One of my favorite indie artists is Western Jaguar, the music project of Canadian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jeffrey Trainor. Based in the eastern outskirts of Vancouver, British Columbia, Western Jaguar was born in 2012 when Trainor turned to music to get him out of a low point in his life. With the help of an evolving lineup of musicians, he released three EPs and several singles between 2013 and 2019, including the excellent “Disappear”, which went to #1 on my Weekly Top 30 in 2019. After experiencing a creative slump that began during the Covid pandemic, when he all but gave up on Western Jaguar, he later resurrected the project and completed an outstanding album of new and previously-written songs. The album, which he named Oblivion, was released in July (you can read my review here).

Though many of the album’s tracks deal with loss, Trainor is in fact a happily-married man, which he celebrates on the sweet love song “Darling“. Calling it the poppiest song he’s ever written, it’s definitely the most upbeat track on the album, with a bouncy melody, sunny guitar lines, plucky bass, cheerful xylophone and exuberant hand claps, accompanied by Trainor’s earnest and pleasing vocals. It’s a perfect little pop song, and I’ve grown to love it. Accordingly, it ascends to the top spot on my latest Weekly Top 30, becoming Western Jaguar’s second song to top my chart. The endearing video was filmed in the beautiful Fraser River valley of British Columbia.

Otherwise, not many changes from last week, and there are no new debuts.

1. DARLING – Western Jaguar (4)
2. MORE THAN A LOVE SONG – Black Pumas (1)
3. THE AMERICAN DREAM IS KILLING ME – Green Day (5)
4. HONEY (ARE U COMING?) – Måneskin (2)
5. ONE MORE TIME – blink-182 (3)
6. NOW AND THEN – The Beatles (9)
7. THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND – Bad Omens (7)
8. MY KINDA GIRL – The 23s (6)
9. ATOMIC CITY – U2 (10)
10. THE SHAMEFUL – Amongst Liars (11)
11. ANGRY – The Rolling Stones (12)
12. YOUR SIDE OF TOWN – The Killers (13)
13. ATTRACTION – Wild Horse (14)
14. UNDER YOU – Foo Fighters (8)
15. RUN AWAY WITH ME – Cold War Kids (16)
16. MY LOVE MINE ALL MINE – Mitski (19)
17. EVICTED – Wilco (15)
18. GOOD OLD DAYS – The Revivalists (18)
19. LOVING YOU – Cannons (20)
20. WILD – Brian Lambert, Harmoni Kelley & Marc Schuster (21)
21. ALL I DIE FOR – SWiiMS (22)
22. COOL ABOUT IT – boygenius (23)
23. WHITE HORSE – Chris Stapleton (24)
24. MODERN GIRL – Bleachers (25)
25. WHAT NOW – Brittany Howard (26)
26. HOW DID YOU GET HERE? – Antony Szmierek (27)
27. SUMMER OF LUV – Portugal. The Man ft. Unknown Mortal Orchestra (17)
28. HOUDINI – Dua Lipa (28)
29. BLAME BRETT – The Beaches (29)
30. PRETTY VICIOUS – The Struts (30)