When We Wake with Andrew Shaver

Born and raised in Salluit, a small village in Nunavik which is only accessible by plane, Elisapie is an emblematic Canadian Inuk singer-songwriter. Now based in Montreal, the Juno Award winner recently released her fourth solo record, the incredibly moving Inuktitut. On this album, she covers ten classic rock and pop songs translated into Inuktitut, her mother tongue. She's stripped them down to...

Halifax Nova Scotia's Lance Sampson, aka Aquakultre, is a man who wears many hats. He's an award winning songwriter and musician, he's a red seal plumber, he's a father, a husband, and, as I found out in this chat, a devoted historian. One of the things I really love about doing these interviews is that I never really know where the person with whom I am about to speak is going to...

This past March, Murray A. Lightburn, the longtime frontman of Montreal art rock superstars The Dears, released his 2nd solo album, the deeply personal, Once Upon a Time in Montreal. The album, which Murray has described as an audio version of a biopic, was inspired by the death of his father, a saxophonist who immigrated to Quebec from Belize in the 1960’s to be with a girl. That girl happened to...

From where I’m sitting today, which is to say the east coast of Canada, Jenn Grant hardly needs an introduction. Born on Prince Edward Island, she’s long called Nova Scotia home. She lives with her partner in both music and in life, producer Daniel Ledwell, and their two boys on Lake Echo...actually I think it’s on Lake Martin, and we get into that. She recently released her 8th album, the hotly a...

Lindsay Ontario's Darryl James, aka Close Kicks, put out his second EP Colours earlier this spring. I had a terrific time chatting with him about it and other things, over Zoom in the days following the album's release. You might know Darryl as the bassist, and one of the songwriters, in The Strumbellas. Aaaand, I know you know The Strumbellas... I got guns in my head and they won't go / Spirits i...

Winnipeg’s Grant Davidson, aka Slow Leaves released his 5th album, entitled Meantime, June 30, 2023. I had the great good fortune to chat over Zoom with Grant in the lead up to its release. He was immensely forthcoming. Open. Honest. And very funny. We chat about his path to songwriting and the decision to finally give in and do it for real, followed by the constant nagging need to justify that de...