Alberta-born, Toronto-based musician Rebecca Emms aka TOVI fuses contrasting forces on her latest output, pouring an equal measure of light and dark, brisk and calm into the mix. Synths roll in a steadily animated fashion, as it were a single car smoothly drifting down the empty highway late at night. It wouldn’t be hard to get lost in the pleasant melancholy of tender vocals and drift off completely into some neon-lit dreamworlds. But the coarseness of the drums is a periodic reminder of some undefined danger potentially lurking ahead.

TOVI‘s “Hard Feelings” is a call out on self-sabotage; it is a reminder to herself to stop longing for anything that is all too distant and thereby beyond her reach. An article she stumbled upon inspired the track, she explains: “It was talking about people who often find themselves yearning for someone or something that is completely out of their reach, geographically or otherwise. You get to play the victim; you get to avoid change.” The tune is a gentle yet firm push to stop mindlessly floating along and take the steering wheel in your hands.

Take a chance on pop!

When the sun rises on this new wave of rising artists, the pop-rays will guide us through this week with rising Belgian star Sam Renascent and his all-but-tranquilizing new track “Morphine”. Brasko smears out his sugar coated love-spread with “TMYLM”, leaving a sweet taste on your lips.

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Baileyrp delivers a down-tempo, house-infused new track “Too Close”. To drift away on. Perfect crafted soul-pop comes from Leeds based singer Kern Parks on his indie-ballad “Ghastly”. London-based artist Jareth shared “Bit By Bit”, delicious single from upcoming EP.

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Flashback memories! Riah thinks about her old crush on her synth “Prom” song. And our favorite discovery of the week is pure and raw voiced vocalist Umi Copper, who, with gentle instrumentation, brings us the beat-y-full song “All”.

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If you want to drink a bit more until you get tipsy, you should check him on Facebook and Soundcloud, and follow his regular posts on our site.

Subscribe to Deer Du Bois refreshing playlist on Spotify now!

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