Illustration by Hayden Maynard
Summer Culture Preview • Theatre • Television • Movies • Visual Arts • Live Music
Get your song of the summer guesses ready: Here are The Globe’s most anticipated releases of the season.
Kaïa Kater, Strange Medicine (out now, acronym Records)
It seems like just yesterday that Kaïa Kater was a banjo-playing upstart newly signed to Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Suddenly the Montreal-born Grenadian-Canadian has become an important folk-circuit mainstay. On her first album in five years, she collaborates with Taj Mahal, Aoife O’Donovan and Allison Russell. Strange Medicine is a hypnotic adventure in roots-music storytelling. Brad Wheeler
Old Man Luedecke, She Told Me Where to Go (May 24, Outside Music)
The great Canadian songwriter Chris Luedecke rode out the pandemic as a deckhand on a scallop boat. Now the Toronto-born Nova Scotian is back on dry land, but without the Appalachian-styled banjo that had long accompanied his wry lyricism. On She Told Me Where to Go, Old Man Luedecke has abandoned his signature pluck for blues, country, pseudo funk and the kind of inventive soft rock associated with the album’s producer, Afie (Bahamas) Jurvanen. B.W.
Paul Weller, 66 (May 24, Polydor)
The latest single from the Surry-born Modfather is Rise Up Singing, three minutes and two seconds of string-laden spirituality – “So glad I opened my eyes” – and sixties soul-pop crooning. It’s taken from the former Style Council star’s forthcoming album, named for his age. Collaborators on his 17th solo record include Noel Gallagher, Richard Hawley and Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie. B.W.
Paul McCartney and Wings, One Hand Clapping (June 14, Universal)
In the summer of 1974, with the album Band on the Run riding high on the charts thanks to singles Jet and the instant-classic title song, Paul McCartney and his revamped Wings laid down live-in-the-studio tracks over four days at the famed facilities at 3 Abbey Rd., London. Scattered tracks have been released previously, but now, 50 years later, the full thing finally sees the light of day. Of particular interest are McCartney solo performances recorded in the yard behind the studio. Among them are the Beatles’ Blackbird (recently covered by Beyoncé) and the previously unreleased song Blackpool, along with takes on Eddie Cochran’s Twenty Flight Rock and Buddy Holly’s Peggy Sue. B.W.
Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Red Future (Sept. 13, Sony Music Canada)
The major-label debut album from the acclaimed hip-hop duo from the Haisla Nation in British Columbia isn’t out until the end of the summer, but the titular lead single promises a more luxurious soundscape than their previous releases. Lyrically, Indigenous futurism remains the theme. B.W.
Charli XCX, Brat (Atlantic, June 7)
Charli XCX has risen over the past decade and a half from London club kid to avant-pop’s biggest mainstream flagbearer. The songs of Brat turn her singular perspective to her club roots, with songs such as Von Dutch transporting listeners to the feeling of the 2000s, while Club Classics minces no words in establishing the music of her collaborators, and herself, as foundational texts. Josh O’Kane
Kaytranada, Timeless (RCA, June 7)
Last November, the Haitian-Canadian producer Kaytranada posted a simple message on X: “album. finito.” Just this past week, he made good on his tease: Timeless is out June 7. His third solo record follows up on the bouncy beats of last year’s pro-portmanteau collaboration with the Portland rapper Aminé, Kaytraminé. Kaytranada has already dropped eminently listenable singles with Rochelle Jordan and Channel Tres – and has promised a collaboration with Childish Gambino, the musical alter-ego of Donald Glover. JOK
Bodysync, Nutty (Buddies Inc., June 28)
Hamilton-via-Halifax electronic producer Ryan Hemsworth is teaming up with American producer Giraffage for their sophomore record as Bodysync in June – promising to bestow, well, a sense of nuttiness to the dance music of their youth. They’ve cited bands as sonically diverse as Daft Punk and the Vengaboys as inspirations for Nutty. On Rock It, their earworm of a lead single, you really can hear the Vengabus coming. JOK
Laughing, Because It’s True (Celluloid Lunch, June 28)
In the broad rock subgenre of power pop, Canada has tended to pump out a disproportionate number of “supergroups.” (See: Trans-Canada Highwaymen, TUNS, Anyway Gang, any other band that Sloan’s Chris Murphy joins in his spare time.) The latest is Laughing, formed in Montreal during the pandemic and featuring members of Nap Eyes, Monomyth, Fountain and Human Music. Lead single Bruised is a banger, but your personal feel-good jangly hit of the summer could be found anywhere among the 11 tracks. JOK
Cassandra Jenkins, My Light, My Destroyer (Dead Oceans, July 12)
With My Light, My Destroyer, Jenkins is reaching into the deep cupboard of sophisti-pop to frame her observational songs. Lead single Only One takes listeners further into the sonic territory of Scottish art-pop band the Blue Nile, with a level of execution not seen since Destroyer’s mid-career pivot, Kaputt. And like Destroyer bandleader Dan Bejar, Jenkins cleverly undoes her own sonic warmth in verse: “Sea sick dawn / Come to tear off another page / Blink my eyes open / Punch the clock in the face.” JOK
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Strange Medicine was released on Free Dirt Records. The label is acronym Records. This article has also been updated to correct the spelling of Kaïa Kater's name.