New Music Friday: September 11, 2026

Fresh Canadian Releases to Hear This Week

Canada’s new music calendar delivers an especially diverse mix this week, moving from young blues and experimental indie rock to garage punk, cinematic cello and a collaboration between two established Canadian bands.

This week’s Maple Music Lounge picks include a remarkable debut from British Columbia teenager Jake Soberlak, a new album from New Brunswick’s Jon McKiel, the latest from Canadian cellist and composer Raphael Weinroth-Browne, a four-song release from Lemongrab, and a new collaboration pairing The Strumbellas with High Valley.

Here’s what’s new in Canadian music this week.

Jake Soberlak – I’m In Trouble

At just 17, Kamloops, British Columbia musician Jake Soberlak makes an impressive introduction with his debut album, I’m In Trouble, released September 11.

Soberlak is a guitarist, singer and harmonica player with a deep appreciation for traditional blues. The album was recorded at Vancouver’s Afterlife Studios with producer and drummer Leon Power, whose credits include work with City and Colour and Frazey Ford. Darren Parris joined on bass, Darryl Havers on piano and John Raham handled engineering.

Rather than constructing the record piece by piece, the musicians recorded the songs live off the floor over two days. That approach gives I’m In Trouble the immediacy of musicians actually responding to one another in the room.

The nine-track album includes “You Gotta Leave,” “I Can’t Find,” “Temperature Is Rising” and the title track. Soberlak’s own “I Can’t Find” also demonstrates that he is interested in contributing his own voice to the blues tradition rather than simply recreating it.

Listen: Jake Soberlak – I’m In Trouble

Maple Music Lounge Take: This is exactly the kind of young Canadian artist worth watching. Soberlak’s age may initially grab attention, but the music gives listeners a reason to stay.

Jon McKiel – Gold Horatio

New Brunswick singer-songwriter Jon McKiel returns September 11 with Gold Horatio, a ten-track album released through Canadian independent label You’ve Changed Records.

Working again with producer and multi-instrumentalist Jay Crocker, McKiel stretches folk and pop songwriting through reel-to-reel recording, vintage electronics, unusual grooves and experimental production. The album was recorded in Baie Verte and Sackville, New Brunswick, during 2025 and 2026.

Tracks include “For Shadow,” “Guru,” “Wrong Heaven,” “Rosemary,” “Order,” “Pass Life” and “Watching The River.” Gold Horatio follows McKiel’s Bobby Joe Hope and 2024’s Hex, continuing a collaboration with Crocker that has helped define McKiel’s increasingly distinctive sound.

Listen: Jon McKiel – Gold Horatio

Maple Music Lounge Take: Gold Horatio is one for listeners who like Canadian songwriting that refuses to remain inside familiar folk and indie-rock boundaries.

Raphael Weinroth-Browne – Empyrean

Canadian cellist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Raphael Weinroth-Browne takes the cello somewhere considerably beyond the concert hall with his new album Empyrean.

Released September 11, the record combines elements of classical music, metal, post-rock, experimental music and cinematic composition. Even more remarkably, every sound on the album was created using an acoustic cello, amplifiers and effects pedals.

Weinroth-Browne composed and performed the music himself, with the album recorded and engineered by Darren McGill at Union Sound Company in Toronto. Tracks include “Speed of Light,” “Remnant,” “Evocation” and “Dissolution,” the latter drawing upon a melody by J.S. Bach.

Listen: Raphael Weinroth-Browne – Empyrean

Maple Music Lounge Take: One of this week’s most adventurous Canadian releases. Empyrean demonstrates just how far a single acoustic instrument can be pushed when genre boundaries are removed.

Lemongrab – Another Kind of Freedom

Lemongrab delivers a short, sharp blast of garage punk with Another Kind of Freedom, released September 11 through Canada’s Mothland and Switzerland’s Chrüsimüsi Records.

The four-track release contains “Pay to Play,” “Necessary Condition,” “Yoko” and “No Receipt.” Recorded and mixed by Leo Marchand in Leipzig, Germany, the collection maintains Lemongrab’s lo-fi garage-punk foundation while moving through different textures and ideas in less than 13 minutes.

Shared vocals from Gaëlle Cordeau and Léonie Dishaw are central to the group’s sound, while the songs tackle belief systems, politics and social observations without sacrificing the unruly energy of the music.

Listen: Lemongrab – Another Kind of Freedom

Maple Music Lounge Take: Fast, unpredictable and deliberately rough around the edges, this is a release for listeners who prefer their Canadian indie music well outside the mainstream.

The Strumbellas with High Valley – “Hanging Out In My Head”

Two Canadian groups join forces this week as The Strumbellas and High Valley release “Hanging Out In My Head.”

It is an intriguing pairing. The Strumbellas built their reputation around folk-rock and alternative pop, while High Valley have established themselves firmly in contemporary country. Bringing the two together creates a natural Canadian crossover between roots, pop and country.

The collaboration appears among the new country releases arriving September 11, making it a particularly accessible counterpoint to some of this week’s more experimental Canadian selections.

Listen: The Strumbellas – Hanging Out In My Head

Maple Music Lounge Take: A smart Canadian collaboration. The musical worlds of The Strumbellas and High Valley are different enough to make the pairing interesting, but close enough that it makes sense.