Canada's the Beaches take the concept of the break-up album to new heights on 2023's Blame My Ex. The LP, which follows 2022's Juno Award-winning Sisters Not Twins (The Professional Lovers Album), reveals a band that's matured over the four years since their 2017 debut. Still in high school when they started out, the Beaches have become a road-tested live outfit who've honed their infectious guitar pop sound. Conceptually, the album was purportedly inspired by lead singer Jordan Miller's break-up with vocalist Brett Emmons of the Glorious Sons, with whom the Beaches toured for a period. They underline the connection with the fiery lead-off track "Blame Brett," a driving, tongue-in-cheek anthem that takes the best aspects of '80s post-punk and power pop and boils them down into a sugary, melt in your mouth pill. Along with being one of the hookiest tunes they've written, the song has an ironic, wink-at-the-audience quality, one that weaponizes female heartbreak into an exaltation of sexual empowerment. Miller sings, "I'm done being the sad girl/I'm done dating rockstars/From now on only actors/Tall boys in the Raptors/I'll become an asshole/Disguised as a bad girl." It's that bold, swaggering sense of rock & roll righteousness that propels all of Blame My Ex and cuts like "What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Paranoid," "Me and Me," and "Kismet" find them coloring the sentiment with equally sharp musical riffs and lyrical details. We might know who broke their heart, but for the uber-catchy Blame My Ex. the Beaches deserve full credit. ~ Matt Collar