Let 2023 be the year you get out of your playlist rut, thanks to a bevy of upcoming releases from some Halifax music scene mainstays. From singles to side projects to LPs, here’s what some of Team Coast’s favourite local acts are promising to release this year:
- Cape Breton band Villages—known for its updated, rock-tinged take on celtic music—is dropping a new album, called Dark Island on February 10. The lead single for the project is a toe-tapper that sees the lads doubling down on the Atlantic-edged sound that’s made them an international indie success story. We have a good feeling the rest of the album’ll follow suit.
- Cluttered, the Halifax punk band that counts Against Me!’s Laura Jane Grace amongst its fans, has teased on its Instagram page that a new album will be dropping in 2023. So far, all we know is it’s called Two Tracks Before The Breakdown, but it’s safe to bet that distorted guitars and walls of feedback will be part of the package.
- Jackson Fairfax-Perry, part of Halifax indie-pop powerhouse Hillsburn, strikes out on a solo side project with TYNES, a hip hop-meets-electronic project. So far, a lead single from the upcoming, April 2023 album has been released—and it bears its Terrance Martin influence boldly.
- Speaking of Hillsburn, the band is dropping a new EP in March, The Truths You Outrun. It features the band’s recent hit “Room Across The Hall”, a track about love, loss and remembrance. Dropping March 10, it promises to be the flavour of indie-pop that Hillsburn fans always crave more of.
- Kye Clayton, the lauded rapper who co-launched both a record label and a scene with his friends in 2020, is back with a new solo project in 2023, as he stated on Instagram. So far, details are sparse—but we have high hopes for what the J. Cole-inspired MC will bring to the booth, based off past listening experience alone.
- Kim Harris keeps fans of her thunderously felt folk satiated with a new music video out this week. The song, titled “Lavender”, drops Jan 27—and a promo clip features the dreamy fields of wildflowers and the rich vocals Harris has made her signature.