Northern Frequencies: 15 Canadian Artists Worth Turning Up

Canada has a habit of producing artists that the rest of the world eventually discovers a few years after we do. Drake. Joni Mitchell. Neil Young. The Weeknd. At some point they become global and then everyone acts like they knew all along.

But for every name that crosses over, there are dozens more making genuinely great music without becoming household names. Some are just starting to break through. Others have been quietly building devoted audiences for years.

Here are 15 Canadian artists from five cities worth spending some time with — preferably with a good pair of headphones.

Listen While You Read

We made a playlist featuring one track from every artist on this list. Hit play, put on your headphones, and start exploring.

🎧 Northern Frequencies — Listen on Spotify

TORONTO

Dorothea Paas · Toronto

A songwriter working somewhere between folk, jazz and chamber pop without fitting neatly into any of them. Paas followed her excellent 2021 debut Anything Can’t Happen with Think of Mist in 2024, an intricate, beautifully arranged record built around a voice that can go from intimate to almost operatic without ever feeling showy. She’s been part of Toronto’s indie scene for years, including work with U.S. Girls and Jennifer Castle, but her own records deserve the spotlight. (Pitchfork)

Saya Gray · Toronto

One of the more difficult Canadian artists to put in a box — which is precisely the appeal. Gray’s music can move through folk, R&B, electronic music, jazz and experimental pop within the same song without sounding like she’s trying to prove anything. Her 2025 album SAYA helped push her well beyond cult status, and a 2026 JUNO nomination for Breakthrough Artist confirmed that people are starting to notice. Start here before the rest of the world catches up. (CIMA Music)

Ducks Ltd. · Toronto

If you loved ‘80s British indie — The Smiths, Orange Juice, early Everything But the Girl — Ducks Ltd. will feel immediately familiar without sounding like a nostalgia exercise. The Toronto duo makes jangly, tightly wound guitar pop where upbeat melodies frequently disguise much more anxious subject matter. Their 2024 album Harm’s Way expands considerably on the basement-recorded sound of 2021’s Modern Fiction without losing what made them great in the first place. (Ducks Ltd.)

HAMILTON

Zoon · Hamilton

Daniel Monkman records under the name Zoon and describes the sound as “moccasin-gaze” — shoegaze filtered through their Anishinaabe identity and musical traditions. The 2020 debut Bleached Wavves introduced that combination through enormous layers of guitar and drone; Bekka Ma’iingan pushed it further in 2023, and 2026’s Happy Thought School gives you an even more current place to start. Dense, warm and especially good when you can hear all the layers. (Apple Music - Web Player)

The Dirty Nil · Hamilton / Dundas

If Hamilton has a house band for its steel-town spirit, it might be The Dirty Nil. They make loud, unpretentious rock music that doesn’t spend much time worrying about whether rock music is fashionable. Huge guitars, genuinely great hooks and the kind of live energy that reminds you why people still stand in crowded rooms in front of amplifiers. They won the JUNO for Breakthrough Group back in 2017, but somehow still feel like one of Canada’s best-kept rock secrets. (Wikipedia)

Basement Revolver · Hamilton

Hamilton’s Basement Revolver make the kind of indie rock that can sound enormous one moment and almost painfully intimate the next. Guitars drift between dream pop, shoegaze and heavier distortion, while Chrisy Hurn’s vocals keep everything grounded in something much more personal. There’s a weight to their music without it becoming gloomy for the sake of it. Start with Embodied and give it some volume.

MONTREAL

Corridor · Montreal

French-language psych-rock where motorik rhythms, post-punk guitars and Québécois pop somehow end up occupying the same space. Junior put the Montreal band on a much larger map in 2019, while 2024’s Mimi loosened the formula with synths, stranger textures and a more expansive approach. It’s meticulous music that somehow never feels meticulous. (Corridor)

Bibi Club · Montreal

Montreal duo Adèle Trottier-Rivard and Nicolas Basque make music that feels both homemade and strangely enormous — dreamy indie pop built from guitars, percussion, electronics and layers of voice. Their 2024 album Feu de garde was shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize, and they followed it with Amaro in 2026. There’s warmth to everything they do, but enough oddness around the edges to keep pulling you back in. (Wikipedia)

Men I Trust · Montreal

At this point, calling Men I Trust undiscovered would be ridiculous. What’s more interesting is how a fiercely independent Canadian band became an international success without ever really behaving like one. Their dream-pop is bass-forward, warm and meticulously produced, and 2025 brought not one but two albums: Equus Asinus and Equus Caballus. If you want to test how well a pair of headphones handles low-end detail without turning everything into mud, put them on. (Men I Trust)

VANCOUVER

Lié · Vancouver

Post-punk that’s angular, dark and confrontational without becoming a costume version of the genre. Lié came out of Vancouver’s reliably fertile underground punk scene, building their sound around sharp guitars, relentless rhythm and an intensity that feels physical. You Want It Real is a good place to start. Turn it up.

Haley Blais · Vancouver

Blais has been making music for more than a decade, but she’s grown well beyond the singer-songwriter label that might once have fit. Her songs combine sharp observation, dry humour and guitar-driven indie pop with an ability to make ordinary moments feel unexpectedly important. She’s one of those artists where the writing sneaks up on you — you’ll think you’re listening casually and then realize you’ve stopped whatever else you were doing. (Vancouver Folk Music Festival)

Loscil · Vancouver

Scott Morgan has been making ambient and electronic music under the Loscil name since 2001. His records unfold slowly through processed instruments, electronics, field recordings and enormous amounts of space. Endless Falls remains a landmark place to start, but Loscil’s catalogue is really something to wander through rather than consume chronologically. Put on headphones, turn off the notifications and give it time.

HALIFAX

Julie Doiron · Halifax / Moncton

A founding member of Eric’s Trip and a solo artist whose career has quietly accumulated some of the most affecting small-scale Canadian records of the last 30 years. Doiron doesn’t need much to make a song land — a guitar, her voice and something emotionally precise to say usually does it. I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day from 2009 is an excellent starting point.

Nap Eyes · Halifax

Loosely structured indie rock built around Nigel Chapman’s languid, conversational songwriting. There’s something almost anti-performative about Nap Eyes: songs seem to wander into existence rather than announce themselves, with observations and philosophical detours accumulating until suddenly you’re completely inside one. Start with I’m Bad Now and work outward from there.

Aquakultre · Halifax / Dartmouth

Lance Sampson’s Aquakultre moves between soul, R&B, hip-hop and jazz while remaining deeply rooted in Nova Scotia. His 2026 album 1783 goes considerably deeper, exploring the history of Black Loyalists in Nova Scotia through Sampson’s own family history. It’s personal music with a much larger story behind it — and one of the strongest Canadian records to emerge in 2026, earning a place on this year’s Polaris Music Prize shortlist. (SOCAN Words and Music)

The common thread across all of these artists isn’t a genre or a particular Canadian sound. It’s that the music rewards attention.

Some of these artists are genuinely under the radar. A few are already well on their way to much bigger things. Others have been making great records for decades without ever becoming household names.

That’s kind of the point.

Start anywhere. Put on a record. Follow one thread and see where it leads.