Les Louanges' funky take on climate catastrophe, and 4 more songs you need to hear this week
Kick off the new year with music from bbno$, Milk & Bone, Chromeo, Jahson Paynter and more
Songs you need to hear is CBC Music's weekly list of hot new Canadian tracks.
Scroll down to discover the songs our producers are loving right now.
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La journée va être chaude, Les Louanges
The third single from Les Louanges’ upcoming album, Alouette!, is a funk-laden indie pop romp about climate collapse and societal anxiety. While writing La journée va être chaude, Les Louanges (the moniker for Montreal artist Vincent Roberge) was inspired by Parliament-Funkadelic, Sly and the Family Stone and Prince, which is immediately apparent from the very first slinky bassline and booming drum kick. “I wanted to convey a sense of energy, to give the impression that the album is a living, breathing, screaming beast... And this song is the perfect example of that,” Roberge shared in a press release. “It’s like the kick is the heart; the bass is the veins; and the guitar is the teeth.”
In the music video, Roberge bops around in front of a burning house as he sings the bombastic pre-chorus: “Alors que la maison brûle (While the house burns)/ On va danser à l’ombre (We’ll dance in the shadows).../ On fait comme tout le monde (We’ll follow along with everyone else).” La journée va être chaude is at once a call to action and an admission of complacency — it’s easier to follow the path of least resistance, until the house is burning down in front of you. The song also delves into our social fractures and the ways people have been pit against each other to distract from the real enemy: “L’enfer ce n’est pas les autres (Hell isn’t other people)/ Ton voisin ou la gauche (Your neighbour or the left)/ Mais celui qui fait du profit (But the one who makes a profit)/ À te laisser dans l’eau chaude (Leaving you behind in hot water).” Roberge blends his heavy message with the levity of the production, for a track that feels as if it will remain relevant in the years ahead. — Kelsey Adams
Genny please!, Jahson Paynter
Sincerity and nostalgia collide on Mississauga, Ont., singer Jahson Paynter’s genny please!, a pleading love song for an ex. “Genny please, one more dance with me,” he sings before slowly traversing down memory lane to revisit their sweet late night drives and go-karting adventures. With simple strings and echoing piano, the track has the folk instrumentation of a Mustafa song, with Paynter’s vocals evoking a similar tone and delivery to indie star Dijon. “Genny please, I know we’re falling steep, let’s fall slow,” he urges, his voice gently gliding along the percussion. The lo-fi texture gives the track a bedroom feel, inviting listeners to cozy up and embrace the power of yearning. — Natalie Harmsen
Sip, Eejungmi
“I wrote this song as a kind of soda pop jingle,” Katie Lee wrote in an Instagram post announcing her latest single, Sip. Lee, a former member of Braids and now a solo artist under the moniker Eejungmi, conjures up the image of an ice cold can of soda being cracked open and the sound of its ensuing pour with liquids splashing and bubbling. But as the track builds and Lee’s voice floats in asking, “When you take a sip/ from this drink/ do you think of its source?”, it begins to take a more meditative form. Lee’s music not only invokes a physicality because it gets us dancing, but it also urges us to examine our connection to other tangible things like nature and water, resulting in something captivating and fluid. — Melody Lau
Diamonds Are Forever, bbno$
Last month, bbno$ said on TikTok that if the video he posted got a million likes, he would retire; it got more than four million, so on Dec. 8 the Vancouver rapper and singer followed up with a retirement post. Anyone familiar with the "rapper-gamer-shitposter" knew he'd be back, and a month later — which probably equals to retirement when you're chronically online — bbno$ has dropped a tongue-in-cheek earworm called Diamonds Are Forever. Alongside a muted beat that sounds a lot like a sped-up Crabbuckit sample, bbno$ sings about the stakes of celebrity and his mom's worries, sounding listless and disaffected with each verse — and looking it in the video, surrounded by fans but always wearing a straight face. "Money makes us feel like we can almost live forever/ and we use it as a cure, but it don't ever make us better," he sings on the chorus, wrapping up that ennui in a catchy bow so that it's easier to dance than to cry. — Holly Gordon
Halfmoon, Milk & Bone and Chromeo
Montreal dream pop duo Milk & Bone dropped their EP A Little Lucky at the tail end of 2025, which was produced by another Montreal duo, Chromeo. The scintillating four-track project is full of driving, bright melodies, a departure from the downtempo, brooding of Milk & Bone’s previous EP, Baby Dreamer. The synths and drums on Halfmoon are more subdued than expected from funkmasters Chromeo, but still buoyant enough to propel Laurence Lafond-Beaulne and Camille Poliquin’s effervescent vocals. Halfmoon is about personal growth, rebirth and coming back to oneself, which feels perfectly timed for journeying into a new year: “Under a half lit moon, I took a leap of faith/ I said I’d be back soon, packing the past away/ Never know never know when life could hit back, back/ Better be better be the first to attack, attack.” Milk & Bone is also going on a mini-tour across Quebec and Ontario in February, in support of A Little Lucky. — KA
