ABSOLUTE TREAT (FORMERLY DILETTANTE) RELEASE EP TODAY, SHARE NEW VIDEO

ABSOLUTE TREAT, THE NEW MONIKER OF DILETTANTE, RELEASE NEW EP, SHATTERED LOVE, OUT TODAY VIA VICTORY POOL RECORDS 

BUY / STREAM SHATTERED LOVE HERE

WATCH / SHARE “SHATTERED LOVE” HERE

EP RELEASE TOUR BEGINS MAY 30

Photo Credit : Heather Saitz // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Today, Absolute Treat, the new moniker of the Toronto-based, multi-hyphenate pop group formerly known as Dilettante, are releasing their new EP, Shattered Love, via Victory Pool Records. The EP marks a pivot point in the band’s journey, having fully shed the hazy, lo-fi trappings of their previous project and have since turned their attention to the dance floor. With these new songs the bandleaders – Natalie Panacci (vocals), Julia Wittmann (vocals; guitar) – are teasing out threads of inspiration from the intersecting points where disco, pop, rock, and slinky R&B meet. 

In celebration of the release, Absolute Treat is sharing the new video for the EP’s title track. “Shattered Love” is the product of Julia’s song-a-day exercise in December 2022. As a hardcore Britpop fan, she said, “I want to write a Blur-inspired song.” She thought about playful, maybe sometimes dissonant melodies, songs like “Stereotypes” or “Charmless Man.” That’s how the main hook, melodies, and chord progressions for “Shattered Love” were born. From there, she wrote some filler nonsense lyrics (including what would ultimately become the opening line: “Everybody take a hit.”) Lyrically, the song was mostly inspired by Julia’s experience of getting dumped in the early stage of a romance."

BUY / STREAM SHATTERED LOVE HERE

WATCH / SHARE “SHATTERED LOVE” HERE

MORE ABOUT ABSOLUTE TREAT & SHATTERED LOVE
In 2022, they released their debut album, Dilettante, which UK publication Backseat Mafia described as having “indelible melodies and mountain high anthems." This established them as a versatile band that can play anything from moody ballads (“Blue”) to spangly uptempo bops (“Bonnie”). It also led to their inclusion in Exclaim! Magazine’s Class of 2023, opening slots for bands such as Born Ruffians and The Darcys, and performances at festivals such as Toronto Pride and River & Sky. 

LISTEN / SHARE “MAIN STREET” HERE

Shattered Love is a collection of songs that distill the essence of some of pop music's finest writers and producers from the '70s and '80s. The album is replete with spot-the-influence moments, but never in a way that pops one out of the tight, concise listening experience Absolute Treat have constructed. It's all perfectly sublimated and stylishly executed. 

“The Sun” opens up the EP with a surefooted anthem that uncannily recalls choice elements of late '70s funk/disco progenitors Chic; on which, co-leader Julia Wittmann's guitar playing shines throughout, but makes an especially strong initial impact on this tune. The vocals positively radiate; it's hard not to imagine hearing them amongst the spinning dapples of disco-ball reflections and sweaty bodies in a crowded club; with its cascading melody lines in the verses and singalong-worthy harmonies in the choruses, this opening track reads as something of a mission statement for Shattered Love. A dramatic dropout mid-song, a saxophone solo hits and grungy guitar riff slides in underneath, bringing the song home for a final round of that ridiculously catchy chorus. 

LISTEN / SHARE “THE SUN” HERE

Title track, “Shattered Love” paints a luridly vivid portrait of the streets of Toronto while sounding like a long-lost Prince b-side with its mysterious synthesizers, chopping guitar work, and minimal, deeply funky rhythm section. Never staying in one place for long, the hooky chorus in this tune incorporates a more sultry vocal approach before Panacci belts out a raw, insistent refrain of the song's title.

Shattered Love closes with a lovely track called “Slow”, which may very well be the vocal showcase on the album. Shimmering with layers of cascading synth adornments both Wittmann and Panacci truly belting it out in the song's final moments. From here the tune gently winds down, and it'll be no surprise when you find yourself reaching for the “play” button again as soon as it's over.

Absolute Treat will take to the stage this weekend in Toronto and will celebrate the release of Shattered Love with tour dates beginning May 30. All dates are below

BUY / STREAM SHATTERED LOVE HERE

TOUR DATES
May 30 - Toronto ON - The Drake Underground (Album Release Celebration )
June 8 - St Catharines ON - Warehouse Concert Hall
July 3 - London ON - Palasad Social Bowl
July 4 - Guelph ON - Sonic Hall
July 10 - Hamilton ON - Mills Hardware
July 11 - Kitchener ON - Sunset Session

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SHATTERED LOVE TRACKLIST
01 The Sun
02 Shattered Love
03 Main Street
04 The Door
05 Slow

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ADA LEA ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM, WHEN I PAINT MY MASTERPIECE, SHARES NEW VIDEO

ADA LEA’S NEW LP, when i paint my masterpiece, OUT AUGUST 8, 2025 VIA NEXT DOOR RECORDS (CANADA), SADDLE CREEK (WORLDWIDE)

WATCH / SHARE “baby blue frigidaire mini fridge” HERE
BUY / STREAM “baby blue frigidaire mini fridge” HERE

PRE-SAVE when i paint my masterpiece HERE 

Photo Credit: Tess Roby // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Ada Lea — the moniker of Montreal-based musician Alexandra Levy — announces her new album, when i paint my masterpiece, out August 8 via Next Door Records and shares its lead single, “baby blue frigidaire mini fridge”. when i paint my masterpiece, the third LP from Ada Lea and follow-up album to one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden, is an epic, 16-track opus from Montreal renaissance woman Levy. It’s a kaleidoscopic exploration of the transformations art can bring: the vision of an uncompromising artist dancing bravely and freely between registers and across mediums. On the album’s cover, Levy holds her guitar against the backdrop of a sea of her paintings tempting us to ask: is painting a metaphor here, for music or life? No! As ever, she resists tidy metaphors. Levy is a master of thorny lowercase titles that germinate and grow with time. In a real, profound way, music and painting go hand-in-hand as she unveils a new style of subversion and surrealism inspired by her transdisciplinarity. 

This is on full display on today’s single, a mid-tempo, lilting love song  “baby blue frigidaire mini fridge”. Of the inspiration behind the song, Levy reflects impressionistically: “The Chantal Akerman film where the camera moves in slow circular pans around her apartment. Then what if the frame quickly zooms out as far as it could possibly go? And in that wide pull back, what we recognize as universal is still ‘this chair, this window, this mountain view.’ Then, move out again, even further. What we are left with—three things: ‘our old time souls, this old time moon.’ Two things, I mean.”

WATCH / SHARE “baby blue frigidaire mini fridge” HERE
BUY / STREAM “baby blue frigidaire mini fridge” HERE

MORE ABOUT when i paint my masterpiece
The album marks a reset—a quiet revolution. After years of relentless international touring, Levy felt an urgent need for community and renewal. Gruelling road schedules with very little support left her wondering: who am I really doing all this for? The system was uncaring and broken, and so it was that she came to envision a new healthy and healing mode of musical genesis. “For me, that looked like resting, extending my creative reach, going back to school, studying painting and poetry,” she explains. “Taking a step away from music as guided by industry expectations. Simplifying things. Getting a job, starting to teach. Engaging with the process rather than the product.” 

Ada Lea’s albums have been swelling in scope alongside the evolution of her artistic life. Her recent turn toward pedagogy—teaching a songwriting course at Concordia University and co-facilitating a community-based group called “The Songwriting Method”—weaves another vivid thread into her multifaceted practice. The shapely, intuitive songs that comprise Ada Lea's third album are surprising, imagistic, tactile. They stand before us and we feel their brushstrokes. 

when i paint my masterpiece was largely recorded in rural Ontario in the waning weeks of 2023, and its warm harmonies and lush arrangements link back to a golden era of Canadian folk music. The core Ada Lea band—Tasy Hudson on drums, Chris Hauer on lead guitar, Summer Kodama on bass—recorded the album largely live-off-the-floor and acoustic in one room, off the grid in both senses, in the pocket, loose but in control and without a click in sight. Relinquishing the process to the whims of chance allowed for the sanctity of human error to rear its head. The album was produced alongside Here We Go Magic’s Luke Temple, who has lent his gently psychedelic sensibility to albums by artists like Adrianne Lenker and Hand Habits.

By the end of these sixteen songs, it’s clear: when i paint my masterpiece isn’t chasing perfection, it’s comfortable in the magic of being. These songs are alive with poetic specificity and a wide-open heart—deeply felt, often strange, and always reaching. There’s an optimistic and plainspoken wisdom in the lyrics—which builds on Ada Lea’s singular songwriting style of surprising harmonic and melodic turns—now with a newly rich, organic sound that rewards slow listening. The masterpiece, not a product, is the process. 

PRE-SAVE when i paint my masterpiece HERE 

DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

when i paint my masterpiece 
1. death phase of 2024 (rainlight)
2. moon blossom
3. baby blue frigidaire mini fridge
4. something in the wind
5. midnight magic
6. it isn't enough
7. snow globe
8. everything under the sun
9. just like in the museum
10. bob dylan's 115th haircut
11. diner
12. there is only one thing on my mind
13. dogs playing in the backyard
14. down under the van horne overpass
15. i want it all
16. somebody is walking in the water

PRAISE FOR ADA LEA AND one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden

“With immaculate tendrils of guitars and burbling percussion, one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden is a folk album that’s always pulsating, specific, and never boring.” — Stereogum, “Best Albums of 2021”

“‘Damn’...unfolds like a quiet epiphany.” — The New York Times

“Profound and dynamic, one hand on the steering wheel is a document of embracing your emotional truth.” — Bandcamp

“[‘Damn’ is] propulsive, unsettling and exquisite – and an impressive way to kick off an album.” — NPR Music

“[one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden] us[es] delicate, carefully crafted guitar pop and folk to connect her memories to a wider collective consciousness.” — Paste

“[one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden] glows with a particular late-summer energy, its precise, golden hour arrangements hinting at the wide-open chill of fall.” — Exclaim!

“[one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden is] one of the most off center, but utterly compelling listens of the year.” — Under The Radar

“The magic of one hand on the steering wheel is how Levy somehow manages to speak volumes without giving too much away.” — All Music

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CJ WILEY SHARES ANOTHER LIVE VIDEO FOR “SO BRAND NEW”

SLACK ROCKER CJ WILEY’S DEBUT LP, SO BRAND NEW, OUT NOW
VIA TINY KINGDOM MUSIC

WATCH / SHARE “SO BRAND NEW” LIVE PERFORMANCE HERE

BUY / STREAM SO BRAND NEW HERE
BUY SO BRAND NEW VINYL HERE

TOUR DATES CONTINUE IN MAY

“CJ Wiley keeps things simple in order to get complex. Warm guitars, steady drums and lively bass — sometimes that's all you need to start a fire. Wiley's Boy Golden-produced debut lights all kinds of fires, an ever-shifting document of change and renewal” Exclaim!

Video Still

CJ Wiley returns with another live video from their debut album, So Brand New, available everywhere via Tiny Kingdom. The performance video for the album’s title track – “So Brand New” – was shot and edited by Katja De Bourbon with audio recorded and mixed by Calvin Hartwick at Dreamhouse Studios. The band features Kate Palumbo on bass, Madelyn Kirby on rhythm guitar, Julia Wittmann on lead guitar, and Nick McKinlay on drums.

"So Brand New" captures the “seductive essence of finding parts of ourselves in others, seeing life from new perspectives, and the irresistible urge to burn it down and start again,” says Wiley. “It taps into that universal feeling of falling in love — becoming obsessed and ultimately the darkness of being left behind.”

WATCH / SHARE “SO BRAND NEW” LIVE PERFORMANCE HERE

MORE ABOUT SO BRAND NEW
A groundswell of gripping slacker rock, non-binary singer-songwriter CJ Wiley doesn’t waste any time. Twirling guitars, a steady drum beat, crunchy bass; ballads twanged slightly country, anthems skewed slightly grunge; a message of love and anger, healing and rancour; all of which are found on their debut LP, So Brand New.

WATCH / SHARE “DON’T DIE CHARLIE” LIVE PERFORMANCE HERE

Produced by Boy Golden, So Brand New is a journey through the ever-shifting landscapes of identity and self-acceptance. This album explores embracing change and finding comfort in the continuous evolution of who we are. It delves into themes of grief, nostalgia, queer love, struggles with drug addiction, and the rejection of gender performance, while also addressing the absurdity of how expensive it is just to be alive these days. At its core, the album reflects the idea that no one is ever just one thing; we are all fluid, constantly adapting through the various stages of our lives.

So Brand New is a journey through the ever-shifting landscapes of identity and self-acceptance, embracing change and finding comfort in the continuous evolution of who we are. The album reflects on the feeling of having lived multiple lives within a single lifetime and confronts the irresistible urge to reinvent and start again. It delves into themes of grief, nostalgia, queer love, struggles with drug addiction, and the rejection of gender performance, while also addressing the absurdity of how expensive it is just to be alive these days. At its core, it captures the idea that no one is ever just one thing; we are all fluid, constantly adapting through the various stages of our lives.

LISTEN / SHARE “DON’T DIE CHARLIE” (OFFICIAL VIDEO) HERE

WATCH / SHARE “GET PAID” HERE

WATCH / SHARE “SO BRAND NEW” HERE

“Growing Out My Hair" marks "a pivotal moment in embracing my non-binary identity and breaking away from societal expectations of androgyny," says Wiley. "In "People Please," I challenge the music industry’s ideals of who I should be and what will make me successful, reflecting on my attempts to fit that mold before realizing I’d rather create art that truly represents me. Meanwhile, "Adelaide" is a heartfelt tribute to chosen family and the conscious choice to love and grow together instead of growing apart. The title track, "So Brand New," captures the seductive essence of finding ourselves within others, discovering parts of our identity through alluring new perspectives.”

WATCH / SHARE “NO ONE LIKE U” (OFFICIAL VIDEO) HERE

WATCH / SHARE “ADELAIDE” HERE

So Brand New blends deeply emotional and uplifting tracks with a slacker rock vibe, seamlessly marrying introspective singer-songwriter elements with a polished, radio-friendly sound. Featuring ballads with a hint of country twang and anthems that skew slightly grunge, it creates a unique experience characterized by rich, textured arrangements and candid lyricism. This collection serves as a musical reflection on identity and the courage it takes to let go of who others think we should be, embracing the full range of who we’re becoming. The result is a set of songs that feel both intimately personal and universally relatable, celebrating the transformative journey of self-discovery and the acceptance of our ever-changing selves.

WATCH / SHARE “CHEAP THERAPY” (OFFICIAL VIDEO) HERE

MORE ABOUT CJ WILEY
Performing alongside artists like Tokyo Police Club, Shannon and the Clams, or Haley Blais, and already a mainstay in the city’s queer music scene as the host of the Big Gay Night concert series, Wiley introduces themselves in songs as categorical and entrancing as the sold-out shows they organize. Aflame in a stirring spectrum of soulful Sheryl Crow Americana and the electric grumblings of Garbage or Hole, sometimes in the space of a single song, Wiley’s distinct voice carries their project with the wit, candour, and excitement of an artist with a striking perspective and a heart that demands to be heard. 

BUY / STREAM SO BRAND NEW HERE
BUY SO BRAND NEW VINYL HERE

PERFORMANCE DATES
May 12 - London UK
May 14-17 - The Great Escape, Brighton UK
May 29 - The Drake, Toronto ON
May 31 - Spring Reverb, Kingston ON
Jun 1 - La Sotterenea, Montreal QC

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