ARIEL POSEN ANNOUNCES LP, SHARES NEW SINGLE FT. CITY AND COLOUR

ARIEL POSEN’S NEW LP, BANNATYNE, OUT MARCH 20, 2026

WATCH / SHARE “EMPTY-HANDED FT. CITY AND COLOUR” HERE
BUY / STREAM “EMPTY-HANDED FT. CITY AND COLOUR” HERE

PRE-SAVE BANNATYNE HERE

EUROPEAN TOUR BEGINS FEBRUARY 12 - TICKETS HERE, FULL DATES BELOW

Photo Credit : Josh Kirschner // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

For Ariel Posen, songwriting and guitar playing have always gone hand-in-hand. He's spent a decade building a bridge between those two worlds, balancing his work as a hotshot instrumentalist — including collaborations with everyone from John Mayer to Tom Jones — with solo albums rooted in melody and autobiographical storytelling. The result is a career that's every bit as diverse as his music. With performances at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival, his own Fender Stratocaster signature model, and a powerful voice that matches his fretwork, Posen explores uncharted territory, blurring the lines between genre and generation along the way. 

On his upcoming album, Bannatyne, that exploration leads Posen back to the place where everything began. Named after an avenue in his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba, it's a record about reexamining one's past in order to fully appreciate the present. Woven into the album's 12 songs are larger-than-life riffs and upbeat tempos (a nod to the 1990s rock music that soundtracked Posen's childhood), along with the syncopated grooves and explorative, unexpected textures that have always steered his work. Equally influenced by the raw energy of his live shows, where Posen has been known to plug in and stretch out showcasing the chops that prompted Rolling Stone to call him "a modern-day guitar hero", and the tight craft of his songwriting, Bannatyne is a full-circle snapshot of an artist in evolution, chasing down new horizons while still honouring his musical roots. 

Today, he shares a new single from the album, “Empty-Handed” featuring City and Colour’s Dallas Green. “This song is about the kind of regret that lingers long after everything else has moved on,” says Posen. “It’s waking up every day feeling the same weight, replaying what you lost, and trying to make sense of it. At the same time it is about owning your part in the fallout, knowing you can’t undo it, and learning to live with the echo of what could’ve been. There can be peace in the sorrow.”

Posen wrote this song and immediately heard Dallas Green’s voice on the choruses after he recorded it in the studio. Luckily for him, he called Dallas and he obliged. It was almost as if the song was written for Dallas to sing on it alongside Posen. 

Ariel and I have been pals for a while now and I've always been impressed with his extraordinary guitar playing, shares Green.. “But the truth is he's got a great sense of melody in his songwriting as well. This song was stuck in my head the second I heard it. It was a pleasure to be a part of such a banger.” 

WATCH / SHARE “EMPTY-HANDED FT. CITY AND COLOUR” HERE
BUY / STREAM “EMPTY-HANDED FT. CITY AND COLOUR” HERE

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MORE ABOUT ARIEL POSEN + BANNATYNE
"This is an album about coming home," says Posen, who played guitar for hometown pals, The Bros. Landreth — earning a JUNO Award along the way — before launching his solo career with the critically-celebrated debut How Long. "It's about looking back and appreciating where you come from, even as you're heading somewhere new." 

WATCH / SHARE “FUTURE PRESENT TENSE” HERE
BUY / STREAM “FUTURE PRESENT TENSE” HERE

"Heading somewhere new" has been Posen's focus for years, ever since How Long introduced his blend of soulful Rock & Roll, R&B, and amplified Americana in 2019. Follow-up releases like Headway and Reasons Why widened that sound considerably, while the Mile End project — a trio of records filled with improvised guitar instrumentals — highlighted a different form of expression. Bannatyne covers new ground, too. There are appearances by fellow Canadians Dallas Green and Kathleen Edwards (who shares vocal duties with Posen on the sparse, slow-burning love song "More Me With You"). There are seize-the-day anthems like "Future Present Tense", punctuated by layered harmonies and bursts of fuzz guitar. There are alternate guitar tunings, smoothly-sung vocals, and lyrics about the homes we all leave behind, delivered by a road warrior who's been carving out his signature sound with every album. It's a powerful mix, and while Posen has never been shy about honouring his influences, the album simply sounds like him.

WATCH / SHARE “VAGABOND” HERE
BUY / STREAM “VAGABOND” HERE

"Every record is the sound of me finding myself, more and more," he says. "I'm not just a songwriter and I'm not just a guitarist. I'm both of those things. I'm taking these worlds that I feel very connected to, and I'm combining them together, leaning in either direction whenever I want. With Bannatyne, the idea was to be a little dirtier, rawer, and unpolished in my performances. I didn't worry about chasing absolute perfection and cleanliness. I just stuck with whatever felt right."

Co-produced by Posen and longtime collaborator Murray Pulver, Bannatyne certainly feels right. This is Posen's unique vision of electrified roots music: song-driven, fretwork-fueled, and unmistakably his own.

PRE-SAVE BANNATYNE HERE

TOUR DATES
Feb 12 - EBELTOFT - KULTURLOFT -Ebeltoft, Denmark
Feb 13 - AMAGER BIO -Copenhagen, Denmark
Feb 14 - MUSIKHUSET POSTEN  -Odense C, Denmark
Feb 15 - NOCHTSPEICHER - Hamburg, Germany
Feb 17 - PRIVATCLUB - Berlin, Germany
Feb 18 - LUX CLUB LINDEN - Hannover, Germany
Feb 19 - ARTHEATER - Köln, Germany
Feb 22 - DE OOSTERPOORT - Da Groningen, Netherlands
Feb 25 - DE HELLING - Utrecht, Netherlands
Feb 26 - MUZIEKGEBOUW EINDHOVEN - Eindhoven, Netherlands
Feb 27 - MUZIEKGIETERIJ - Maastricht, Netherlands
Feb 28 - ROTOWN ROTTERDAM - Rotterdam, Netherlands
Mar 2 - NALEN KLUBB - Stockholm, Sweden

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BANNATYNE TRACKLIST
01 Future Present Tense
02 Surrender
03 No Way Out
04 Dead To Me
05 Empty-Handed ft. City And Colour
06 Your Ghost
07 Vagabond
08 Shed Your Skin
09 More Me With You ft. Kathleen Edwards
10 Accept That
11 Meridian
12 Bannatyne

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FLORE LAURENTIENNE ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM, VOLUME III

FLORE LAURENTIENNE’S VOL III AVAILABLE APRIL 10, 2026 VIA SECRET CITY RECORDS

WATCH / SHARE “RÉGATE” HERE
BUY / STREAM “RÉGATE” HERE

EUROPE TOUR IN APRIL 2026
IN CONCERT AT LA MAISON SYMPHONIQUE IN JUNE FOR MONTREAL JAZZ FEST
TICKETS ON SALE HERE

PRE-SAVE VOLUME III HERE

Photo Credit: Alex Blouin & Jodi Heartz // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Today, Flore Laurentienne - the project of composer and orchestrator Mathieu David Gagnon - unveils Volume III, a new album out April 10, 2026 via Secret City Records. The first single, “Régate,” evokes a rapid shift in perspective, resulting in a lively race between a synthesizer ostinato and a string orchestra. On stage, the project's seven musicians will embark on a European tour in the spring, with six dates already announced, from London to Paris via Brussels, before performing at the Maison Symphonique as part of the Montreal International Jazz Festival on June 26. Earlier this week, “Petit piano” from Volume I was featured in Louis Vuitton’s new Spring–Summer 2026 campaign, starring Pusha T and Jeremy Allen White. 

Mathieu David Gagnon shares the inspiration behind the new song: "The more the piece unfolds, the more the melody becomes desynchronized. It overlaps or harmonizes. The piece evokes a rapid shift in perspective.

In the last section, harps replace the piano. We replayed the harp tracks backwards and recorded the reverb they produced, then put it all back in place. The result you hear before each harp chord is the reverb tail played backwards. This was a method used in the 1970s. The synthesizer used to make the ostinato is the same one they used on Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, the EMS Synthi. A rare English synthesizer."

WATCH / SHARE “RÉGATE” HERE
BUY / STREAM “RÉGATE” HERE

The message, the shareable essence, on this third album by Flore Laurentienne, is light; it is the seed in the ground that becomes a plant and then a flower, blooming at its peak and then inevitably wilting so that the cycle can begin again; it is the quest for beauty in chaos, from which harmony is born. On Volume III, Mathieu David Gagnon and his Flore Laurentienne return to celebrate the magnificence of the river and its floral and sylvan surroundings.  

Volume III is also a more in-depth exploration of the arrangement of acoustic and synthetic elements that characterize Flore Laurentienne. Unlike the first three albums, most of the pieces were developed with the band members during residencies and concerts before being recorded, which enriched the compositions at a stage when they were still evolving. The band fuels the project and stimulates Gagnon's writing by advancing the sound of the project, nourishing it and allowing it to go further. 

This new milestone also marks the end of a trilogy that began in 2019 with Volume I – with the inherent and parallel aspiration of reaching a third volume in order to pay tribute to Volume 3, L'Infonie's (a Quebec cult collective that blended jazz, prog, art music, and poetry) first album. The latter did not influence Flore Laurentienne's music per se, but rather its conception of freedom in composition, combining classical and improvisation.

The progression of Volume III is in line with the evolution of the project: while the first track, "Fleurs," is similar to what Volume II offered, "(À travers les) Chablis," the closing track, gives us a glimpse of what the next installment might sound like. It's an album to be enjoyed alongside its two predecessors, while also looking forward to the next step. Flore Laurentienne is constantly evolving, but from the beginning, the vision has remained the same: to create music that is alive, true, human, and uncompromising.

PRE-SAVE VOLUME III HERE

ABOUT FLORE LAURENTIENNE:
Rooted in the Québec landscape and inspired by the vastness of the St. Lawrence River, Flore Laurentienne’s music— a harmonious blend of strings and analog synthesizers—takes us on a journey to the edge of the sublime, where we find ourselves both fragile and powerful, suspended between vulnerability and wonder.

Flore Laurentienne draws inspiration from contrasting worlds: the melodic clarity and counterpoint of Johann Sebastian Bach; the narrative intensity and progressive audacity of King Crimson; and the electronic minimalism of Hans-Joachim Roedelius. From this unexpected encounter at the crossroads of classical, progressive, and experimental music, a dense and generous sound emerges, with unapologetic lyricism and dynamic textures. While deploying a unique and sophisticated language, Laurentienne's music seeks depth rather than complexity.

On stage, Laurentienne comes to life through a core ensemble of seven musicians. At the center stands composer and keyboardist Mathieu David Gagnon, surrounded by a string quartet and two keyboardists-percussionists. Over the past five years, they have developed a rich shared experience of live performance, a natural rapport and an instinctive bond that nourish both the project and the composer’s work. The power of the MiniMoog, the ensemble’s emblematic instrument, combined with the richness of the strings, creates a captivating interplay that draws the listener into a unique and memorable experience.

Since the group's debut album Volume I (2019), Flore Laurentienne has enjoyed undeniable success, establishing himself within the vast realm of instrumental music. His music has won over audiences and charmed critics, earning three Félix Awards, two GAMIQ, a nomination for a JUNO Award, and a spot on the Polaris Music Prize Long List. The piece “Fleuve no 1” was chosen to open the CHANEL runway show during Paris Fashion Week. Laurentienne has shared the stage with renowned artists such as William Basinski, Colin Stetson, Mabe Fratti, and Brìghde Chaimbeul, and has graced the stages of numerous festivals, including Le Guess Who?, Trans Musicales, the Big Ears Festival, and the Montréal International Jazz Festival. The project also stands out in the media sphere, having been invited twice for live sessions at KEXP and receiving support from BBC Radio 6 Music, Billboard, Stereogum, France Culture, Ouest France, Les Inrocks, La Presse, Le Devoir, Radio-Canada, among others.

FLORE LAURENTIENNE TOUR DATES
Thursday, April 9 - Bratislava, SK - Nova Cvernovka
Friday, April 10 - Prague, CZ - Palac Akropolis - Spectaculare Festival 
Saturday, April 11 - London, UK - Royal Albert Hall - Elgar Room
Tuesday, April 14 - Brussels, BE - Botanique - Rotonde
Wednesday, April 15 - Düdingen, CH - Bad Bonn
Thursday, April 16 - Enghien-les-Bains, FR - Centre des Arts
Friday, June 26 - Montreal, QC - Maison Symphonique (Montreal International Jazz Festival)
Saturday, June 27 - Ottawa, ON - National Arts Center (Ottawa Jazz Festival)
Saturday, October 24 – Sherbrooke, QC - Granada Theatre

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VOLUME III TRACKLIST
01 Fleurs
02 Régate
03 Petit matin
04 Le temps
05 Fleuve VII
06 Fleuve VIII
07 Navigation VII
08 (À travers les) Chablis

FLORE LAURENTIENNE ONLINE:
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CHARLOTTE CORNFIELD ANNOUNCES NEW LP, HURTS LIKE HELL, SHARES TITLE TRACK

CHARLOTTE CORNFIELD’S NEW LP, HURTS LIKE HELL, OUT MARCH 27, 2026 VIA NEXT DOOR RECORDS (CANADA) / MERGE RECORDS (WORLDWIDE)

WATCH / SHARE “HURTS LIKE HELL”(MUSIC VIDEO) HERE
BUY / STREAM “HURTS LIKE HELL” HERE

PRE-SAVE HURTS LIKE HELL HERE

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES BEGIN MARCH 31, PERFORMING IN TORONTO ON APRIL 9 AT LULA LOUNGE

“Charlotte Cornfield is a songwriter who brings a sense of profundity to the simplest of phrases.” - The FADER

“[Charlotte Cornfield] is one of our best living songwriters.” - Paste

“Charlotte Cornfield among Canada’s great storytellers.” - Exclaim!

“Cornfield is a sharp-eyed songwriter, who is particularly adept at both reinforcing and undercutting the emotional core of her narratives with quotidian detail and slacker silliness. - Rolling Stone

“Cornfield has the gift of telling poetic stories while sonically expressing them, in true songwriter fashion. Every time listening to her songs uncovers a new layer.” RANGE Magazine

"Cornfield’s strength has always been writing profoundly emotional songs rooted in her own experiences and making them feel like your own." - SPIN

“One of our generations most moving bards.” Northern Transmissions

“Charlotte Cornfield basks in open spaces” - The Toronto Star

Photo Credit: Colin Medley // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Charlotte Cornfield announces her new album, Hurts Like Hell, out March 27, 2026 via Next Door Records (Canada) and Merge Records (World Wide), and shares the video for the title track. Cornfield’s sixth album is the first she’s recorded since the birth of her daughter in 2023, an inflection point for her as a person and an artist. The album’s recurrent themes of personal growth and renewal, of love’s perseverance through difficulty and shame and awkwardness, are rooted there. Hurts Like Hell is the most open-hearted, full-voiced album of her career and also the first articulation of her future, whatever uncertainty and love it may bring.

These themes are apparent on the lead single, “Hurts Like Hell”. Alongside Buck Meek’s backing vocals, the band swells to embrace Cornfield’s idiosyncratic flow as if to cradle her protagonist’s heart from self-doubt and shyness. Cornfield excels in the telling of these stories, in her attention to character and detail—“Hurts Like Hell” is no exception, but it started as an experiment in writing from a character’s perspective and not her own. That the song is so vulnerable, so lived-in, is a matter of trust between Cornfield and her bandmates, in each other and of their gut. Their sound lands somewhere between Nashville Skyline and Harvest; a warm, richly-textured response to her bruised-but-seeking call. 

“This song is about someone getting over deep insecurities and inhibitions and putting themselves out there,” Cornfield explains. “These two characters in the song have clearly experienced a lot of pain and are pushing themselves to move past it and connect with one another. It’s a shy people love story. The pedal steel/full band/country-tinged approach felt fitting for this one, and Buck’s backing vocals really sent it.”

The accompanying warm and irreverent video was written and directed by friend and fan Scott Jacobson (Bob’s Burgers, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart) and stars James Urbaniak (Henry Fool, American Splendour, The Venture Bros.) and Cornfield as sparring neighbors who resolve their differences through choreographed dance. 

WATCH / SHARE “HURTS LIKE HELL” (MUSIC VIDEO) HERE
BUY / STREAM “HURTS LIKE HELL” HERE

MORE ABOUT CHARLOTTE CORNFIELD + HURTS LIKE HELL

Cornfield’s change in perspective is evident not only in her approach to the lyric—which now gives voice to characters and themes beyond her own headspace—but in how she approached recording. Hurts Like Hell is her most collaborative effort to date. Decamping to Philip Weinrobe’s (Adrianne Lenker, Lonnie Holley, Billie Marten) Sugar Mountain studio in January 2025, Cornfield was joined by a full backing band, including Palehound’s El Kempner (guitar/vocals), Lake Street Dive’s Bridget Kearney (bass/vocals), Adam Brisbin (guitar/pedal steel), and Sean Mullins (drums), with key contributions by Núria Graham (piano), and Daniel Pencer (saxophone). Cornfield and Weinrobe then recruited Feist, Buck Meek, Christian Lee Hutson and Maia Friedman to sing on the album. “Every musician involved was a dream collaborator,” Cornfield says. 

Weinrobe not only produced, recorded, and mixed Hurts Like Hell, but served as a sounding board for Cornfield while she was workshopping songs, a huge shift for a singer-songwriter whose working relationships with producers typically began on day one of recording. Cornfield and her band recorded together in the room, with live vocals, minimal overdubs, and no headphones, working organically and following their instincts.

Cornfield arrived at Hurts Like Hell bearing both scars from her past and hope for the future. Standing outside of herself and taking stock of what she wanted her music to be in the wake of childbirth, she was brave enough to ask for space, for time, and for help from places and people familiar and unexpected—a group chat, songwriters she was fans of but wasn’t acquainted with, friends whose long-forgotten song leant her the chorus for a new one. Every “yes,” every voice memo, every shared file, every open door leading to this moment in her career. Call that moment what you will—an expansion, a rebirth, a breakthrough—Hurts Like Hell is big enough to meet it.

Kearney, Kempner, Evan Cartwright (Cola), and Nick Levine (Jodi, Great Grandpa) will join Cornfield on a Spring tour with dates in New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

CHARLOTTE CORNFIELD LIVE
Tue. March 31 - Brooklyn, NY @ Public Records
Thu. April - 2 - Chicago, IL @ Schubas 
Sat. April 4 - Los Angeles, CA @ Scribble 
Thu. April 9  - Toronto, CA @ Lula Lounge

PRE-SAVE HURTS LIKE HELL HERE

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HURTS LIKE HELL TRACKLIST
1. Before
2. Hurts Like Hell
3. Lost Leader
4. Lucky
5. Living With It
6. Number
7. Squiddd
8. Kitchen
9. Long Game
10. Bloody and Alive

CHARLOTTE CORNFIELD ONLINE
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