Vancouver-born, Toronto-based singer-songwriter Alex Southey has released an absorbing new single. Green Sunday opens with gently insistent guitar before lush layers are introduced and, halfway through, percussion is ushered in, giving the song a greater urgency. The multi-talented, multi-instrumentalist Southey played vocals, guitars, Mellotron, tambourine, field recordings, and even a custom ‘banj-uitar’. Jason Pilling adds bass and drums, as well as taking on engineer duties for the recording. Over these instrumental textures, Southey’s vocal performance flows in a sweetly melodic stream, demonstrating his impressive range and fine, precision delivery. Southey explains that Green Sunday began as “… a joke about New Order’s Blue Monday and ended as a joke about New Order’s Blue Monday”, gradually turned into something more personal, “…a song about self-worth, and a constant giving-in.”
The accompanying video was shot over several Sundays in Southey’s neighbourhood of Wallace-Junction-Emerson. A series of images shows various items that had been left abandoned outside people’s homes. Southey scavenged these objects and used them artfully to reinforce the song’s mood. In particular, he was pleased to have found the stuffed monkey, a great character that is central to the video.
An ambitious writer with an experimental approach, Southey says that he’s “…able to bring fresh material with him virtually every time.” Southey is a prolific artist, with multiple albums, EPs and singles to his name. Known for tuneful music full of dreamy melancholy, he’s had plenty of airplay on radio outlets across Canada. For now, Green Sunday is a standalone release, but Southey has hinted that there may be a rockier full-length album or EP coming towards the end of this year or into 2027. While you’re waiting for more new material, absorb this.
