A week high in quantity and quality includes these new releases.
Group Listening Walks
Woodwind and piano duo including Stephen Black (Sweet Baboo and Cate Le Bon’s band) draw from the field recordings of Ernest Hood; the abstraction of Harold Budd; the saxophone of Sam Gendel; the “heightened naturalism” of a Martin Parr photograph; the clarity and site-specificity of Japanese ambient, environmental & new age music of the 80s and 90s, and, prominently, Robert Walser’s pseudo-biographical novella The Walk
Keeley Forsyth The Hollow
A record that contains aspects of sacred music, minimalist post-classical, dark ambient, film and theatre soundtracks. together with guest appearances from Matthew Bourne and Colin Stetson. Forsyth layered her vocals into chamber choirs, applied pitch shifts and other digital processing.
Villagers That Golden Time
Their sixth album centres on Conor O’Brien’s trademark melodic flair, his gift for simultaneously vivid and subtle arrangements and lyrics that couch his hopes, fears and dreams in richly absorbing poetry.
Les Savy Fav OUI, LSF
A mix of tragedy and comedy — studded with nods to the band’s eclectic musical taste — delightfully weird and utterly them.
Arab Strap I’m totally fine with it don’t give a fuck anymore
Their latest explores online hate, conspiracy theories, online addiction, and the forgotten souls of our seemingly connected planet, all wrapped up in the most adventurous earworms of the band’s career.
Youbet Way To Be
Across 12 off-kilter tunes, Llobet uses wordplay and tongue-in-cheek humour to obliquely explore dysfunctional relationships, regret, self-confidence or the lack thereof, queerness, and self-discovery.
Abigail Lapell Anniversary
A collection of original love songs, the album balances upbeat earworms with elegiac ballads, ultimately emerging as an earnest celebration of commitment.
Bibi Club Feu De Garde
Canadian duo whose second album reveals the influence of Stereolab and, more than ever, Suicide in the direct, singular approach.
How To Dress Well I Am Toward You
LA musician who plays with the concept of what we hear and how we communicate in order to create music that exists somewhere between celestial transcendence and an outsider approach to what pop music can be.
Myriam Gendron Mayday
Most of the songs are original, sung in both English and French, and they blend traditional and avant elements with abandon. She is often accompanied on this album by the guitarist Marisa Anderson and drummer Jim White, whose work provides a quietly aggressive sort of free-rock base.
Mary Lattimore & Walt McClements Rain on the Road
The album unfurls as a series of sonic vignettes, rolling landscapes hewn from longform improvisations for harp and accordion.
Big Special Postindustrial Hometown Blues
Barrages of biting spoken word, striking soulful vocals and hulking guitars coalesce around a song that catalogues the metal health impact of failed government policy on a generation with a dwindling sense of ownership and corroded autonomy.
Scott Lavene Disneyland in Dagenham
The album takes its name from the Walt Disney Company’s abandoned plans to build their first European theme park in Dagenham. Something that never sat right with Scott – he used to pick up drugs from a dodgy flat overlooking the proposed site. Now 10 years sober, Lavene’s new record reflects the dichotomy between 1980s Essex and the glitz of Disneyland.
Amen Dunes Death Jokes
Through samples and lyrics, the album plays like a scathing electronic essay on America’s culture of violence, dominance, and destructive individualism.
Kings of Leon Can We Please Have Fun
On their ninth album, the band harkens back to their gritty origins.
The Empty Page Imploding
Manchester alt-punks with an album that is anxious, urgent, angular but also lush, political, passionate and personal.
Pokey LaFarge Rhumba Country
A kaleidoscopic sound informed by his love of music from far-ranging eras and corners of the globe, including mambo, tropicalia, rocksteady, and mid-century American rock-and-roll.
Xana The Sex Was Good Until It Wasn’t
Pop artist goes where she has never gone before, touching on incredibly personal–and at times traumatic–subject matter.
Jack Manley Unmeasurable Terms EP
Singer-songwriter confronts difficult truths and wrestles with addiction, failures, regrets and love, bringing some of the artist’s darkest moments into light.
Bear McCreary The Singularity
A hard-rock adventure bursting with cinematic energy from use of live orchestra, choir, and international colours including bagpipes, morin khuur, and nyckelharpa. It features appearances from Rufus Wainwright, Slash and Corey Taylor amongst many others.
Freedom Call Silver Romance
German melodic power metal act with an album timed to coincide with their 25th anniversary.
Memorial Redsetter
Indie folk record that’s driven by a special kind of determination, dealing with intimate bonds, familial connections, and a quiet sense of renewal.
Unleash the Archers Phantoma
A blend of power metal, traditional heavy metal, modern prog and pop sensibilities.
Jim White and Marisa Anderson Swallowtail
Movements ebb and flow, in an undulating constant motion whose dynamic flourishes closely resembles their adaptive live performances.
Indoor Pets Pathetic Apathetic
Hook based pop-punk band.
Waverly Drive Push My Luck EP
Chicago multi-instrumentalist Phil Galloni delves into themes of love, trust, loss, and twin flames, all viewed through the prism of escapism and surrealism.
Luka Aron XV XXVII III XXI IX: Variations & Coda
A suite in four parts, in which a selected acoustic ensemble, consisting of bass clarinet, contrabass, euphonium, foghorn organ, harpsichord, serpent, shō, and trumpet coalesces with analog as well as digital synthesis, into one unified mass of sound.
Bossk 4
Post-metal act with the latest in a series of numbered releases that presents material outside the remit of Bossk’s full-length album output.
Milan Ring Mangos
The epitome of radiant summer, oozing endless possibilities and a profound sense of lightness as she flirts across genres from alt-pop to electronica whilst also staying true to her R&B roots.
Conrad Schnitzler Slow Motion
Pioneering experimental electronica.
Six Feet Under Killing For Revenge
A gnarly beast of a record that’s not for the faint-hearted, dishing up nightmare-inducing imagery courtesy of frontman Chris Barnes via the vocalist’s trademark guttural vocals.
Milan McAlevey Bucksport Motel
Songs based around lap steel, electric piano and drums and centring upon the effect of drink on the soul.
Emmy Meli Hello Stranger EP
Soulful singer with seven tracks that represent seven years of Emmy’s life akin to a coming-of-age tale. The EP takes its name from Barbara Lewis’ 1961 R&B number, which Emmy covers.
Benedict Cork Notes On A Hopeless Romance
An exploration of personal relationships, the highs and lows of the gay dating scene in London, breakups and moving on. It features a wealth of guests on the release.
The Pleasure Dome Liminal Space EP
Sonically the band rely less on the constant hard and fast grunge aesthetics they have been known for, this EP excels in a calculated balance between thoughtful, tender, and reflective moments, as well as unhinged energetic punk.
Ian Lynch All You Need Is Death
Debut soundtrack album from member of Lankum and One Leg One Eye.
Greensky Bluegrass The Iceland Sessions EP
Band widely known for their thoughtful lyricism, edgy and genre-expansive sound, dazzling live performances and relentless touring schedule.
Fair Visions Quite an End
A debut LP of poignant, shimmering off-the-wall indie rock.
Snow Strippers Night Killaz Vol 2
Niche form of electronic with music that pulsates with unapologetic anarchic abandon which is both confrontational and full-throttle.
Niina Soleil Heliophilia
A free-spirited love letter to the unique summertimes that decorate The Cradle of Cool, Southern California.
Fred Abong Blindness
Former Throwing Muses and Belly with his first material composed on the piano.
