Wow, lots of music while I was traveling...

[Mendalla]

And I am going to share some favourites.

To start, the wonderful jazz-pop vocalist and songwriter Laufey dropped a deluxe version of her album A Matter Of Time subtitled The Final Hour. And with it came a new video in the "mini-movie" style of music video. The style is entirely apropos and the song would not sound out of place in a soundtrack from the fifties or sixties. And no, your eyes do not deceive you, that is Olympic champion figure skater Alysa Liu playing one of the Laufey's friends in the video. She has skated to Laufey before so I am quite pleased to see them actually appearing together. All the actors are wholly or partly of Asian descent and I don't think that's coincidental. Laufey herself is of mixed heritage with a European (Icelandic) father and a Chinese mother. As usual, Laufey's twin Junia was creative director and helped develop the story.

And another Gen Z act I'm loving is the Argentinian duo Pacifica. They are now on their first world tour and hit Toronto last night after cancelling an earlier gig in the city (last year). This appearance is from the PBS TV series Bands of Enchantment and was filmed in Alberquerque, New Mexico. The song is a great showpiece for bassist/vocalist Martina "Martu" Nintzl both vocally and on her instrument.

Dutch metal soprano Dianne van Giersbergen continues her slow teasing runup to her debut solo album. She is joined by her former teacher, Dutch opera soprano Elena Vink, apparently in the final performance of Elena's career. Holy Wow, what a song. It is gorgeous, really highlighting how powerful Dianne's voice has become. The opera world let this one slip away, I am afraid, to the lasting benefit of symphonic metal.

Gothic Doom sounds kind of redundant, but that's the genre tag for Swedish band Draconian (hey, you didn't think I would have no metal on this, did you). I just discovered them early this year but am pumped for their new album arriving early in May. Vocalists are Lisa Johansson, who is on her second go round with the band, on female clean vocals and band founder and keyboardist Anders Jacobsson on unclean male vocals.

 

[Mendalla]

Oh, and I should mention that Laufey turns 27 in a couple days, and the Pacifica duo are (IIRC) 28 and 24?, hence the "Gen Z" reference

 

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Oo, oo one more that just dropped. Devin Townsend is someone I have ranted about before. Brilliant Canadian musician from Vancouver, BC. Been around for decades. He plays guitar, sings, writes, produces, makes julien fries, you name it. And his new album, The Moth, is due at the end of May. This is the latest track. Now, this is a guy who is rooted in metal, hard rock, and prog rock. So what is this? Devin singing over an orchestra, sounding for all the world like a Broadway star or maybe a jazz singer like Laufey above. No rock band, no screaming guitars, no heavy beats, just a lovely string backing behind Dev singing in his finest tenor voice. For a guy known in rock circles as "Hevvy Devvy", it's not the norm. Except, Devin is one of those artists who almost doesn't have a norm. He'll try anything musical that suits his needs.

 

[Mendalla]

Those of you who, like me, were in their youth in the seventies and eighties must have heard Triumph at some point. The power trio of Rik Emmett, Gil Moore, and Mike Levine was one of the biggest Canadian acts of the day until the band kind of fell apart over creative issues between 1988 and 1991. But now they are back. There have been other attempts at a reunion but this is the first time the original lineup has done a full tour since Rik left in 1988. Phil X (Xenidis) who briefly replaced Emmett on guitar before the band went down for good is also on the tour along with a couple other touring members. No new material nor is any expected. It's a nostalgia tour. But their brand of loud, anthemic hard rock still holds up, I think. From Hamilton, Ontario, here's one of their biggest hits, "Magic Power".