Musician Chris Cummings, AKA Mantler.

Toronto’s Chris Cummings leads a double life. By day, he works at the Toronto International Film Festival as Assistant Manager, programming Norman McLaren shorts for the Bell Lightbox. By night, he slides into a white tuxedo to become Mantler, his broken-hearted soul-funk alter ego.

Mantler has been a fixture of the Toronto music scene since the mid-’90s, when he wrote sweetly solipsistic love songs about crying at the movies, inspired by Burt Bacharach’s wayward pop and Marvin Gaye’s divorce record Here My Dear. But on 2010’s Monody, he got a little help from his friends—ironically, the same musicians he first inspired, like Owen Pallett and Junior Boys’ Jeremy Greenspan. Being an elder statesman of the Toronto music scene has allowed Mantler to organize events like a recent screening at the TIFF Cinemateque, where he played along to avant-garde films by malign experimental filmmakers. But unlike most local musicians, Mantler isn’t afraid to use sentiment in his lushly orchestrated R&B. He has called his project an attempt for “eternal hope in the face of everyday despair,” but his emotive songwriting makes you want to live.

By tapping into the longing of unrequited love and urban ennui, Mantler’s music helps us come to terms with our own isolation. And by connecting the fragmented film and music scenes, he’s helping other emerging musicians find their influences in Jean-Pierre Melville film noirs and Douglas Sirk melodramas. No stranger to dreaming in the dark, Mantler’s songs remain the same.

Cover of Woodhands' January 2010 album "Remorsecapade"

Admittedly, this week’s addition of Tuesday Tracks a little Toronto-centric. Generally, we like to ensure the cream rises from coast to coast, but the three songs selected this week were so strong it would have been tragic to bump any one of them even for a week. However, while the homebase may be Southern Ontario, the styles expand well beyond and this crop of music truly transcends physical location.

First up: “Dissembler” by Woodhands spans an evening of performances, house parties, flirting and fun. The video’s frenetic stop/start editing and stop-motion mimics the electronic energy of the song perfectly while the vocal harmonies provide enough humanity to give the song real heart.

Secondly: “Summer Sounds” by Maylee & Pegwee Power. Remember the romantic interest in that previous video? The woman with the cherubic smile? That’s Maylee Todd and when not lending her smile (and voice) to Woodhands, she is busy channelling her Pegwee Power–a supernatural, alien psychadelic force—all to our benefit.

Finally: “Childman” by Mantler. Mantler is the neo-soul alter-ego of mild mannered Chris A. Cummings. A kind of quiet superhero with a gentle rasp and the power to punctuate his voice with a brass band. He has the demeanor and cocked eyebrow of a mad scientist and the knowing croon of a 70’s R&B icon.