Fresh Sounds Canada: Alessia Cara, Yves Jarvis, T. Thomason and More
This week's must-hear songs also include a genre-bending single from rapper Sadboi and a mesmerizing cut from alt-rock project Sunnsetter.
Alessia Cara's '(Isn't It) Obvious' music video
In Fresh Sounds Canada, Billboard Canada puts you on to the must-hear songs of the week by artists on the rise and those about to break. Here's what we're listening to this week.
Alessia Cara, “(Isn’t It) Obvious”
Alessia Cara is gearing up for the release of her fourth album, Love & Hyperbole, set to arrive on Valentine’s Day 2025. She told fans the album is her “best work to date” and the second single, “(Isn’t It) Obvious,” suggests that there’s not much hyperbole there. The laid-back love song pairs cool vocals with a jazzy drum beat, as Cara sings about her lover with such certainty that she could be shrugging. The song ends with a tastefully sparse John Mayer solo and is accompanied by a video that features an art gallery, a chess match and a session with a psychologist – all settings where the right answer is never exactly obvious. When love is concerned, there’s always some room for interpretation. – Rosie Long Decter
Yves Jarvis, “The Knife In Me”
Prolific and critically acclaimed indie auteur Yves Jarvis is serving up another course of his witty freak-folk in the new year, with an upcoming album set for release on Next Door Records in 2025. “The Knife In Me” is a gorgeous track illustrated by a video set in a Sushi restaurant. The song starts groovy and upbeat, before a key lyric prompts the instruments to drop out: “you don’t treasure anything / nothing sacred / that’s so sad.” At this point the video descends into a surreal kitchen nightmare, as Jarvis’ chef is stabbed by a coworker. “The Knife In Me” then shifts to angelic folk, led by an acoustic guitar strum and harmonies that would make Crosby, Stills and Nash want to join in. – RLD
Sadboi, “Rosa”
The Atlanta-based, Toronto-born artist and model formerly known as Ebhoni packs so much style and a ton of style and ideas into under two minutes. “Rosa,” the third in a set of new singles that also includes the online sensation “Fashion Week” with Toronto rapper Smiley and “Jane Baby” with NYC’s Cash Cobain, showcases Sadboi’s multi-genre sound that includes bits of drill, dancehall, R&B and alternative hip-hop. Over a sparse sample and drumbeat that seems to have a logic of its own, she makes it all cohere with her charismatic flow. Listen to all of her new tracks here. – Richard Trapunski
T. Thomason, “Boyfriend”
Onstage and behind the scenes, T. Thomason has been a champion of trans expression and representation in the music industry. He subverts the classic rock playbook on “Boyfriend,” which playfully flips the genre’s gender script. “She said she’d be my boyfriend,” he snarls over crunchy guitars and sparkly synths. The video features drag king and burlesque performer Gay Jesus, performing rock 'n' roll masculinity while Thomason drops references to David Bowie, James Dean and Jack White. The song heralds Tenderness, T. Thomason’s new album on Six Shooter Records out this Friday (Oct. 25), which is described in its bio as “an expression of queer and trans liberation.” – RT
EDITOR’S PICK: Sunnsetter, “I feel everything”
Sunnsetter is the project of multi-instrumentalist, composer and mixing engineer, Andrew McLeod. McLeod collaborates with and plays in two of the leading projects in the surging Indigenous shoegaze style dubbed ‘moccasin gaze,’ ZOON and OMBIIGIZI. As Sunnsetter, McLeod is releasing a new album, Heaven Hang Over Me, on Nov. 15, and this advance track vividly showcases McLeod’s multifaceted talents. Over the past year, Sunnsetter has morphed into a full band, but McLeod is fully in creative command on this cut, having performed, written, produced, mixed, mastered and recorded it. “I feel everything” bathes the listener in waves of atmospheric guitar and keyboard sounds, while the drone-like layered vocals are gently mesmerizing. – Kerry Doole
