Absent Sounds Archive

Hannah Frances is a composer, vocalist and guitarist, whose second album was one that has literally been spinning on repeat in our car. Spanning progressive rock, avant-folk, and jazz, the record navigates the ongoing, non-linear work of healing, with arrangements featuring contributions from Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear. Weajue spoke with Hannah at the tail end of her six-show tour, in Toronto at the Baby G. In this episode, we play the album in full and talk about uncovering what needed to be felt. Also airing in the second half of the program: Humanhood by the Weather Station, her seventh studio album, released January 2025 on Fat Possum. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Graham Johnson has been making music as Quickly Quickly since before most people had the language for what he was doing. When we first encountered his music, I couldn’t describe to to anyone either. This conversation catches him in reflection of figuring out what comes next. I Heard That Noise is his most distilled record yet, with beats infused acoustic songs carrying production jump scares, built almost entirely in a windowless basement with red carpet and a knockdown ceiling he eventually put his fist through. We talked about the noise you surround yourself with so you don't have to be alone with your thoughts. About spending three years and one new laptop on a single song. About what it means to finish something that started as a different version of you, and learning to let it go.Transcript available here: https://deeandjue.me/2026/03/09/quickly-quickly-interview/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Absent Sounds, we share a conversation with Mike Almquist: longtime manager, creative partner, and quiet architect behind the world of mewithoutYou. If you've ever let us play you music, you know we have mewithoutYou on almost every playlist. Saying "goodbye" (in the fullness of whatever the word really means) is nearly impossible. In this episode, we talk about how the band became a philosophy, and how something can end… without ever really ending. From early days of discovering A→B Life to [Untitled], Mike walks us through the life of mewithoutYou. At its core, this episode means a lot to us, and is one that we've held for a long time. We're so grateful he joined us, and that you care enough to keep listening. The transcript for the episode can be found here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's been four years since our first conversation with John, and this time we catch him in person during his stop in Madison Heights, MI for his Midwest tour supporting his new record.A lot has changed in four years, but the comfort his music brings his listeners has not. Unlike his other records, Joyful Noise is his most explicitly worship-focused project—yet it was the one that almost killed him to make.We talked about creative exhaustion and surrender. About the "embarrassment" of being a Christian artist. About bringing your anger and sorrow to God and a suffering savior who knows.It's a deeply honest and deeply human conversation and we're really thankful we got the chance to chat again because he is someone we look up to :) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's officially December, which means its officially snowing season. So what better way to welcome in the cold than an interview with cult classic band, Snowing. We sat down with Willow Brazuk and JR back when the sun was still around at New Friends Fest in Toronto—their first time ever playing in Canada. Also joined by our friends Paul and Zac from Farron Keep, we talked about the wonder that was their debut/last record: I Could Do Whatever I Wanted If I Wanted. The episode closes with music from Farron Keep's "The Weight of Rain" so tune in to hear it live on CJAM 99.1 FM Windsor-DetroitTranscript available here: deeandjue.me/absent-sounds Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Char and Meredith of Soft Blue Shimmer, along with producer Corey Coffman, join Weajue for a conversation about "They Will Leave Us With Nothing." It’s a record about capitalism, bodily grief, and what we pass between us when the system leaves us with nothing. This three-sided emotional triangle made it one of the hardest albums Corey has ever produced, and make it all the more resonant for us today. Recorded at Taylor Creek Park in Toronto (my favourite :) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alexei Shishkin makes music the same way he watches soccer: with an appreciation for improvisation. It's not often we're able to pay attention to the small moment that open into something larger but his record is all about the art of not overcomplicating it. On this episode of Absent Sounds, we have a good time playing through his debut Good Times and talk about how the album came together across a few days in Providence with producer Bradford Krieger. With a random word generator in hand, they quickly crafted a record that has squeezed much creative juice into our hearts. We also talk about his Treefort documentary, Carl Dennis, Microdisney, Pavement, and the difference between art and craft (I'm still figuring out that last piece). You can find an abridged transcript here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Allegra Krieger joins Weajue for a conversation about her album Art of the Unseen Infinity Machine—a record that grapples with impermanence, and the liminal spaces of existence. We talk about the Infinity Machine as a mechanism moving through us, signs, talismans and dream. She explains the strange trinity of pain and joy and compromise, the act of absolving yourself and your body, the binary of here or not-here, and what it means to sit with the pull toward "over and out" when nothing is yours to keep. Recorded outside the Opera House in Toronto on the final night of her tour with Foxwarren. We end off the episode playing tracks from Foxwarren's latest record, 2. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of Absent Sounds, Weajue caught John Roseboro to talk through his album Fools — each track feels like a meditation on love, faith, and the strange arithmetic of becoming. Together, this quiet, searching conversation with John helps frame the album as a doorway into memory. We drift throug what does it mean to be known? To surrender? To make art that is an offering.To see more episodes, you can listen live on cjam.ca or find the archives at deeandjue.me/absent-sounds Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

These days my brain feels like it’s tied up in a billion threads, but music has a way of loosening the knots. Bloom Effect’s oscilón has been part of that unwinding: a record that carries you out of the tangled noise and into something expansive, cosmic, and bright. The embodiment of love even. I caught up with the band (Jula Lafit, Craig Weighman, and Tom Rappa) at Sneaky Dee;s before they took to the stage.Bloom Effect is currently based in Vancouver, but are touring through the East with dates including:Guelph, Canada - Sep 30, 2025Montreal, Canada -Oct 2, 2025Ottawa, Canada -Oct 3, 2025Oct 4, 2025 - London, CanadaIf you're around and looking for the best wall of sound, you'll be sure to find it within those nights. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Absent Sounds, we head to Kensington Market (Toronto) to rediscover the 2018 record The Love Songs of Oedipus Rex by The Holy Gasp along with the re-release of the documentary that captured its creation.The Holy Gasp is the songwriting and performance project of Benjamin Hackman, who wrote the thirteen track beauty of theatrical, and devastating yet and often darkly funny storytelling. Luke Sargent is a Toronto-based filmmaker, editor, and director whose work both merges with the record through the documentary of the same name. Together, we trace how the record grew out of grief, divorce, therapy, and community, and how Luke’s camera transformed 85 hours of raw footage into a 22-minute film that balances those themes with care. We talk about the intimacy of recording on Toronto Island, the vulnerability of love, and what it means to parent yourself through endings. The conversation is woven through our playthrough of The Love Songs of Oedipus Rex, so tune in to listen to both!Find the can watch the documentary The Love Songs of Oedipus Rex now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ40LgOI6eY Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Howdy friends! Today’s episode is the second installment of our New Friends Fest 2025 coverage, featuring an interview with Newfoundland-based band Swimming. From late-night basement hours to three-day marathons of writing and recording, Swimming’s music is built on both discipline and openness.Earlier this year, Weajue sat down with Jacob Cherwick to talk about the process of shaping Old (their sophomore record released in February) from long jam sessions into songs that balance mathy intricacy with emotional weight. Tune in on Absent Sounds for our full NFF 2025 interview with Swimming, plus a playthrough of Old. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From August 1–3, New Friends Fest took over Toronto's west end. The annual DIY punk, emo, and hardcore gathering brings bands from across the world together for three days of loud, unfiltered communion. Today's episode is the first of our 2025 NFF festival coverage. The "coolest internet emo band" logged off and touched grass (literally, on the lawn of the Lithuanian House), where we caught up with them after their set. We talked about the vulnerability in their lyrics, the massive 20-piece sound they conjure in the studio versus the rawness of their live shows, and what it feels like to be part of a festival built on care, catharsis, and shared love of the underground. As we play the interview, we also dive into their latest EP Apiary from top to bottom. If you haven't heard it yet, it’s 22 minutes of pure emo bliss in its sweetest, most emotionally potent form. Gingerbee is a band impossible to ignore. To close out the show, we run through Arm's Length's newest record, There’s a Whole World Out There. Listen today at 1pm EST Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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On this episode, Weajue is joined by singer-songwriter Avery Friedman to walk through the tender terrain of her debut album, New Thing. What began as a private act of survival- writing songs alone in her room, quickly transformed into a full-bodied practice of vulnerability, expression, and queer joy.We go track by track, unpacking the emotions and stories behind each song: from the aching stillness and reverb of “Biking Standing” to the flirty pop chaos of “Photo Booth.” Along the way, Avery opens up about what it means to try something new in adulthood, to face fear head-on, and to let your awkwardness guide you. Tune in to hear what this album has in store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Weadee sits down with Tomato Flower to talk about the everchanging architecture of their songwriting — from the politics of form, to learning which walls to break down. We trace the emotional undercurrents of songs like Radical, and Destroyer, and reflect on the tensions between brevity and maximalism. Along the way: we play their 2024 record No from top to bottom.Tomato Flower is a four-piece experimental rock band based in Baltimore, Maryland, whose music find a way to blend fractured rhythms and strong melodic instincts. No as an album sees Tomato Flower walking a tightrope of sound between chaos and clarity. Thank you to the band for joining us! Be sure to catch them live when you can :) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.