Indie pop

Oh Wonder catching breaks with catchy tunes

The duo behind Oh Wonder — playing the Danforth Music Hall for three nights — are quick to say they’ve been lucky. Nick Krewen Music, Sun., Sept. 17, 2017   What’s that old saying? One makes plans and God laughs? Not that there are any religious connotations surrounding the generally low-key, dual-vocal pop created by London-based electronic pop duo Oh Wonder, but record deals and world tours weren’t something that…


Allie X Has Earned More Than 12 Million Streams on Spotify Alone

Story by Nick Krewen | July 19, 2017 For SOCAN Words and Music   Oakville’s Allie Hughes built considerable buzz during her formative years in Toronto, as a must-see act who balanced performance art and theatrical sensibilities with a knack for infectious, melodic pop. But it wasn’t until Hughes left for Los Angeles and transformed herself into Allie X that her career truly took off. Since 2014, she’s issued the…


Imelda May has made a career of collaboration

Irish singer, due at Danforth Music Hall June 28, has worked with the likes of Jeff Beck, Elvis Costello and U2. Nick Krewen Music, June 27, 2017 Imelda May has worked with some of rock’s most influential musicians over a career that has lasted 27 years: Jeff Beck, Van Morrison, David Gilmour, Robert Plant, Elvis Costello, Lou Reed and U2 among them. But the Dublin singer, who just opened some…


Lukas Graham works to bring substance to its pop

Grammy-nominated Danish band takes ‘7 Years’ — an ‘old-style country ballad’ — and other meaty numbers into show at Rebel on Wednesday. Nick Krewen  Music, Tues. Jan 24, 2017 It’s sold more than four million copies in the U.S. alone, is nominated for three Grammy Awards and is a poignant synopsis of one person’s life from past to present. But for all the lifetime of experience chronicled within its four-minute…


Austra steps into a perceived troubling feature with new album, tour

Loneliness and political readings of band’s founder create album, Future Politics, that fits into ‘true political uncertainty’ of times. Band plays Jan. 20 at the Mod Club. Nick Krewen Music, Jan. 19, 2017 The moment that Toronto electro band Austra completed its world tour to support its sophomore album, Olympia, its lead singer and songwriter Katie Stelmanis hit the books and began a voracious reading cycle. “I had felt that…