @ The Exchange *
Jun 26 – Winnipeg, AB @ Sidestage *
Jun 27 – Saskatoon, SK @ The Capital Music Club *
Jun 28 – Edmonton, AB @ Double Dragon *

* Supported by Frances Whitney
^ Supported by Sam Lynch

**PRE-SAVE MOTORCYCLE SOUND EFFECTS HERE**

PAST PRAISE FOR YOUNG FRIEND

"...fuzzy, jangly and all kinds of refreshing, sauntering through glitzy indie-rock riffs and headstrong, energetic rhythms." – Paste Magazine

"...young friend has established himself as a rising act in heartfelt pop, building an expansive sonic world brimming warm nostalgia and self-reflection." – EARMILK

"young friend keeps it casual and cheeky, but can’t help but charm listeners as the chorus melts into an earnest admission." – Ones to Watch

"...summer anthems that sound otherworldly..." – SHEESH MEDIA

"One remarkable aspect of songwriting is the ability to paint a picture. It’s a rare talent, being able to use words to create a visceral image within the mind of a listener. With his slow-burn acoustic pop hits, young friends has mastered this art." – V Magazine

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MOTORCYCLE SOUND EFFECTS TRACKLIST
1. golden rule
2. loose
3. american spirit
4. eye to eye
5. thank you for the ride
6. sweet tooth
7. stranger
8. the real deal
9. trouble
10. soft light
11. i like girls
12. boyfriend material

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JOLIE LAIDE SHARES NEW SINGLE “HOLLY” FROM UPCOMING ALBUM

March 20, 2025

**JOLIE LAIDE’S NEW ALBUM, CREATURES, OUT APRIL 30, 2025 VIA VICTORY POOL RECORDS**

WATCH / SHARE “HOLLY” HERE
BUY / STREAM “HOLLY” HERE

**PRE-SAVE CREATURES HERE**

CANADIAN SUMMER FESTIVAL DATES NOW ANNOUNCED

“Jolie Laide…is a kind of travelogue that traces the line between freedom and empty aimlessness: a child’s oceanside liberty that becomes an adult’s existential terror.” - Pitchfork

“It is self-evidently brutal…But it is beautiful, too, the unadorned music – just her and an acoustic guitar – luminous and clarion…” - The Guardian

Photo Credit : Heather Saitz // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Today, Jolie Laide is sharing another single off their upcoming album, Creatures, due out April 30, 2025 via Victory Pool Records. Comprised of revered American indie singer-songwriter Nina Nastasia (who has amassed a stunning and critically acclaimed discography of unique, darkly melodic albums), and Jeff MacLeod, Clinton St. John, and Morgan Greenwood (also of the band Florida BC), Jolie Laide planted its roots some two decades ago through a mutual connection. The lion's share of Nastasia's solo albums were masterfully recorded by the late, great Steve Albini, and in the mid-00s, MacLeod and St. John's old band The Cape May had just finished recording their album Glass Mountain Roads with the veteran engineer. Nina was next in line for the studio. A night of commiserating in the studio led to Albini’s suggestion that The Cape May become Nastasia’s touring band for her upcoming North American and European tours and this pairing turned into a fruitful collaboration and a longstanding friendship.

The new single “Holly” is a song about “two strangers meeting at the edge of a dense forest and a sun baked clearing,” says St. John. “They begin a conversation as one asks the other, a girl named Holly “Where’d you get that long brown hair” alluding to the long lock of braided hair in her hands--clearly not her own. The other stranger goes on to share what has transpired in his life; rambling through the post apocalyptic wasteland they both inhabit.”

WATCH / SHARE “HOLLY” HERE
BUY / STREAM “HOLLY” HERE

MORE ABOUT CREATURES
Announcing itself via a series of earthy thumps on a floor tom, Creatures opens wide with Nastasia's unmistakable voice, at once disarmingly sweet and laser-sharp. Jolie Laide is an intriguing way to hear the singer, who developed a tight, focused approach over the course of her active solo career. Here, she embraces sounds that would have been out of place on one of her own albums; on opener “Cheyenne”, Nastasia's voice swims in a swirl of delay trails, enveloped by a storm of overdubbed toms, and Clinton St. John's instantly evocative voice provides the perfect foil. “Holly”, a character study of two strangers rambling through a post-apocalyptic wasteland, is awash in beautiful cascades of affected electric guitars, imbuing a gently psychedelic glow to the song's edges, while remaining grounded in a more familiar dusty, percussive rhythm.

This sonic sea change may have something to do with one of the key elements that initially birthed this band. In early 2020, Kennan Gudjonsson, Nastasia's partner and longtime musical collaborator took his own life. This tragic and dislocating event took place right before the world found itself similarly unmoored as the COVID-19 pandemic. Looking for solace, Nastasia and MacLeod leaned on their deep friendship and shared songwriting obsession, throwing themselves into the remote recording sessions that became their self-titled 2023 debut. Nastasia found liberation in her new “band” environs: no longer the sole focal point, and working with a new set of parameters for how her music could sound and exist in the world, Jolie Laide provided something of a revelation.

WATCH / SHARE “NO SHAPE I KNOW” HERE
BUY / STREAM “NO SHAPE I KNOW” HERE

Reflecting on the impressive scope of Creatures, MacLeod says, “the album plays like a mix tape”, citing its deep range (folk to spaghetti westerns to post-punk to sludge to electronic pop) of sonic approaches. Fittingly, as their name translates to ugly/pretty, the band’s stories find grace and beauty in the imperfect. Powerfully poetic, often anthemic, narratives soar over Greenwood and MacLeod’s layered multi-instrumental wizardry. Making good on that description, “Something For The Thrill” takes a mid-album left-turn, delivering a veritable rock song, complete with thick, hairy guitars, heavy drumbeat and brash, pissed-off sounding vocals. But within the menace, there is that sweet melodic aspect cutting the hard edge, and the song is once again a testament to these singers’ inspired pairing, with the duet being the through line of Creatures. Despite how different some of these songs feel to each other, and indeed to Jolie Laide's 2023 debut, the instantly recognizable voices of Nina Nastasia and Clinton St. John tie everything together.

The astute observer might notice a strong uptick in the electronic realm on Creature, most clearly in the album’s brilliant one-two of cautionary dystopian nightmares, with “No Shape I Know” and “Small Things”, boasting the album’s most wearily hopeful, soaring choruses. Indeed, the album is replete with warm synths and uniquely textured drum machine patterns, and largely attributed to producer and multi-instrumentalist Morgan Greenwood who was invited wholesale into the fold for some of their first shows in 2023. Greenwood (ex- Baths, Azeda Booth), who cut his teeth on Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin, was warmly encouraged to liberally apply his sensibilities to the record – as was producer/engineer Colin Stewart, who oversaw the production at his studio, the fabled Hive Creative Labs. “The majority of this record was written in the studio,” MacLeod says, “and Colin took on the traditional producer role, becoming essentially a fifth member, providing direction and ideas.”

Another album highlight, “Wharwolf” is a tour de force of ideas and shifting moods; beginning with intricately programmed drum sequences and a plaintive, bleak vocal from St. John, it crashes into an epic wall of guitars and propulsive drumming, before uncannily sliding into a glistening calm after the storm, Nastasia's reverb-drenched voice floating amidst sparse webs of guitar. The whole thing unquestionably hangs together, but it's a hell of a ride. MacLeod says that “the song was originally demoed in a fairly traditional manner,” but after the band opted for a more unique approach, “we completely dropped it to the studs and rebuilt it, spending days in the studio tinkering,” and it paid dividends.

Elsewhere, “Murder Ballad”, while confronting the notion that ghosts might actually exist even if god doesn’t, skews closer to Florida BC territory. Fronted by St. John and continuing the long line of bands he and MacLeod have helmed (including The Cape May and Pale Air Singers), Florida BC has spent the last number of years carving their own niche, one that radiates a similarly unmistakable feeling as Nastasia's. But here, MacLeod's gently brushed, loping drums and St. John's signature emotive drawl are buffered by Nastasia's equally world-weary vocals, and one could be forgiven for asking “what took so long?”

Looking back on the trajectory from Jolie Laide's self-titled debut to the brand new Creatures, it's anyone's guess where this group will go next. For fans of Nina Nastasia or the Florida BC band family, there's plenty of both of those things, but there's also a whole new, unified thing; with Creatures they're presenting it in widescreen.

**PRE-SAVE CREATURES HERE**

JOLIE LAIDE PERFORMANCE DATES
Winnipeg Folk Festival July 10 – 13
Hillside Festival July 18 – 20
Ottawa Blues Festival July 17

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CREATURES TRACKLIST
01 Cheyenne
02 Holly
03 Murder Ballad
04 Wharwolf
05 Dalton
06 Something For The Thrill
07 No Shape I Know
08 Small Things
09 Old Collapser
10 Saw The Wave

JOLIE LAIDE ONLINE
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