Toronto quartet Mad Iris have been staples in the scene since before I even moved to the city. They were on my radar in my early days of writing for Demo, and they’re impossible to miss if you’re a fan of local live music. After steadily releasing singles since 2024, the band are finally coming out with their debut record Mad Iris on May 29th. Known for their gorgeous guitars and desperate-sounding vocals, the album is a must-listen for fans of alt and indie rock. While most of the songs on the seven track album Mad Iris are already out as singles, there’s plenty of fresh meat to dig into. 

Though Mad Iris is still trying to figure out how to best translate their onstage sound into recordings given that this is their debut album, the instrumentals on Mad Iris get a gold star from me. From the jump, the bass on “Silver Nails” is forward in the mix and climbs up and down with ease. The guitar melds with the vocals seamlessly, and the distortion roughens up the band’s otherwise more indie-ish tone. Throughout the record, the band show their talent at building and releasing tension throughout each track, so much so that it’s visible when displayed as a waveform. Track one “Silver Nails” sets a gritty tone that I’m not sure speaks for the rest of the album. It’s a song that doesn’t necessarily show Mad Iris’ ability to soften their sound particularly well. On my first listen, it led me to believe that the whole album would be filled with effect-heavy vocals and screeching guitars. How wrong I was. I wish I could pick out the lyrics better, because I’m sure the story the song is telling goes deeper than just a nail polish colour. “Silver Nails” demonstrates how great Mad Iris is at striking the fine balance between sharpness and gentleness. The chorus is melodic while the verses are pointed. The song definitely left me wanting to buy some nail polish.

The second track “Poor Baby” was a sudden departure from “Silver Nails,” and for a brief moment I thought that I’d clicked into an album by a different band, and I already found myself wishing that the transition between the two songs was less sudden. Mad Iris’ ability to shift between different sounds is both a blessing and a curse. Balancing the distortion of the album’s first track with the melodic nature of the midsection is challenging, especially because the later songs are able to do both at once. “Poor Baby” is not as tense as the rest of the record, and it also doesn’t feature the screams that sharpen some of the later tracks. The record feels noncommittal—the soft tracks aren’t all the way soft, but the distorted tracks are fully committed to being cacophonous. Then, there are also some that do both. The band, and the whole record for that matter, are the strongest in the tracks where both happen at once. Since the other tracks are singles, they stand out from the new material already. “Poor Baby” has been available to stream since summer last year, which didn’t work in my favour while listening because I was too aware of the differences between the old and the new. This fact made the album feel like more of a compilation and less of a unit. All that being said, a standout of the band’s discography is their bridges. I find that they really shine in the in-between moments, and it seems that that’s where all the elements of their music work in perfect harmony. “Poor Baby” has lovely stacked vocals, some interesting background effects, and the same great guitar that they’re known for. The song’s judgemental, gritty tone makes it really fun to listen to.

Track three “The Confession” ended up being one of my favourites on Mad Iris. It’s the perfect song for summer, and feels like the kind of thing you’d hear while riding around aimlessly with friends in a small town. The cymbal-heavy drum line combines seamlessly with an undulating guitar riff, and the vocal delivery feels like it’s full of yearning. The clear emotion made this song easy to connect to, and I think it will end up being a fan favourite. Something that stuck out to me throughout the album was the ever-changing nature of the vocal delivery. Each track featured a different level of clarity, diction, and strain in the singer Kaiya Rosie’s voice, which proved to be distracting, and further emphasized the lack of connectivity throughout the record. The singing on the next track, “Daisy, Don’t Take My Baby,” proved to work the best in my opinion. Nothing sounds forced–not even the growly desperation that takes over towards the end of the track. Though I wished there was more distortion on the song overall, the weight of the later screams and familiar-feeling guitars made me want to open a kind of gentle moshpit (if that kind of thing is even possible). 

The song fades seamlessly into the lead single “Employee of the Month.” Accompanied upon release by a VHS-quality music video, I think this track showcases everything that Mad Iris is great at. It melds the distortion of “Silver Nails” with the melodic parts of “The Confession,” all while being full of effects, screams, and the whiny vocals that the band is known for. The lyrics are difficult to decipher, but the driving rhythm of this song just makes me want to dance around instead of pick at meaning. I think this song will be excellent live, and I wish the band had blended their styles like this throughout the rest of the album. Perhaps as they continue to work on new music, this combination will become increasingly present. In spot six is “Goldfish,” which unfortunately isn’t necessarily memorable, even on such a short album. While the guitar is fun and the beat is again danceable, there are the same screams and build up as on “Daisy, Don’t Take My Baby” but it overall isn’t as impactful as “Employee of the Month.” The one line I could make out wasn’t my favourite. Rhyming “flowers” with “sour” isn’t exactly groundbreaking, and unfortunately pushed “Goldfish” further down on my list. 

The final track of the album, “The One I Wrote For You,” is another standout example of Mad Iris’ blended styles. The instrumentation is flawless as usual, and the occasional use of both distortion and vocal effects add just the right amount of intrigue. The song seems deeply personal and is again full of yearning, and overall, it showcased much of what I liked hearing the most from this record. Since I found myself missing out on the lyrics on the majority of the tracks, I didn’t get to experience the same depth of emotion in the vocal delivery that I did here. I think having a similar level of feeling present throughout would have also made the album slot better together. Mad Iris is a solid debut record with room for improvement, and I’m glad it ended on a high note.
While there’s nothing wrong with any of the songs on Mad Iris, I found myself wondering how they all fit together at times. Starting the record with a single that better demonstrated the band’s ability to encompass several genres (like “Employee of the Month” or “The One I Wrote For You”) could have led to a less disjointed feeling throughout for the listener. While we do live in a post Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party world where an album can be constructed out of disparate parts, I wish it wasn’t the case here. Mad Iris are clearly a capable band with plenty of talent, I’m just not sure this particular arrangement of tracks was their best move. The growth that they do show in their debut record is stunted by the use of familiar material. However, I’m excited to see what the band do next, especially because their place in Toronto’s scene is so cemented. They have so much potential, and the tracks that I enjoyed on this record really hit the nail on the head. I encourage you to give Mad Iris a listen and form your own opinions. I’ll be seeing how these songs fare live at their album release show on May 29th at Zero Studio. Hope to see you there!