A busy week of releases with plenty to grab the attention. Here is our weekly roundup.

Wren Hinds        Don’t Die in the Bundu 

A gleaming set of gently dappled and poetic songs about fatherhood and fortitude from Cape Town based singer-songwriter.

Mull Historical Society   In My Mind There’s A Room       

A concept album in which he teamed up with a number of acclaimed authors (Ian Rankin, Nick Hornby, Jacqueline Wilson, Val McDermid, Jennifer Clement, Booker-winning Sebastian Barry, 2021 US National Book Award-winner Jason Mott, plus two Scottish poet laureates in Jackie Kay and Liz Lochhead) and set them the challenge of writing about a room that had been important to them.

Blur        The Ballad of Darren     

Their first album in 8 years, described by Damon Albarn as “an aftershock record, reflection and comment on where we find ourselves now.”

Miss Tiny             Den7 EP              

Collaboration between producer/guitarist Dan Carey and vocalist / drummer Benjamin Romans-Hopcraft (Childhood, Warmduscher). It’s an EP built on their guiding principle of “We called it anti-recording,” offers Carey. “Only doing it for the pleasure of doing it”.

Blondes                In Separation    

6 track EP of superior hook-laden indie with a shoegazy quality.

Palace                   Part 1: When Everything Was Lost EP     

Not to be mistaken for Will Oldham’s alias, this is a four track EP from London band introducing rich, deep strings to their sonic arsenal, building on their now-trademark warmly melodic yet melancholic sound.

Rezz       It’s Not A Phase EP         

Project which blends his youthful passion for goth with his current dancefloor leanings.

Fred Abong         Fear Pageant    

Bassist from Throwing Muses and Belly, as well as having a PhD in Humanities, updating his reputation as a ragged Replacements.

Sam Burton        Dear Departed 

LA based singer with echoes of a modern-day Campbell, Nilsson or Orbison – songs that reflect his finger-picking style and gentle orchestral sweep.

Upper Wilds      Jupiter 

The third instalment in the trio’s exploration of the solar system mapping out the overwhelming enormity of the universe in soaring hooks and blistering noise. Dan Friel has previously worked with Glenn Branca, Damo Suzuki and Ui.

Pelican The Fire in our Throats 

Remixed and remastered edition of 2005 album which shifted the paradigm of heavy music through the group’s compositional deftness via the addition of increasingly complex melodic layers.

Dead Or Alive   Let Them Drag My Soul Away – Singles, Demos and Live Recordings 1979-1982 

3CD box set of early recordings ranging from the disco punk funk of ‘Black Leather’ through proto-Gothic singles ‘It’s Been Hours Now’ and ‘The Stranger’, and into early versions of hi-NRG tracks which would eventually find their way onto the band’s debut album.

Fabiano Do Nascimento               Das Nuvens       

LA based multi-string guitarist melds traditional idioms of his native Brazil (samba and choro) with contemporary strains of jazz and electronic music.

Nino Dani            On The Surface EP          

A fusion of Goth Rock and Metal, elevated by poetic and emotionally charged lyrics.

Forever Autumn               Crowned In Skulls EP     

Five track EP exploring shamanism and witchery through the fusion of Pagan Folk and Acoustic Doom.

Lauren Auder    the infinite spine            

Auder’s baroquely orchestrated pop songs fuse classical and post-rock elements with contemporary themes of generational discontent and personal turmoil, resulting in vivid musical portraits.

Cian Ducrot        Victory

Debut album from Irish singer-songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist has seen his recent singles – ‘I’ll Be Waiting’ and the Gold-certified ‘All For You’ – appear in the Top 20 of the Official Singles Chart.

A Man Called Adam        The Girl With A Hole in her Heart            

A House record made for all night dancing in a decommissioned steelworks or an ambient record that strolls a windswept coastline where lime-grass dunes rise and fall like slumbering megafauna.

Matt Von Roderick          Celestial Heart 

His signature sound combines his classic, lush tones with adventurous vocal/trumpet multiphonics, a dash of loops and contemporary spoken word to create what the International Trumpet Guild calls “exquisite,”

Reignmaker       We Go Round EP             

Five tracks from Liverpool quintet veering from shoegaze-tinted indie to Brooklyn-style dream pop.