Favours — Jacq Andrade and Alex Zen — are an emerging Toronto-based pop duo. Their forthcoming EP Left Behind slated for release later this year, and the EP’s material reportedly sees the Canadian pop duo establishing a dream pop sound that also draws equally from their shared love of 80s New Wave and DIY post-punk. The EP also features Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning on bass.
Over the past few months, the members of the Toronto-based duo have been building up buzz for their EP. Last month, I wrote about “Right Back,” a breezy single that to my ears recalled 80s Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac, while being about “a love or friendship that never ends. No matter the distance, every time you meet, you’re right back where you left off,” as the duo explained.
“Call Me,” Left Behind‘s latest single is a slow-burning pop ballad centered around strummed acoustic guitar, glistening synths, boy-girl harmonizing and an enormous hook. If you’re a child of the 80s as I am., “Call Me” sonically brings a couple of beloved and incredibly well written pop songs to mind — John Waite‘s “Missing You” and Til Tuesday’s “Voices Carry” but with a modern sensibility. Thematically,. the song tackles a familiar topic to all of us: the cycles of life and relationships and the bright new possibilities that come from a fresh start. And as a result, the song is imbued with a bittersweet hopefulness. “Every new beginning/Comes from some other beginning’s end,” as a song once said.