Happy New Year music lovers!
With holiday music finally off the airwaves for another blissful 11 months of the year, 2025 has started with a bang.
For me, January always feels like a somber month in the bitter Canadian winter.
As someone used to spending the first month of the year drenched in sun on southern hemisphere shores—where cold beers flow, and music lulls you into an afternoon nap in the sun, only to wake up looking like a lobster—this calendar month always feels grim.
Nevertheless, I found solace this month in the warm arms of new music. Straying away from the loud as I mourn the sunny months of time gone by, the joy these releases bring reminds me that it won’t stay this way forever.
Song: “Orlando in Love,” Japanese Breakfast
As an English Literature major, the newest single from Japanese Breakfast, “Orlando in Love” makes my heart sing. At the mention of “cantos” and “melancholy brunettes,” my literary scholar alarm bells went off immediately.
With the Grammy-nominated four-piece describing the song as “a riff on John Cheever’s riff on Orlando Innamorato, an unfinished epic made up of 68 ½ cantos by the Renaissance poet Matteo Maria Boiardo,” I can’t say I’ve encountered this particular reference in class, but the song is wonderfully poetic nonetheless.
The band’s first single from For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)—set to come out later this year—is warm and inviting, with soaring strings that help you forget the post-holiday blues.
Announcing tour dates just last week, “Orlando in Love” is giving “Everybody Wants to Love You” a run for its money as my most-played Japanese Breakfast song.
Album: Acts of Faith, SAULT
Ever-mysterious, SAULT is back with another album. The elusive British group—who have never officially revealed their ’ identities—mark their 11th album with surprise release Acts of Faith.
Though it’s the first time the album is available to stream, it’s actually been around since July 2024, released online as a single .wav file. That’s SAULT in a nutshell. They’ve never been a group that sticks to a rigid release format, releasing five albums in the span of a year back in 2022, and their album Nine, released in 2021, was only available to stream and purchase for 99 days until being wiped from the shelves entirely. I was lucky enough to buy a CD at the time—finders keepers.
Acts of Faith feels like a return to the sound I associate with SAULT. A mixture of R&B, neo soul, jazz, and gospel with topical lyrics that often tell stories of the urban Black experience, SAULT are consistently brilliant. My favourites from this record have to be “Set Your Spirit Free,” “Signs,” and “Pray for Me.”
I’m thrilled to see new music from the group—but soak it up, because you can’t be sure when you’ll get more.
Artist: Jonah Yano
If you want to get ahead of the curve, listen to Jonah Yano. The same friend that recommended Mk.gee to me, back before he exploded, can’t stop talking about this young Canadian artist, and for good reason.
Japanese-Canadian musician Jonah Yano, now Montreal-based, released his album Jonah Yano & The Heavy Loop back in 2024, and it’s become a staple of mine. “Romance ESL” is my top track of his. It tells the disted story of falling in love in a second language, but its sound is anything but—smooth, soulful, and rolling.
After collaborating with Clairo on his song “Snowpath,”and the success of his recent tour, Yano is one to watch, trust me.
From the Vault: Paul Simon by Paul Simon
This is a record that beats my winter blues.
On this day in history, Jan. 14, 1972, Paul Simon—fresh from his split from Garfunkel—released the self-titled album, Paul Simon.
Home to some of Simon’s most enduring tracks, like “Run That Body Down,” and “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard,” Paul Simon puts a little joy back into my frosty heart every time I listen to it.
There’s a buoyance throughout the album, despite some heavy themes, that’s pat on the back, reminding you everything turns out okay in the end.
“Peace Like a River” might be what you need on a cold January day, though I can’t guarantee the water won’t be frozen.
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