Toronto’s AloneKitty have shared “I’m Wide Awake,” the lead single from their upcoming album wide awake (out November 6 via Mint 400 Records), and it arrives with a weight that’s impossible to separate from the story behind it. Frontwoman Michelle K lost both of her parents while the record was being made. “No one is there to save me anymore,” she says, explaining that as adults we still quietly think of our parents as the people standing behind us if everything falls apart. Suddenly, that backstop was gone.
Where the band’s previous record, sad not sad, was about discovering what AloneKitty could become, wide awake is the sound of knowing, and of life pulling the floor out from under you anyway. The loss didn’t push the band toward overthinking. It pushed them to create. “It made me want to capture it honestly,” Michelle says.
Raw Rock, Soft Voice
Sonically, “I’m Wide Awake” is a standout. It’s a raw, hard-edged rock track with a distinctly 2000s feel, the kind of urgent, driving sound that brings Interpol to mind, but with a shoegaze touch running through it. The real hook is the contrast: the instrumentation hits hard, while the vocal stays calm and gentle, giving the song a youthful, alternative quality that feels genuinely innovative.
That balance between the heaviness of the music and the quiet delivery on top recalls the dreamy side of My Bloody Valentine, Julie and Whirr. It’s a compelling mix of classic alternative rock with shoegaze textures and more modern alternative sensibilities, and it’s one we can’t stop coming back to. Highly recommended.
Shoegaze, Held Loosely
Call AloneKitty shoegaze if you like, though Michelle holds the label loosely. She grew up on Sonic Youth, Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine and slowcore bands like Low, long before the genre’s current resurgence, so this isn’t a trend she’s chasing. It’s the language she grew up speaking. What she loved about those records was that they were experimental and didn’t sound like they were trying to pass a purity test. Her label’s Neil Sabatino jokingly calls the band “shoegaze classic,” a tag she wears without complaint.
Imperfect on Purpose
The band self-produced the album with engineer Darren McGill and Michael Flynn, and the sessions ran on trust rather than perfection. Bassist Michael Small and drummer Stefan Loebus were more than hired hands. They became collaborators who pushed for extra takes whenever they felt they could do better. The goal was to preserve the chemistry of people playing together in a room instead of sanding down every rough edge. As Michelle puts it, once you’ve lived through the worst, perfection starts to matter a little less than honesty.
A New Tuning, A New Door
“I’m Wide Awake” was built around one of Thurston Moore’s alternate tunings, which ended up shaping more than half the songs on the album after Michelle fell hard for his record The Last Day. Sometimes, she says, a record quietly opens a new door, and you don’t question it, you just walk through. “She Thinks It’s Alright” came together the same way. When she asked longtime mastering engineer Simon Scott which song should lead the album, he didn’t hesitate. His verdict, in her telling: it’s a banger. After hearing it, it’s hard to disagree.
The Closer
Another key moment is “Disappointed (For the Last Time),” the album’s closer, which stands apart on purpose. Recorded solo at Harlow Sound with engineer Justin McWilliams, with Michelle on guitar, bass and vocals, it’s a wall of sound aimed at the ghost of a father who couldn’t, or wouldn’t, accept who she was. The song carries real anger, but making it turned into something closer to peace, with long talks about life, music and art, and some of the most meditative playback sessions she’s ever had.
Michelle doesn’t write slogans. She writes from lived experience, relationships, grief, identity and the people closest to her, and lets the rest sit underneath. There’s nothing careful about wide awake, and it could not have been made any other way.
Watch and listen to “I’m Wide Awake” now, and follow the band on Instagram.
