Montreal’s Alexandra Levy, performing as Ada Lea, has a story to tell on her sophomore album, one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden. Rules of verse, cadence, song structure, melody, and other such genteel things, take a distant backseat to what she has to say.

The dramatically transitional nature of this newborn decade, coupled with that of the reality that numerous genres and subgenres of popular music have inevitably, and quite literally, exhausted themselves over the past decade or so has left some listeners wondering exactly what may lie ahead in terms of a “post-pandemic” sound.

Visceral, unapologetic, raw, powerful, and right in your face. That’s perhaps a somewhat simplistic overview of the oeuvre of Toronto-based four-piece Bad Waitress.

Baby Queen is the pop alter ego of 23-year-old London-based musician Arabella (Bella) Latham. Aged just 18 she moved to London from her native South Africa to pursue music determined to make her mark. However adopting to a different pace of life in a big city wasn’t quite as straightforward as she’d hoped and after being sidetracked by the London party scene she refocused and Baby Queen was born.

Let’s get the lore out of the way: The departure of bassist Kevin Morby for a solo career in 2013 saw Woods’ sound undergo massive changes.

If indie folk had to be defined by one song and one song only, José González’s cover of “Heartbeats” (originally a mediumistic, Björk-like romp by Swedish duo The Knife) would be a formidable choice to summarize the warm, sleepy nature of the genre. His fourth studio effort, the dynamic Local Valley, is just as calm and enjoyable as one would expect.

The deluxe edition of Rory Gallagher’s 1971 debut album amply illustrates why the Irish guitarist continues to cast such a long, broad shadow.

Glasgow indie rockers We Were Promised Jetpacks have been honing their craft since the release of their debut album in 2009. Four albums later this sound has evolved from the raw and nervy, yet captivating, early beginnings into a duality of glimmering and catchy guitar leads atop a cavernous and brooding wall of sound.

Alternative rap group Injury Reserve have spent the latter half of the 2010’s gaining Internet traction for a string of eclectic mixtapes and EPs. The buzz created from these projects culminated in the release of their 2019 self-titled debut album, which was met with acclaim and afforded them the star power necessary to headline their first ever world tour.