Deloro - "Travelling Man". If there is an abandoned country, a man can walk the tracks, collecting rail. Imagine him, Old JR, his wagon full of rail. Imagine his nephew, Reed, riding beside. Reed has a plan: one day he will retrace the steps his uncle has taken, follow the same maps, and gather up all the pinewood ties. He will load his own wagon. Whereas Old JR's home is a thicket of leaning rail, rust-red, Reed's home will be a stately mansion made from weathered planks. He thinks of this as he rides in the wagon, chewing straw. Beside him, Old JR is walking. Old JR always walks. He does not look at his nephew; he already knows what he is thinking. When Old JR was a young man, he too imagined a house made of wood. He did not yet know the cruelty of the world, the enemies in the tundra. He did not yet know the value of a home, somewhere, on a hill, made of the same stuff as guns.

[Deloro is the singer Jennifer Castle, Dave Clarke & Paul Mortimer from $100, Dallas Wehrle from Constantines, and the artist Tony Romano. Their debut, with allegedly splendid artwork, is available now on Idée Fixe.]

Galen Hartley - "Raised Like a Glass". Biding time 'til the chorus, like the way we bide our time until the toast. Finally, we raise our glasses. Finally, the stream of wishes and hopes, cheer and fizz. Finally, that nimble guitar lick, handclaps, sloppy outcried "yeah!" This is a song full of swaggering slapstick, Hartley most of all, and while I am not always certain of the softshoe, I am certain about the messy clink of that chorus.

[Galen Hartley will release Good Dreams at Montreal's Inspecteur L'Epingle on Thursday Oct 6 / Buy or listen at Bandcamp]

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Elsewhere: Adam & the Amethysts skinny-dip through the video for their exquisite song, "Dreaming" (NSFW). Catch their Montreal record launch at Phonopolis Tuesday night - 6pm.