Toronto project Picastro, led by vocalist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Liz Hysen, will release the EP “Double On Time” on June 12, 2026 through the Toronto label We Are Busy Bodies. The Picastro “Double On Time” EP runs to five tracks and is the project’s first release for the label, which works across folk, indie rock and experimental music.

Picastro ‘Double On Time’: tracklist and themes

“Double On Time” collects five tracks: “Fell The Family Tree”, “Chance Striker”, “Ring Description”, “Move fast, break” and “Believer End”. The EP is presented as an oblique homage to the boxer Sonny Liston, a figure Hysen researched during the pandemic while training in boxing herself. Hysen has linked the sport to improvising music, stating: “You have to be really good at reading people and understand timing.”

The recording also marks a shift in method, built around mangled samples that Hysen assembled while learning Ableton Live under Ben Vida’s guidance, with the work of American composer Charles Ives as an early source. Hysen described the approach as deliberate: “I used to let influences seep in, but this time I was controlling them,” adding that “the EP is about origins, examining them, celebrating them, re-defining them.” The EP is available to pre-order through Bandcamp, and a track is streaming on YouTube.

About Picastro

Picastro is the Toronto project of Liz Hysen, active for around three decades across indie rock, folk and experimental music. Over that period the project has worked with a changing cast of collaborators, among them Owen Pallett, Brandon Valdivia (Mas Aya), Stephanie Vittas, Nick Storring, Matthew Ramolo (Khôra) and Germaine Liu.

Hysen has reshaped the project’s sound across releases: the 2009 album “Become Secret” pared back the fuller arrangements of the earlier records, while 2019’s “Exit” added modular synthesizer, courtesy of Matthew Ramolo, and handed much of the lead vocal to guests including Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart and Chris Cummings of Marker Starling. “Double On Time”, the project’s first release for We Are Busy Bodies, follows on June 12, 2026.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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