Megan's Staff Picks

Gatlin Finds Something Like Closure on 'I Sleep Fine Now'

Exclaim! Staff Picks

PUBLISHED Sep 15, 2023

Clarity. That's the sheen-smeared word that first comes to mind when I think of Gatlin, a singer-songwriter who is actually from Orlando, F...

Olivia Rodrigo Survives Teenhood on the Valiant 'GUTS'

Exclaim! Staff Picks

PUBLISHED Sep 11, 2023

The old saying goes that girls mature faster than boys. This is what we're told repeatedly, in the same breath that "he likes you" will be...

Täbï Yösha Is Playful and Grounded on 'True Colors'

Exclaim! Staff Picks

PUBLISHED Aug 31, 2023

Instead of being a Cyndi Lauper cover, Täbï Yösha's "True Colors" — the title track of the Quebec artist's debut EP — is a slinky, mid-temp...

Land of Talk Are Mesmerizing on the Anti-Virtuosic "Your Beautiful Self"

Exclaim! Staff Picks

PUBLISHED Aug 23, 2023

I was deeply hungover the first time I saw Land of Talk live. It was a Sunday and Lizzie Powell was playing in the mid-afternoon at Red Pap...

Rachel Bobbitt Sounds Whole on 'The Half We Still Have'

​Exclaim! Staff Picks

PUBLISHED Aug 14, 2023

There's an ineffable quality to what Rachel Bobbitt brings to the table as a songwriter. She wrote one of my favourite songs of 2022 with "...

Exclaim!'s Staff Picks: Idman Breaks Out of Her Sad Girl Bag with 'Risk'

PUBLISHED Aug 1, 2023

"Risk" is such a white-hot word to me. It's loaded with potentiality, buttressed by fear descending from all angles. Despite the insurmount...

​Exclaim!'s Staff Picks: emmersonHALL's Self-titled Debut Finds Him Smack Dab in the Middle of the Mess

PUBLISHED Jul 21, 2023

There's a creaking, buzzing sense of homespun familiarity to the debut from emmersonHALL, the alt-folk project from Ottawa (by way of Linds...

Exclaim!'s Staff Picks: Julie Byrne's 'The Greater Wings' Aches with Love and Grief

PUBLISHED Jul 10, 2023

"I drank the air to be nearer to you." That's the first line Julie Byrne sings, atop spectral guitar plucking, on the titular opening track...