Despite our best efforts to destroy the planet and everything living on it, we made it through the first month of 2023. Congrats, everybody. Pat yourselves on the backs.

One of the obvious silver linings of living in this terrible time is that we have more access to music than any other generation in history. It wasn’t all that long ago that you could only hear music if somebody was playing an instrument nearby, but today, we have millions of songs at our fingertips, and there a thousands and thousands more coming every month. Our ancestors would be floored.

We got a lot of great new music in January. As always, its quality is totally subjective. You’re never wrong to love a song. You’re not wrong to hate a song either, though you might be a bit of a dick, and you should consider smoking some weed or doing some yoga to chill yourself out a bit.

Having addressed that, here are ALT-MART‘s favourite new alternative (and alternative-adjacent) songs of the month.

Dress – Softcult 

Canadian sisters Mercedes and Phoenix Arn-Horn of Softcult seem to be incapable of writing a bad song. The newest single Dress, which clocks in at just under three and a half minutes, is no exception. It’s a jangly banger that seems to borrow from The Sundays, Joy Division, and the 2007 version of Avril Lavigne all at once. Best of all, it’s a song with a message, confronting rape culture head-on and explaining consent in terms even the thickest meathead should be able to understand. 

“It’s a dress, not a yes.” 

Under Tongues – James Ivy 

When you listen to James Ivy songs, you’re 19 again, whether you’re actually 22, 27, 34, or 50. The Korean-American from New Jersey has somehow figured out how to distill the essence of youth into his music – the freedom, the pining, the boredom and broken hearts. His newest single, the delectably poppy Under Tongues, is a great example of that prodigious skill. It’s the kind of song that you might have heard on the soundtrack 90s teen movie, and one that will probably be featured on whatever the kids are watching now. 

coil – crushed 

I’m really excited about crushed. The duo of Bre Morell (from Temple of Angels) and Shaun Durkan put out their first song, waterlily, late last year. It was really good, and their newest, coil, is arguably even better. Like a lot of shoegaze songs, it’s a little on the longer side, but at no point during its almost five-minute runtime does it flag. It’s fuzzy, it’s rollicking, and obviously, it’s best enjoyed loud. Check it out if you like the handiwork of bands like Winter, Zoon, and Kraus.

Apple Tree – Why Bonnie

Blair Howerton of Austin’s Why Bonnie has one of my favourite voices in music right now. I would let her viciously insult me for hours on end as long as she was singing. Her voice is that nice. As luck would have it, her band is awesome too, and their newest song, Apple Tree, is one of their best to date. Like a lot of their older stuff, it borrows heavily from country and Americana music, but there’s a waviness to it that betrays the band’s obvious affection for dream pop and shoegaze. Listen to it on a porch swing or, hey, maybe even in the shade of an apple tree. It’s that kind of song.

Lead photograph via Why Bonnie/Whybonnie.com