Silent Radio’s guide to a busy week of new releases.

Trust Fund       Has It Been A While?

Fans of seventies singer-songwriters, and particularly Nick Drake’s first two Joe Boyd-produced albums, will find much to recommend here, while Belle and Sebastian’s early folk-inflected material is another obvious touchstone.

Hard-Fi              Don’t Go Making Plans EP 

EP whose lead song’s defiant themes were initially inspired by the UK Government’s attempts to criminalise many aspects of popular protest through the 2022 Public Order Act, while the issue has been thrown into even sharper focus over the last year as police and people have repeatedly clashed on streets around the globe.

Peter Perrett                 The Cleansing             

An ambitious double album compromising 20 songs on which he is assisted by a roster of starry guests including Johnny Marr, Bobby Gillespie, Fontaines D.C.’s Carlos O’Connell and Dream Wife guitarist Alice Go.

Fionn Regan  O Avalanche

His seventh album is shimmering with poetic mystery and bolstered by a sustained feel for atmosphere and shape.

TV Pins               Aircutter         

A fusion of West Coast easy vibes, classic British new wave and hook-laden alt-pop.

Sarah Blasko                 I Just Need To Conquer This Mountain     

Australian singer-songwriter delves into new beginnings, late-night reflections, and important friendships.

Ombiigizi          Shame              

A record which delves into the Anishinaabe ancestry of its core members. Their unique sonics – Indigenous futurism with a 90s Alt tint – portray “a visual representation of the world we are in,”

The Residents              Dookietown EP          

In acknowledgement of the 2024 US election and the increasingly pressing question “Where do clowns go when the show is over?” The Residents present a brand new six track EP.

Mayflower       Madame           Insight               

Oslo purveyors of cinematic psych-gaze swathed in 1980s dark romanticism

Willie Nelson                Last Leaf on the Tree             

An album that sees Willie interpreting songs by Keith Richards, Neil Young, Beck, Flaming Lips and Nina Simone among others.

Sarah Neufeld              First Sounds 

The debut album from a trio made-up of cellist Rebecca Foon, violinist Sarah Neufeld and multi-instrumentalist Richard Reed Parry. The LP collects nine compositions, with dynamic minimalism, sweeping crescendos and rich harmonies.

Nerina Pallot                 A Psalm for Emily Salvi        

Singer-songwriter whose record is both a love letter to those who have supported her over the years and a tribute to the power of music in the face of adversity.

Military Genius            Scarred for Life          

A genre-flexing mix of bass-heavy R&B, spaced dub, and jazz that is newly grounded within a more traditional rock framework and centred on lyricism.

Rosalie Cunningham               To Shoot Another Day           

Former leader of Purson with another fine work of diverse and evocative moods which reveals the continuing evolution of Rosalie Cunningham as a remarkable vocalist, musician and song writer.

Warren Haynes           Million Voice Whisper           

An 11-song set of soulful blues-rock from the Gov’t Mule frontman.

Jennifer Castle            Camelot          

Canadian singer-songwriter with a 2024 chronicle of the artist in early middle age, charts a realer, more rooted, and more metaphorical place than the fabled Camelot of the Early Middle Ages (or its myriad depictions), but it too is a space more psychic than physical.

Planes Mistaken For Stars                 Do You Still Love Me?            

A record that sees their natural evolution beyond post-hardcore and metal-tinged rock n’ roll, unveiling new layers with each listen.

Sam Gendel, Benny Bock, Hans P. Kjorstad          Dream Trio     

This album was recorded in Japan with Gendel on wind controller and soprano saxophone, Benny Bock on udo synthesizer, and Hans P. Kjorstad on violin.

deary  Aurelia EP      

Six track EP from the duo who have supported Slowdive and Cranes.

Joy Shannon                  An Chailleach             

Irish harpist delivers an album of dark folklore with ambient vibes

Luke Wyland                 Kuma Cove    

It’s an album about flow, borders, transitory states and shelter, centred around discontinuous ripples and repetitions shaped into richly emotive arcs (almost ecosystems), informed by the artist’s experience as a person who stutters.

Lifesick             Loved By None, Hated By All            

Danish death metal/metallic hardcore band manifests brutal and brutally honest songs with lyrics inspired by the turbulent nature of life.

ADRA                  Music for Psychiatric Wards (and Fluid Structures)      

A varied yet engulfing collection of music that runs the gauntlet from immersive soundscapes to organ drones, and features the gentle plucks of baritone guitar, the ethereal chimes of a mbira and the hypnotic flurries of a steel pan drum.

Katrina Ford   H.E.A.R.T.       

Heart Ember Abuse Resin Trend is an album exploring boundaries. Boundaries of space and time. Boundaries, whether physical, emotional or mental boundaries in an art-pop style.

Annahstasia  Surface Tension EP 

An EP on which her soulful poetic folk songcraft embraces a slower sound across the project’s three-part structure, tracing the unsustainable nature of past relationships

Overrider         Sparse Vector             

Anonymous Manchester-based cyberpunks. Powerful beats and in-your-face guitars take centre stage, with their funk, downtempo and math rock influences taking a backseat.

Arctis                  Arctis 

Finnish modern metal force who fuse nature and technology, inspired by Finland’s seasonal extremes,

Herin                   Hiding in Plain Sight

Combines distinctive prog and art rock influences that alternate from sophisticated orchestral arrangements and polyrhythmic complexity to contrasting cinematic soundscapes and ambitious guitar workouts.

Various              Eat Your Own Ears Vol 1      

Compilation from label and promoter featuring the likes of Arab Strap, Robert Smith & Ride, Mount Kimbie, James Yorkston.

Burial                  Rejoice in Sin               

A no-nonsense black metal trio from Manchester dedicating their sound to the Satanic, ice-cold, blasphemous and goat worshipping origins of the genre.

Bombus            Your Blood     

Classic Bombus with a twist—a blend of heavy metal and classic rock, layered with modern elements.