TRUE MOUNTAIN LAUREL, THE ‘SUPERGROUP’ OF HALEY BLAIS AND SAM LYNCH, DEBUT ALBUM, ANGEL SO BAD, OUT TODAY VIA BIRTHDAY CAKE RECORDS
WATCH / SHARE “EAST OF ANYTHING” HERE
TOUR DATES CONTINUE SEPTEMBER 15 | FULL DATES LISTED BELOW
TICKETS ON SALE HERE
BUY / STREAM ANGEL SO BAD HERE
LISTEN TO TRUE MOUNTAIN LAUREL’S INTERVIEW
WITH TOM POWER ON CBC Q HERE
“True Mountain Laurel make a strong case that we just need to get our friends together and do some vivacious yapping, set it to a dusty, forlornly hopeful folk tune and rise, together.” - Exclaim!
“For Blais and Lynch, playfulness isn’t an escape from sincerity but another way of accessing it, allowing the record to have fun while still engaging thoughtfully with the traditions of folk music…Rather than pulling from the wells of brutal emotionality that typically inform their solo projects, the friends leaned into folk traditions of fiction and storytelling, returning to the music they listened to as kids.” - RANGE
“Both Vancouver musicians are experts in smart indie rock that sounds extremely sweet while the lyrics cut deep. That’s true in their partnership, True Mountain Laurel, as well.”
- The Georgia Straight
Photo Credit : Mikaela Kautzky // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
Born out of late-night harmonies, shared voice memos, and a long-standing friendship rooted in mutual admiration, Haley Blais and Sam Lynch formed the supergroup True Mountain Laurel. Today, they release their debut record, Angel So Bad. A tender, dust-swept exploration of all the feelings that fall through the cracks, the record is equal parts folk reverie and country yearning, while the project pulls from their respective solo careers. Sam’s poetic introspection and Haley’s razor-sharp lyrical intimacy blend into something softer, stranger, and wholly their own.
Accompanying the album today is the new video for “East of Anything”, a song that was written as an act of persistence in the face of creative exhaustion and lives in a midnight room where memory, loneliness, drunkenness, and comfort all start to bleed into one another. The song is a steady flame in the face of emotional dislocation; something to focus your eyes on when you’re feeling slightly outside of reality, outside of clarity, outside of where you thought you were meant to be; east of anything.
“East Of Anything” was “our first whack at co-writing together,” explains Haley and Sam. “This song sat in such a magical middle place between each of our songwriting and musical tendencies. We silently danced around the subject of who would ‘get the song’ for a little while before we realized it belonged exactly where it was; that was the inception of True Mountain Laurel.”
WATCH / SHARE “EAST OF ANYTHING” HERE
MORE ABOUT ANGEL SO BAD + TRUE MOUNTAIN LAUREL
What began as casual writing sessions in between Sam and Haley’s respective tour cycles has slowly transformed into a collaborative ritual: trading lines and melodies over coffee and recording scrappy voice note demos at the end of the day. The songs emerged not from pressure or plan but from a desire to make music the way they first fell in love with it — no clocks, no ego, just two voices in a room.
WATCH / SHARE “ANGEL SO BAD” HERE
Influenced by artists like Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams, and early 2000s Canadian singer-songwriters, the project is less about genre and more about feel. Acoustic guitars, brushed drums, pedal steel, and the occasional jangly piano support lyrics that feel diaristic without being confessional: capturing the ache of growing older, the strangeness of still wanting more, and the joy of finding home in another person’s voice.
There’s a looseness to these songs that feels intentional. Where Sam’s solo work leans cinematic and atmospheric, and Haley’s leans into the clever and orchestral, here they meet in the middle: warm, minimal, and a little bit rough around the edges. Live, the project takes on an even more intimate form without setlists or rigid arrangements. Just two friends singing the truth as they feel it that night.
LISTEN / SHARE “HOLY HELL” HERE
WATCH / SHARE “HOLY HELL” LIVE PERFORMANCE VIDEO HERE
LISTEN TO TRUE MOUNTAIN LAUREL’S INTERVIEW
WITH TOM POWER ON CBC Q HERE
TRUE MOUNTAIN LAUREL TOUR DATES
9/15/2026 Emmanuel United Church, Waterloo, ON
9/16/2026 Mills Hardware, Hamilton, ON
9/17/2026 Harmony Hall, Gormley, ON
9/19/2026 4th Stage NAC, Ottawa, ON
9/20/2026 Knox Hall, Sudbury, ON
9/22/2026 Hugh's Room, Toronto, ON
9/24/2026 Pop Montreal - Le Ministere, Montreal, QC
9/28/2026 The Carleton, Halifax, NS
9/29/2026 Trailside, Charlottetown, PEI
9/30/2026 The Cap, Fredericton, NB
10/2/2026 Frolic and Folk Pub, Iona, NS
11/3/2026 Modern Love, Calgary, AB
11/4/2026 The Artesian, Regina, SK
11/5/2026 Side Stage, Winnipeg, MB
11/6/2026 Amigos, Saskatoon, SK
11/7/2026 Double Dragon, Edmonton, AB
11/8/2026 Communitea Café, Canmore, BC
11/10/2026 The Old Fire Hall Tavern, Rossland, BC
11/11/2026 The Hub on Martin, Penticton, BC
11/12/2026 Mel Lehan Hall at St. James Square, Vancouver, BC
BUY / STREAM ANGEL SO BAD HERE
ANGEL SO BAD TRACKLIST
01 Angel So Bad
02 Holy Hell
03 Bird Of Prey
04 East Of Anything
05 Sunny
06 I Love You, Nicole
07 Angel Reprise
08 The Trial