Meet the Toronto neighbourhood band Mamals

A group of 20 neighbours from Toronto’s east end have come together to form a band.

Known as Mamals, the group even released an eponymous EP in January.

The band started when husband and wife musical duo James and Mary Boyd began getting together with their neighbours every few weeks to sing cover songs.

“And then there’s a lightbulb moment when we really realized that there’s an opportunity to make a really deep connection and experience and write original music,” James told CTV News Channel. “So we thought we could use this great big group of 20 people and write some awesome original music.”

All of the members of the band live in a small Toronto neighbourhood known as The Pocket, which sits just south of the Danforth between Jones and Greenwood Aves.

“It’s a really special neighbourhood,” James said. “There’s a lot of connection between families. I’ve certainly never lived anywhere like it before. People help each other out and it’s a really cool place to live and there’s a lot of creative minds in the neighbourhood as well.”

Bandmate and neighbour Darcy Losell says their music is “a little bit indie” and “has a Canadian sound.”

“But I think you can best describe it as choral pop or chamber pop,” he added. “It’s just uplifting, it’s emotional, it’s fun.”

With one EP done, Mamals is now setting its sights on a full-length album.

“The journey is just to see where this goes and then try to get the collective together to create some new songs or write some more original material and just try to extend the feeling and the vibe of what we’ve created as a group,” Losell explained.

Mamals’ debut EP is available to stream or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Apple Music and Deezer. For more information, visit www.mamals.band.

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