Elisapie's mesmerizing Sheryl Crow cover, and 5 more songs you need to hear this week

Songs you need to hearis CBC Music's weekly list of hot new Canadian tracks.

Scroll down to discoverthe songs our producers are loving right now.

'Quviasukkuvit (If It Makes You Happy),' Elisapie

It makes me very happy that Elisapie has blessed us with another luminous cover. Think of it as a victory lap for her incredible 2023 album, Inuktitut, which featured Inuktitut translations of some of the most important songs from her childhood. Her new release, "Quviasukkuvit (If It Makes You Happy)," is one of the mid-'90s most ubiquitous songs from one of the decade's biggest artists, Sheryl Crow. Her hit single was the radio-friendly slacker anthem that bridged the gulf between wanting everything and nothing, daring us to question our pleasures as possible causes of pain. Elisapie's mesmerizing interpretation shimmers and glows, ethereal backing vocals bending skyward across the sing-along chorus. It's a stunning transformation as Elisapie celebrates Crow's original version while making the song her own. Andrea Warner

'Delusion,' Nemahsis

Nemahsis just released her debut album, Verbathim, and it's full of surprising instrumentation and explorative production styles, pushing the boundaries of pop to the very brink. At an album release show in Toronto, she was nervous to play "Delusion," for the crowd full of fans, saying it was a departure from her usual sound. It became clear from the first groove of the bass line what she was alluding to. While many of her songs are grandiose or cinematic, this is her first that isundeniablyfunky. The rhythm pulls you in like a hypnosis spiral, and the "lalalala"in the chorus is an immediate earworm. Nemahsis contemplates delusion as a philosophy, a way to get by amongst the banality and the carnage of everyday life. She sings to delusion itself right before the breakdown: "Delusion, I'll choose you over any other/ Delusion, I'll use you until I recover." It may be self-sabotaging, but sometimes a little delusional thinking is the only way forward in a world that's so topsy-turvy. Kelsey Adams

'I Was Alone yet Unafraid,' Noble Oak

When it comes to ambient music, you've got to kiss a lot of frogs before you get a prince. A sure bet is B.C.'s Noble Oak (a.k.a. Patrick Fiore), who ascended to the genre's throne in 2021 with his marvelous EP Stories, a collection of five instrumentals whose piano struck the perfect chord. He has returned with "I Was Alone yet Unafraid," his first ambient piano music since then. He says it "chronicles a special hidden place of memory in a time before the burdens of anxiety," and its soothing sounds are apparently opening a floodgate: "Four more pieces will arrive in a month as part of a piano EP called Premonitions," he announced, adding, "a partner EP will arrive later this year, for a total of 10 piano pieces before the end of the 2024." Robert Rowat

'Biking,' Daniela Andrade

It's been four years since Honduran-Canadian singer-songwriter Daniela Andrade released a full project, but in that time she's collaborated with a number of artists including Allie, Bodysync and R U Off. "Biking" marks her solo return, a moody synth track that gives space for Andrade's voice to bounce around like an echo pinging against different corners of a cavernous space. "There is no heaven/ when I'm not with you," she sings, giving into feelings of yearning and desire that are only intensified while biking through the city with nothing but memories of this person swirling in her mind. A staccato refrain of "I go, I go" rings in the background during the chorus, trying to nudge the momentum forward, but when Andrade's thoughts (and her performance) are so intoxicating, it's easy to get lost in the song's warm, nostalgic pull. Melody Lau

'Husk,' Men I Trust

Montreal indie poppers Men I Trust have not dropped a new song since 2023's "Ring of Past," and now the band is back with the atmospheric, mysterious new single "Husk." Emmanuelle Proulx's dreamy vocals float along a downcast buzzing riff as she sings, "Erosion, shadow be thy husk." On the pre-chorus, her voice elevates upwards in a rousing fashion: "I know you're driving me further time and time/ so as to wait 'til you better feel inclined." It sounds less like a statement and more like a warning due to the haunting, whispery quality of Proulx's voice, making the hair on the back of one's neck stand up. The band's knack for storytelling is strong because of their ability to camouflage big feelings behind enigmatic lyrics, and "Husk" is no exception: the theme of isolation is veiled, behind lines about shark-bitten men, with expert precision. Natalie Harmsen

'Wakohtowin,' Asko

Asko (the new solo project from nhiyawak drummer Marek Tyler) emerges with an expansive, self-titled ambient record. Standout track "Wakohtowin" unfurls itself slowly and then all at once. Inspired by the sounds heard in a sweat lodge when the doors close and the room goes dark, water droplets echo, deep breaths form a rhythm and the drums mimic heartbeats. The music video, directed by Sebastian Buzzalino, features three drag queens who are superimposed over images of Tyler and his band.

The song title translates to "the act of being related to each other," and Tyler positions the sweat lodge as a place where all the world's rigidity falls away. He shared in a press release that "tastawiyiniwak, the in-between people, hold significant places within nhiyaw ways, embodying masculine and feminine qualities I wanted to strip away the binary and shame and consider what it means to be related. I wanted to celebrate enduring bonds within the nhiyaw worldview and the importance of maintaining these relationships and our interconnectedness." KA

To hear more about these standout songs, tune in to CBC Music Mornings every Thursday (Canada-wide) with producer Nathan Gilland host Saroja Coelho, and Here and Now with Ramraajh Sharvendiran every Wednesday afternoon (in Toronto). Both are available via CBC Listen.