Awake & Dreaming Release “Rewire”: The Dopamine Loop as a Chorus

Waterloo, ON, October 6, 2026. Awake & Dreaming’s “Rewire” is out now, the sixth single from their debut album Inevitable and the last before the record arrives on October 16. It came out on October 2, between the tour’s Quebec City and Drummondville nights. Where “Underwater” turned inward, “Rewire” is the fast one: the dopamine loop we live inside, turned into a chorus that repeats until it curdles. The Waterloo, Ontario four-piece close the Inevitable Tour this week, as special guests for Blue Rodeo in Owen Sound on October 8, at Rum Runners in London on October 9 and at The Rivoli in Toronto on October 10.

What the song is about

The verses of “Rewire” describe a life that looks perfect from the outside. “Perfectly aligned. No complaints. No problems. Everything just how I like.” Then comes the chorus, the mantra we are sold: “Inspire me. Desire me. Admire me. Rewire me.” It repeats until it curdles into “I’m bored.” The bridge drops the act and confesses what the loop is feeding on: “Saw the sun caving in. Done all I can. Rewire me so I can feel again.” Then the song resets to the loop and ends. The band calls it the thesis statement of the album, all in one song.

How it is built

“Rewire” is the record’s fast song, and it was written to be. Partway through making Inevitable, the band named what the album was still missing (an ending, a fast song, a human song) and wrote toward each one. “Rewire” was one of the last three songs finished. Stefan Schneider wrote its lyrics, piano, guitar and arrangement. It opens on a saturated guitar riff over live drums, with Sasha Kristoff’s voice on top in short, chopped lines. The lead line underneath is played on a bass, and there are two basses on the track, Phil Lee’s and Schneider’s. The chorus lands at 0:50. At 2:05 the bridge strips everything back: synths and the bass line lead, the guitars fall away and the vocal softens into the confession. Then the riff comes back, the loop restarts, and the song stops dead. 3:45.

Where it sits on the record

“Rewire” is track 2 of 10 on Inevitable, placed directly after the opener “I U Me” and its line “flesh and blood and part of the machine.” The album’s technology thread turns physical here: the machine starts rewriting the person. The band calls the record’s push and pull duality, and it is where the name comes from. 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. On “Rewire” the two sides are the loop and the confession under it, a chorus built to be shouted and a bridge built to be admitted. Later on the album, “Old Ghosts” and “Underwater” are where those vulnerabilities are lived through.

“Rewire” was written by Stefan Schneider and Sasha Kristoff, produced by Awake & Dreaming, mixed by Jay Dufour, the 9-time Juno Award winner behind July Talk, Finger Eleven and Billy Talent, and mastered by João Carvalho (Rush, The Tragically Hip, Alexisonfire). Carvalho mastered the whole album and Dufour mixed nine of its ten tracks (“Old Ghosts” keeps its original mix by Ryan Dugal). The single is the album track, the same file that plays at track 2 on Inevitable. The first 100 vinyl copies carry a longer intro on “Rewire,” an easter egg for vinyl listeners.

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 press reviews across 11 countries and 280K+ Spotify streams. In September, CBC News ran a video feature on the tour and CBC Radio One’s The Morning Edition in Kitchener-Waterloo had the band in studio; the band’s music is in the CBC catalogue. The Inevitable Tour opened September 17 in Windsor and has played Sarnia, Hamilton, Guelph, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and Drummondville. Three dates remain: Owen Sound with Blue Rodeo on October 8, London on October 9 and Toronto on October 10, six days before the album is released to the world. Limited vinyl, signed by Sasha Kristoff and hand-numbered, is on pre-order.