JULIANNA RIOLINO ANNOUNCES SOPHOMORE ALBUM, SHARES NEW VIDEO

JULIANNA RIOLINO’S SOPHOMORE ALBUM, ECHO IN THE DUST, OUT OCTOBER 24, 2025 VIA MOONWHISTLE RECORDS

WATCH / SHARE “ON A BLUEBIRD’S WING” HERE
BUY / STREAM “ON A BLUEBIRD’S WING” HERE

PRE-SAVE ECHO IN THE DUST HERE

SUMMER TOUR DATES BEGIN JUNE 27

"twangy, deliriously catchy blast of power-pop" – The New York Times on All Blue

"Channels Judee, Dolly and Emmylou on a lustrous, emotional country-rock set"
Uncut on All Blue

“All Blue strikes near-universal chords through simplicity and clear sentiment…a shining reminder that blue comes in radiant hues” – Exclaim!

Photo Credit : Colin Medley // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Julianna Riolino considers her own growth on her sophomore record, Echo In The Dust. By Riolino’s own admission, Echo In The Dust is different from her debut, All Blue. She breathes new confidence into her work. The Southern Ontario musician is soft as she is tough on these songs; seeing the benefit of laying down armour and splitting her heart open so that we may get a glimpse of our own.

Out October 24, 2025 on Riolino’s own MoonWhistle Records, the songs on Echo In The Dust consider relationships of all sorts as the foundation for her awakening into a different creative self and person in this world; working through loss, grief, habits, and decisions she once made, seeking clarity in the past before leaving it to move forward. The adage “you don’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been” rings especially true on this album. 

Today, Riolino is sharing the album’s first single, “On A Bluebird’s Wing”, which she describes as “a cyclical celebration of inner and outer growth. What is it to be human? To love? To yearn? To falter? To learn? We must celebrate the good with the bad and forgive ourselves for our past mistakes. Feeling the freedom of self in song and spirit. Turning your corner, and letting you grow. At long last, winter has faded and spring is on the wing of tomorrow! Smell a flower, twirl with the wind, let love be the lesson and begin again?”

WATCH / SHARE “ON A BLUEBIRD’S WING” HERE
BUY / STREAM “ON A BLUEBIRD’S WING” HERE

“On A Bluebird’s Wing” Single Art // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

MORE ABOUT ECHO IN THE DUST
“What I'm talking about on Echo In The Dust are universally felt: you can have a romantic relationship, friendship, or professional relationship and start to identify as you grow and learn the toxic parts that can exist in all of those,” Riolino explains. “You think, ‘why do I feel bad? Why is this happening again?’ But I'm allowing this to happen because I haven't told myself I deserve better. This record helped me learn to accept and love myself. To put myself first and stand on my own two feet.”

After non-stop touring for other projects she has since left, and wrapping up live promotion for All Blue, Riolino began recording for this new album in 2024 at Gold Standard Recorders in Toronto. While she played guitar, she also tapped her regular collaborators, Matthew “Roddy” Kuester to play bass and guitar, Peter Landi on drums, Thomas Hammerton on piano and synth, and producer of the album Aaron Goldstein on pedal steel. On top of that, a whole host of other instrumentalists rounded out the sound of the album including Alex Edkins (Weird Nightmare, Metz) on guitar for “Full Moon”, “Like a Rembrandt”, and “The Less I Know”,  and Nashville’s Sean Thompson on guitar for “On A Bluebird’s Wing”.

The songs on All Blue, Riolino says, had the privilege of being played and workshopped in front of a crowd but the songs that make up Echo In The Dust were written before, during, and after her debut in moments of confusion and clarity. These songs are like journal entries; attempts at deciphering what she wants out of her relationships and creative life in music. She transports us into big feelings layered with guitar twangs, vivid pedal steel and walloping horns, anchored by her tender vocals as though she embodies Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt in one person. 

Echo In The Dust builds on the alt-country elements of All Blue. Yet, no algorithm can contain Riolino or what moved her this time around. She cites Roy Orbison, The Roches, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, John Lennon’s “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy),” and doom metal bands like Om as influences on the album. 

“It's kind of punk, it's rock n’ roll, it's still kind of country. It's more rocking than All Blue. It's an amalgamation of everything going on in my mind.”

What makes Riolino a compelling performer and songwriter on this record, and in her career, is how she inhabits past sensations and feelings, reliving and reviving them again to release. While a lot of these experiences are composites and memories, stitched together into 11 tracks, the impressions are of a real, vivid journey through an immense experience of rediscovery toward intuitive knowing. 

Riolino needed to unravel before she could clarify who she is now and who she’ll be next, and the result is Echo In the Dust, a beautiful sonic result of what it’s like to stay out of one’s own way. 

PRE-SAVE ECHO IN THE DUST HERE

TOUR DATES
June 27-29 - Wells, BC - ArtsWells Festival
July 18-20 - Dawson City, YK - Dawson City Music Festival
July 25-26 - Richards Landing, ON - Go North Music Festival
Aug 8-10 - Edmonton, AB - Edmonton Folk Festival
Sept 20 - Cambridge, ON - Fest2Fall

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ECHO IN THE DUST TRACKLIST
01 Like A Rembrandt
02 Smile
03 Full Moon
04 Seed
05 Be Good To Your Mother
06 It’s A Shakedown
07 Running
08 Let Me Dream
09 On A Bluebird’s Wing
10 I Wonder
11 The Less I Know

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REBEKAH HAWKER’S QUIT MY HABIT EP OUT TODAY, SHARES NEW VIDEO

REBEKAH HAWKER’S NEW EP, QUIT MY HABIT, OUT TODAY
VIA VICTORY POOL RECORDS 

SUMMER TOUR DATES BEGIN NEXT WEEK

WATCH / SHARE “QUIT MY HABIT” HERE

BUY / STREAM QUIT MY HABIT HERE

Photo Credit : Jen Squires // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Today, country-folk singer Rebekah Hawker releases her new EP, Quit My Habit, a collection of stories of loss—of family, lovers, youth—with wisdom and resilience. To help celebrate the release, Hawker is sharing the new video for the album’s title track. On “Quit My Habit” Hawker expresses, “grief is one of the most complicated things to write about. It’s ever-changing, unknowable, and indescribable—until you’ve lived with it intimately. This song is shaped by the loss of my mother, who passed away suddenly in 2021. She was an incredible woman—a supportive (but always challenging) wife and a tireless mother to me and my nine siblings.

“I avoided writing about her passing for years, mostly out of sheer unwillingness. But one day, at a friend’s show, they shared a similar story of grief, and I was completely overwhelmed. On the verge of tears in a public space, all I could think was how much I did not want to be feeling this—that unbearable, inescapable weight of loss hovering over me again. I was angry. Resentful. And the next day, this song came easily.

“My good friend Ed was visiting, and as I started writing, he helped me shape the bridge—the song’s emotional peak, where grief and clarity collide. That realization that the person you’ve lost is in everything you’ll ever know, in every experience you’ll ever have. It aches, but maybe it’s also the only comfort we have in the complete absence of someone we love.

“Grief, at its core, is unexpressed love. And maybe one day, we can learn to see it as the gift that it is. In the meantime, we have songs like this to help us through.”

WATCH / SHARE “QUIT MY HABIT” HERE

BUY / STREAM QUIT MY HABIT HERE

MORE ABOUT REBEKAH HAWKER
Having established an impressive career at lightning pace through her late twenties—opening for acclaimed acts like The Good Lovelies, Rum Ragged, and Jim Cuddy; garnering accolades like winning Mariposa Folk Festival’s Emerging Artist Showcase in 2024; and gracing world-class stages like Massey Hall—this EP sees Hawker slowing down and reckoning with what really matters. Most of the songs on this EP were written in the sunroom off the back deck at her family’s house in the rural township of Oro-Medonte. “Writing here, it can feel like there’s limitless time to explore and play,” Hawker explains. Spending her mornings reading (finding inspiration in Linda Ronstadt memoir) and journaling, Hawker found herself with the sudden urge to grab her guitar and write, crafting quotidian songs in her distinctive blend of open-hearted country.

Hawker’s music runs the gamut of country styles—from John Prine’s lore-spinning to Emmylou Harris’ honeyed vocals, Kacey Musgraves’ resilient sheen, and the vulnerable strength of Kathleen Edwards. Whether she’s penning powerful ballads or full-blown 90s country bangers, Hawker’s songs all share a similar quality: you’ll want to blast them at full volume. “I wanted to make songs my sisters and I could sing in the car together,” Hawker explains, and when you find yourself inevitably belting the triumphant chorus of “Mad at Love” or crooning the bittersweet coming-of-age crash out anthem “Twenty-Nine”, you get it.

Crafting such tape deck-ready jams took time for Hawker. When the pandemic hit, Hawker’s life changed radically; on top of the pandemic’s inevitable solitude, Hawker’s mom passed away, and she subsequently moved back to her family home in the country just outside Barrie, Ontario. This gave Rebekah the deep time she needed to reckon with all the pivotal relationships: with her parents, her siblings, her friends, her lovers, and herself. She stopped caring about music after losing her mom, and out of the hard grind of Toronto, she embraced the forgiving flow of familial life. And, eventually, the songs began to blossom again.

“Things had changed,” Hawker explains. “Making music wasn’t about proving my worth anymore; it was about accepting what my worth is.” For a week-long recording session at Hamilton’s renowned Catherine North studios (Feist, City and Colour, Chastity), Hawker brought in an array of top-tier session musicians (including long-time producer Will Crann) to shape these songs. 

WATCH / SHARE “TAKE ME BACK” HERE

The album’s honest content translated to its clear, impactful arrangements. “Taste of You”—a track that captures that feeling of “being on a third date and it’s going really well”—is a sweet bath of pedal steel (Michael Eckert) and B3 organ (Thom Hammerton), with the band gently locked into an irresistibly smooth sway. The stunning album closer “Twenty-Nine” was originally a fully rip-roaring, self-deprecating reflection on turning 29 (the way Hawker had been playing it at Toronto’s Cameron House). However, this track was last on the docket, and at the end of two packed studio days—the bittersweet afternoon sun pouring through the stained-glass windows of Catherine North—this “cowboy version” didn’t feel right. Guitarist Stu Weinberg pondered the 10 different guitars he had set up around himself at the beginning of the day, decided on a gentle baritone, and the feeling transformed. Rebekah started picking her acoustic, Julian Psihogios dropped the perfect backbeat, and the song took on a new, ponderous life of its own.

The EP’s emotional centrepiece is its title track, which flows through the simple, heartbreaking feelings that Hawker continues to deal with since her mom passed away in 2021. The song captures the feeling of grieving in isolation, and the sense that this grief fundamentally changed who Hawker was in the world. “It felt like re-meeting people in my life,” she explains. “I wanted to explain, ‘You knew me before, but this is who I am now.’” The song captures the feeling of running from your parents in your teens and early twenties, just to find yourself running towards them again later in life, as your time together becomes increasingly precious. “It’s a strange feeling,” Hawker explains, “wanting to share the song with my mom, even though the song wouldn’t exist if she hadn’t passed away.”

Much like her songwriting sensibility, life for Hawker these days is firmly grounded: some days, she’s literally crawling on her hands and knees in snowpants pulling out tires, working her day job at the scrapyard near her family’s home. While Hawker initially feared the sense of regression we associate with moving back home as an adult, the reality of the choice is more positive and nuanced: she’s singing with her sisters, showing them budding songs, and embracing quality time with her dad, aware that these moments of togetherness could only exist at this point in their lives.

Hawker is now thirty, sensibly flirty, and humbly thriving. She’s embracing the ways she’s like her late mom: leaving the house in an excited rush, only to run back to grab whatever she’d forgotten; stopping to talk (for too long!) with folks at the grocery store; and welcoming in everyone for exactly who they are. “After decades of crippling self-doubt I’ve finally arrived at this realization: insecurity is boring!” Hawker laughs. “I’m really beginning to accept myself, and feel like a main character in  this life I’m building.” Quit My Habit sees Hawker making sense of life’s messy circles with a confident smile, a compassionate curiosity, and a deep acceptance of all the beautiful heartache to come. She sums the feeling up best on “Twenty-Nine" when she sings: ‘what if life is about sitting back and watching things fall?’

BUY / STREAM QUIT MY HABIT HERE

TOUR DATES
Jun 14 - Barrie, ON - Troubadour Festival (supporting Dean Brody)
Jun 21 - Toronto, ON - The Cameron House (with Alyson McNamara) 
Jul 11 - Sheffield, UK - Cafe NO9
Jul 18 - Shipley, UK - The Hullabaloo
Jul 05 - Markham, ON - Kickin' It Country Music Festival
Aug 02 - Barrie, ON - Kempenfest
Aug 15-17 - Owen Sound, ON - Summerfolk Music Festival

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QUIT MY HABIT TRACKLIST
01 Mad At Love
02 Taste Of You
03 Take Me Back
04 Quit My Habit
05 Twenty-Nine 

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AMBRE CIEL’S NEW LP, STILL, THERE IS THE SEA, OUT TODAY

LISTEN / SHARE “pièce no.8” HERE

AMBRE CIEL’S DEBUT ALBUM, STILL, THERE IS THE SEA, OUT TODAY
VIA GONDWANA RECORDS

BUY / STREAM STILL, THERE IS THE SEA HERE

PERFORMING AT FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DE JAZZ DE MONTRÉAL THIS SUMMER

“Old adages about hypocrisy notwithstanding, sonically speaking, an Ambre Ciel song is a glass house. On her debut album still, there is the sea, the classically trained composer, pianist, violinist and singer toggles back and forth between straight-on instrumentals teeming with cinematic majesty and letting her serene voice — which lands somewhere between Margaux Sauvé of Ghostly Kisses and Beach House's Victoria Legrand — lead the expansive orchestral arrangements in a more pop-friendly, balladic direction with a lacquered elegance.” - Exclaim!

“It’s stunning to consider that this album project is Ambre Ciel’s debut. If the rest of the album is as beautifully made as “eau miroir,” it will prove to be well worth
repeated listens.” - Great Dark Wonder

“haunting vocals, beautiful piano, sweeping orchestral arrangement assisted by Owen Pallett”
3 AM Revelations

Photo Credit : Lawrence Farfard // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

For Ambre Ciel, the composer and singer from Montreal, her debut album still, there is the sea, represents a beginning, a first, and she says an imperfect attempt, to create this other world that was living in her mind. “On a personal level, I was searching for silence. I had just finally moved to a quiet apartment in Montreal and for the first time, I had all the time and space to hear silence and create, being solitary and living in the intangible world of possibilities”.

Out today via Gondwana Records, the songs and compositions on still, there is the sea are an attempt to create beauty, offer escapism and to engage with the world in a way that is meaningful and authentic. “Music is mysterious and powerful,” explains Ciel. “You don’t always know how you feel and then just by improvising at the piano there’s a transfer operating and the opaqueness of your emotions translate in a music that can be as emotionally complex and inherently constructive.” 

Along with the album’s release Ambre Ciel is also sharing the cinematic and dreamy “pièce no.8”. Opening with signature delicate piano motif, later accompanied by emotive sweeping strings, this Philip Glass-esque song, blends neo-classical influences to create a contemplative allure. 

LISTEN / SHARE “pièce no.8” HERE

MORE ABOUT STILL, THERE IS THE SEA
Ambre Ciel is a composer, violinist, pianist and singer who hails from Montreal and is a purveyor of dreamy, expansive, spacious pop music. Ambre, who sings in both French and English, hails from a family of singers and artists. “I started my journey learning violin at six and began experimenting with pedal effects and looping melodies later on,” says Ciel. University followed with a focus on composition and recording. “That’s when I started exploring composing and songwriting more deeply—both the world of sounds in itself and songs built mostly with layers of violin and voice. It was also during this time that I returned to my ‘first’ instrument, the piano, which opened more harmonic possibilities.” 

For Ambre, her debut album, still, there is the sea, represents a beginning, a first and she says imperfect attempt to create this other world that was living in her mind. She has crafted a beautifully refined ‘pop album’ making a lot of space for strings arrangements and other acoustic instruments, as well as her own beautiful voice. “On a personal level, I was searching for silence. I had just finally moved to a quiet apartment in Montreal and for the first time, I had all the time and space to hear silence and create, being solitary and living in the intangible world of possibilities”. 

WATCH / SHARE “eau miroir” HERE

The enigmatic title of the album, still, there is the sea, came to Ambre when she realised that water was a subconscious but recurring theme throughout the album in terms of melodies and lyrics; “eau miroir” refers to how the water can be some kind of mirror, “cycle” embodies a cyclical, perpetual movement, “atlantis” refers to this inward looking quest and distancing from the world, “sometimes” has sounds from rain and storm, and refers to a storm happening inside someone’s thoughts. “The water element can be very thin, fragile, but it’s always in movement and can resemble a larger and massive current, expansive, and I wanted to move between instrumental and song with this fluidity and was interested in finding ways to create something that could still feel cohesive. It also reflects this entire season of solitude and silence, how to me creating music represents this access to an underworld closer to the realm of dreams, that can be deep, surreal, rich and very grounding too.”

WATCH / SHARE “THE SUN, THE SKY” HERE

The songs and compositions on still, there is the sea also aim to offer a way of coping with what is going on in the world, an escape from the horrors of war and climate change. An attempt to create beauty and hopefully offer escapism and to engage with the world in a way that is meaningful and authentic. “Music is mysterious and powerful,” explains Ciel. “You don’t always know how you feel and then just by improvising at the piano there’s a transfer operating and the opaqueness of your emotions translate in a music that can be as emotionally complex and inherently constructive.” 

While still, there is the sea is very much Ambre’s own personal statement and artistic vision as a composer, arranger and producer, Pietro Amato offered support and experience (and an extra pair of ears) as co-producer and Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy) gave assistance with the orchestral arrangements Ambre wrote for the FAMES Skopje Studio Orchestra conducted by Sasho Tatarchevski. And deeply sensitive musicians such as percussionist Stefan Schneider (Bell Orchestre, The Luyas), clarinettist Guillaume Bourque and a string trio made of Marilou Lepage, Sebastian Gonzalez Mora, and Julien Siino all brought their unique voices to the record.

BUY / STREAM STILL, THERE IS THE SEA HERE

PERFORMANCE DATES
June 30 - Festival International de Jazz de Montréal

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STILL, THERE IS THE SEA TRACKLIST
01 the sun, the sky
02 eau miroir
03 cycle
04 atlantis
05 dream - mirage
06 sometimes
07 pièce no. 8
08 fragment of

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