Awake & Dreaming –Inevitable

Awake & Dreaming release their debut album, Inevitable, on Friday, October 16, 2026.

Ten tracks, 48 minutes, self-released on limited vinyl and every streaming platform. Two singles lead the way: “Underwater” on September 18 and “Rewire” on October 2. The band played ten cities across Ontario and Quebec from September 17, closing at The Rivoli in Toronto on October 10.

Inevitable is about staying human in a world built to numb you. Machines convince us of what we want without even asking. The feed never runs out, and the answers arrive before the questions. The record asks what is left of a person when the noise never stops: dopamine preying on insecurities, grief never said out loud, seeking danger to satisfy, 2 a.m. self-talk sessions, parental anxieties, and rioting in numbers. Will we merge with technology or reject it? The album asks the question in its own arrangements, weaving synths and electronic atmospheres through modern and classical instruments, and weighs what we stand to gain against what we stand to lose. It ends in awe of what might still be possible. The title is the verdict. Whatever is coming is coming. What’s left of us remains undecided.

The band’s name is not a metaphor. Sasha Kristoff lives with Type 2 Narcolepsy. Awake and dreaming is her daily reality, two states that are not supposed to coexist and do anyway. The band turned the condition into a method. The songs hold conflicting ideas and ask you to sit with both: isolated while connected, hopeful while scared, love through loss. Tracks often hold both, earning their intimate and massive moments. Canadian Beats called it “a quiet confession turning into a widescreen catharsis.” The band calls it duality, and the music revolves around it.

Inevitable was produced by Awake & Dreaming, mixed by Jay Dufour, 9x Juno Award winner (July Talk, Finger Eleven, Billy Talent), and mastered by João Carvalho (Rush, The Tragically Hip, Alexisonfire). The band is Sasha Kristoff (vocals, piano), Stefan Schneider (guitar, synth), Phil Lee (bass) and Ryan Dugal (drums). Their singles to date have earned more than 50 reviews from 37 outlets across 11 countries and 280K+ Spotify streams. They have opened for Rough Trade at Toronto’s El Mocambo, played The Delancey in New York, and opened for Blue Rodeo at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre in Owen Sound on October 8, 2026.

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