Blowin' Up
Kiwi Jr.
Released on August 14, 2026 by Perennial and K Records, Blowin’ Up is Toronto indie-rock quartet Kiwi Jr.’s fourth album. Across its 10 tracks and roughly 40-minute running time, the band—led by vocalist and lyricist Jeremy Gaudet—pairs bright, tightly constructed guitar pop with stories that are absurd, self-mocking, cinematic, and unexpectedly moving. The title track imagines the group’s own funeral, turning a grim premise into an energetic, hook-driven song, while the album more broadly considers artistic ambition, the unglamorous realities of touring, leaving home, sobriety, and the effort to sustain optimism in an unstable world.
Musically, Blowin’ Up extends Kiwi Jr.’s jangly power-pop and indie-rock sound with a more confident, expansive sense of arrangement. The opening “Photos of the Reenactment” condenses a mother-and-daughter crime-solving story into a compact pop narrative, while “Hard Drive, Ontario” transforms a regional pun into a wistful song about departure and attachment to place. “Pure Michigan,” “Stage Names,” and the title cut bring brisk guitar energy and deadpan humor, whereas “New Jade Rabbit” and “Caught in the Wild” slow the pace for more atmospheric, emotionally exposed performances. The latter, which contrasts fantasies of rock-star luxury with the reality of hauling gear and playing low-paying shows, captures the record’s central appeal: a band capable of making wit, anxiety, and hard-won hope coexist in the same sharply melodic song.
Released on August 14, 2026 by Perennial and K Records, Blowin’ Up is Toronto indie-rock quartet Kiwi Jr.’s fourth album. Across its 10 tracks and roughly 40-minute running time, the band—led by vocalist and lyricist Jeremy Gaudet—pairs bright, tightly constructed guitar pop with stories that are absurd, self-mocking, cinematic, and unexpectedly moving. The title track imagines the group’s own funeral, turning a grim premise into an energetic, hook-driven song, while the album more broadly considers artistic ambition, the unglamorous realities of touring, leaving home, sobriety, and the effort to sustain optimism in an unstable world.
Musically, Blowin’ Up extends Kiwi Jr.’s jangly power-pop and indie-rock sound with a more confident, expansive sense of arrangement. The opening “Photos of the Reenactment” condenses a mother-and-daughter crime-solving story into a compact pop narrative, while “Hard Drive, Ontario” transforms a regional pun into a wistful song about departure and attachment to place. “Pure Michigan,” “Stage Names,” and the title cut bring brisk guitar energy and deadpan humor, whereas “New Jade Rabbit” and “Caught in the Wild” slow the pace for more atmospheric, emotionally exposed performances. The latter, which contrasts fantasies of rock-star luxury with the reality of hauling gear and playing low-paying shows, captures the record’s central appeal: a band capable of making wit, anxiety, and hard-won hope coexist in the same sharply melodic song.
Blowin' Up
Kiwi Jr.
Released on August 14, 2026 by Perennial and K Records, Blowin’ Up is Toronto indie-rock quartet Kiwi Jr.’s fourth album. Across its 10 tracks and roughly 40-minute running time, the band—led by vocalist and lyricist Jeremy Gaudet—pairs bright, tightly constructed guitar pop with stories that are absurd, self-mocking, cinematic, and unexpectedly moving. The title track imagines the group’s own funeral, turning a grim premise into an energetic, hook-driven song, while the album more broadly considers artistic ambition, the unglamorous realities of touring, leaving home, sobriety, and the effort to sustain optimism in an unstable world.
Musically, Blowin’ Up extends Kiwi Jr.’s jangly power-pop and indie-rock sound with a more confident, expansive sense of arrangement. The opening “Photos of the Reenactment” condenses a mother-and-daughter crime-solving story into a compact pop narrative, while “Hard Drive, Ontario” transforms a regional pun into a wistful song about departure and attachment to place. “Pure Michigan,” “Stage Names,” and the title cut bring brisk guitar energy and deadpan humor, whereas “New Jade Rabbit” and “Caught in the Wild” slow the pace for more atmospheric, emotionally exposed performances. The latter, which contrasts fantasies of rock-star luxury with the reality of hauling gear and playing low-paying shows, captures the record’s central appeal: a band capable of making wit, anxiety, and hard-won hope coexist in the same sharply melodic song.
Released on August 14, 2026 by Perennial and K Records, Blowin’ Up is Toronto indie-rock quartet Kiwi Jr.’s fourth album. Across its 10 tracks and roughly 40-minute running time, the band—led by vocalist and lyricist Jeremy Gaudet—pairs bright, tightly constructed guitar pop with stories that are absurd, self-mocking, cinematic, and unexpectedly moving. The title track imagines the group’s own funeral, turning a grim premise into an energetic, hook-driven song, while the album more broadly considers artistic ambition, the unglamorous realities of touring, leaving home, sobriety, and the effort to sustain optimism in an unstable world.
Musically, Blowin’ Up extends Kiwi Jr.’s jangly power-pop and indie-rock sound with a more confident, expansive sense of arrangement. The opening “Photos of the Reenactment” condenses a mother-and-daughter crime-solving story into a compact pop narrative, while “Hard Drive, Ontario” transforms a regional pun into a wistful song about departure and attachment to place. “Pure Michigan,” “Stage Names,” and the title cut bring brisk guitar energy and deadpan humor, whereas “New Jade Rabbit” and “Caught in the Wild” slow the pace for more atmospheric, emotionally exposed performances. The latter, which contrasts fantasies of rock-star luxury with the reality of hauling gear and playing low-paying shows, captures the record’s central appeal: a band capable of making wit, anxiety, and hard-won hope coexist in the same sharply melodic song.