Every Wednesday, the ugly hug shares a playlist personally curated by an artist/band that we have been enjoying. This week, we have a collection of songs put together by Toronto-based songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Eliza Niemi.

With intimate and collective soundscapes, Niemi’s anti-folk world is one built with articulated blunders, soggy admiration and precious observational harmony – taking the time to colorfully animate the tricky moments of glee, love, anxiety and loss in her life. Coming up to the two year anniversary of her remarkable debut full-length, Staying Mellow Blows, we asked Niemi to curate a playlist for the ugly hug, in which she shares;

“I made a playlist for my new friend recently of a bunch of my favourite songs that I thought he’d like. I soon realized that most of them boasted prominent shaker! I guess I love shaker. So I decided to make a shaker-themed playlist. Auxiliary percussion really adds so much to a groove, and I find shaker in particular to be very magnetic. A bunch of my own music has shaker too so I shamelessly included one of my songs on here. My friend Eli played the shaker on it — he’s awesome.”

Featured Photo by Ben Mike | Written by Shea Roney