Megan's Staff Picks

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  ​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...

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  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...

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  Exclaim!'s Staff Picks: FLOOR CRY's 'Slasher Flick' Slices Through the Horrors of Anxiety

  PUBLISHED Jul 6, 2023

  Winnipeg's Felicia Sekundiak lives up to her coveted @synthpop Instagram handle on her debut LP as FLOOR CRY. Half new material, half compi...

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  Exclaim!'s Staff Picks:​ Mise en Scene Look for a Little Softness on 'Reality Bites'

  PUBLISHED Jun 28, 2023

  "So what, I'm a girl interrupted?" Mise en Scene's Stefanie Blondal-Johnson snarls in a soft, lived-in way — reminiscent of a well-worn thr...

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  Exclaim!'s Staff Picks: Ouri and Antoniya Are Twin Telepathics on 'i had this dream that you were my sister'

  PUBLISHED Jun 12, 2023

  "Cunty" is the first word Montreal's Antoniya uses to describe i had this dream that you were my sister — her collaborative EP with fellow...

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  Exclaim!'s Staff Picks: Half Moon Run Are Having More Fun Than Ever on 'Salt'

  PUBLISHED Jun 2, 2023

  I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend an early listening session for Half Moon Run's Salt back in April, which quickly b...

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  Exclaim!'s Staff Picks: La Sécurité's Wiggling "Serpent" Is Reborn with Every Listen

  PUBLISHED May 10, 2023

  La Sécurité scratch a particular itch for disparate elements brought together in a Boiler Room Set-level moment of transcendence. Something...

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  Exclaim!'s Staff Picks: zensei ゼンセー Builds a Starry-Eyed Lo-Fi Dreamscape on 'destination heartbreak'

  PUBLISHED May 2, 2023

  Don't let the title fool you: ominous foreshadowing is actually used pretty sparingly on destination heartbreak, the debut full-length rele...