Photo by Sarah Elise Bauman
Toronto’s Mad Iris has been playing around Canada since 2023, incorporating noise rock, punk, shoegaze, and grunge, into a sound that honors progenitors like Sonic Youth, Swirlies, and early Jesus & Mary Chain. Frontwomen Kaiya Rosie and Ela Hinatsu blend bratty screams with hushed sighs, contrasting Parick Muldoon’s kaleidoscope guitar distortion and Josh Pryce’s roaring drum beats.
“Employee of the Month” captures the harnessed chaos the band does so well. Rosie and Hinatsu’s dual lead vocals are as distorted as the electric guitars, which drive out a punk melody amidst a noise morass. The video is equally squalid, as the band performs in fields and forests through blurry imagery and quick jump cuts.
As Ela describes the song:
Employee of the Month feels like this commentary on corporate culture. It’s scratchy and loud and chaotic both visually and audibly. We had lots of fun with this one.
Mad Iris cover art
Mad Iris, out May 29, 2026, covers desire, obsession, jealousy, and pettiness, while taking place on back seats, night buses, and gas stations, with gum stuck to desks, and drinks spilled on sticky floors. Throughout, obsessive impulses spiral into emotional meltdowns, with songs lurching between restraint and eruption.
A Mad Iris song teeters on disaster, shifting from gritty feedback to a masterful, sloppy haze, employing distorted sounds as if recorded directly to cassette, and placing them in the context of strong, sparkling production. Complementing their music are walls of noisy visuals: videos that seem like coming from a worn VHS tape, scrapbook show flyers, and alleyway photoshoots. “Our visuals are an intricate part of the band’s style,” says bassist Ela Hinatsu, who shares lead vocals with guitarist Kaiya Rosie, often on the same song. With a sound, style, and presence fully intentional, Mad Iris goes beyond being a band, becoming more an idea.
Opening track,"Silver Nails", sets hushed, breathy vocals floating over a screechy guitar line, played by Patrick Muldoon, before collapsing into distorted, whiny grit and feral screams, ending the track with a guitar solo from producer/mixer Ximuna Diego, who, with his own musical expertise, is the secret to Mad Iris' signature distorted sound. The album oscillates between sweet and bitter, lustful and jealous, tender and chaotic. “Poor Baby” soaks in self-pity and pointed blame, building from scratchy dual vocals and warm analogue tones into a fever pitch, led by drummer Josh Pryce. “Goldfish” bursts with upbeat guitar riffs and thunderous energy, as sweet-and-bratty vocals cut through playful indie rock. The song strips the intensity and cattiness of other tracks, framing messy desire in a bright, chaotic context, with vocals bouncing between sharp and smooth, guitars continually weaving between jangly hooks.
On record, Mad Iris is raw, unpolished, and intimidatingly cool. Off-stage, they’re grounded and self-aware. As Pryce puts it, “We’re just four friends hanging out and making music together. There’s lots of playful love in it.” That chemistry drives their energetic debut.