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Jonah Yano x Someone Asked Me How I've Been

Montreal artist and songwriter Jonah Yano shares a new single “Someone Asked Me How I’ve Been.” The latest offering from his forthcoming album Jonah Yano and The Heavy Loop, the new song takes the sonic framework of Jonah’s roaming, improvisational 30-minute track “The Heavy Loop” and distills it into a focused track that opens with Jonah’s guitar and widens its scope as more of the band joins in. At its core, the new song centers on the confusion of being two things at once – a reflection from the time Jonah spent touring in Japan for the first time, where he grappled with being a mixed Japanese person in Japan, as well as feeling lonely and aimless at a time when he imagined he’d be living a dream of sharing his music in the place he’s from.

“Someone Asked Me How I’ve Been” serves as a testament to the collaborative environment Jonah set out to create when making this album, one open to improvisation and melding the collective visions of each member in his live-ensemble-turned band: Christopher Edmonson, Benjamin Maclean, Leighton Harrell, Felix Fox-Pappas and Raiden Louis. Jonah remains at the helm as the record’s conductor and central figure, but draws on the strengths and inspirations of each member of the band to craft an album that evolves as the musicians involved work together to achieve a collective vision.

See Northern Transmissions for more.

 

Claude Fontaine x Green Ivy Tapestry

“Green Ivy Tapestry” was written in a petite 18th century hotel room in London. The curtains and bedspread atop the dark mahogany bed were made from a green ivy tapestry, and the love stories were woven deep. 

La Mer is a mesmerizing portal. It's impossible for it to exist outside of the modern moment, but it floats on the gilded dust of the past. At times, Fontaine channels Jane Birkin as backed by Jorge Ben. Françoise Hardy locked into sonic reverie with Mulatu Astatke, or Margo Guryan making lovers rock.

Check out Flood for more information.

Jonah Yano x Romance ESL/The Heavy Loop

"an architect of recollection" Exclaim!

"warm, wistful, and quaint all at once" HYPEBEAST

"'contemplative and comforting" NPR

"His voice lilts with every syllable, making the imagery feel crushing and poignant" Pitchfork

Montreal artist and songwriter Jonah Yano announces his new album Jonah Yano & The Heavy Loop due October 4th. Coinciding with the album news, he shares two new songs, the previously-unheard “Romance ESL,” as well as releasing his momentous album closer “The Heavy Loop." Both songs, and his new album as a whole, signal an experimental new chapter in Yano’s creative trajectory and his first time working hand-in-hand with his band, Christopher Edmonson, Benjamin Maclean, Leighton Harrell, Felix Fox-Pappas and Raiden Louie. Together, they’ve crafted a collaborative album with Jonah at the helm, that melds free sound, rock, R&B and jazz traditions into a panoramic view of the experience of making an album.

Yano is a soulful, genre-agnostic talent, always shifting the unstable ground his songs rest on, revising it, making it anew. Having emigrated to Vancouver from Hiroshima at the age of four, much of Yano’s approach to music is influenced by his own fractured identity as a member of the Japanese-Canadian diaspora, as well as his larger interest in memory, family histories, and the nuances of interpersonal relationships. The result is a soundtrack that defies easy genre categorization and captures the grey area in which we can find the most fruitful experiences life has to teach us while also highlighting Jonah’s expert musical compositional skills. Yano’s band – composed of Raiden Louie (Drums), Chris Edmondson (Saxophone, Clarinet, Synthesizer), Benja (Guitar), Leighton Harrell (Bass) and Felix Fox-Pappas (Piano, Rhodes) --  first came together to record his 2023 single "concentrate" with Clairo. Now, Yano sits front and center playing the role of conductor as he guides the gentle haze of his musical soundscape into a new ever-evolving world with a steady hand. 

Jonah Yano has made songwriting contributions to fellow Canadians Charlotte Day Wilson’s Cyan Blue and Mustafa’s forthcoming album Dunya. In 2023, Jonah released his sophomore album portrait of a dog, co-produced alongside BADBADNOTGOOD and received critical acclaim from outlets like RANGE, Pitchfork, and Exclaim!. He was twice-nominated for the SOCAN Songwriting Prize, drawing the attention of Gilles Peterson, Benji B and the late Virgil Abloh. He’s played the Montreal International jazz Festival, the EFG London Jazz Festival and toured Japan for ten solo shows in 2023. Earlier this year, he released the little italy demos, a three-song collaborative tape with his neighbor in Montreal, Le Ren.

Stream the new tracks and pre-order the album here.

See Clash Magazine for more info.

Claude Fontaine x Love The Way You Love/Lover's Vow

 

Claude Fontaine is returning two gorgeous new songs titled “Love The Way You Love” & "Lover’s Vow.” "Love the Way You Love" is a prayer for an ardor then unrealized, but later fulfilled - a levitating hymn of golden sand and coral blue waters, heartache with only one antidote. Fontaine tells us “The enduring love songs of artists such as Ken Boothe, Alton Ellis, and Susan Cadogan inspired “Love The Way You Love”. At once prayer, myth and reverie. A mirage of love, embedded in the marble of an ancient square, floating on a shimmering sea.”
On the b-side, she explains “Lover’s Vow” is a mantra, an ode to a boundless love and devotion. Paradiso, awash in sacred promises. A terracotta poem.”
La Mer is a transportive listening experience from start to finish. At times, Fontaine channels Jane Birkin as backed by Jorge Ben. Françoise Hardy locked into sonic reverie with Mulatu Astatke, or Margo Guryan making lovers rock. None of this is a happy accident. For her second opus, Fontaine assembled some of the most gifted musicians of the last five decades. First and foremost is her co-writer and producer, the multi-platinum Grammy-Award winning Lester Mendez, whose resume includes everyone from Grace Jones and Baaba Maal to Shakira and Nelly Furtado.
As with Fontaine’s self-titled first album, Tony Chin, foil for the likes of King Tubby, Dennis Brown, Lee Perry, Jackie Mittoo, Sly & Robbie, appears on guitar, bringing the orphic tones expected from someone who has played with some of the greatest reggae musicians of all-time. On bass, there’s Ronnie McQueen, one of the co-founders of Steel Pulse. Sergio Mendes’ percussionist, Gibi Dos Santos, supplies propulsive locomotion. So does Ziggy Marley’s drummer, Rock Deadrick. And that’s just the abridged list of storied instrumentalists who appear on La Mer.
La Mer is a vulnerable work that taps into a profound wellspring of imagination, unbeholden to trends or popular whim. If it were an old relic, it might be that record collector’s lucky hidden treasure, that dusty gem that was waiting to be discovered in an attic. But this is a new moment that you can discover now, and thankfully so - its a romantic message in a bottle, one that, when opened and unraveled opens you up to a new realm of possibilities and wonder. Something that allows you to close your eyes and effortlessly time travel through the past, present, and future. A trip to the pristine island of the mind, but one made immaculately real by the genuine love and care of its creators.
Sam Blasucci x Love Come Down

Evelyn Champagne King’s classic “Love Come Down” gets the AOR Indie-Soul treatment courtesy of Mapache's Sam Blasucci. Inspired by the original version & Barry Biggs classic reggae version, this modern day cover is a culmination of genres.

As Blasucci writes: “This is really more of a Duvet than a cover because of how many beautiful versions there are of this song. Written by Kashif and made famous by Evelyn “Champagne” King, ‘Love Come Down’ was also recorded by many artists whose versions also influenced mine making it a bit of a hodgepodge of genres all together. I went down to Kyle Mullarky’s and recorded it all in a day along with a little help from Derek Dosz on backing vocals.”

Check it out here.