Is there such a thing as too much good music? Well, no. But there are a finite number of hours in the day, and it’s sometimes tough for our team to dedicate ink to full feature reviews for all of the many new albums we wish to cover.
Hence why we’re introducing our soon-to-be-recurring “New Release Roundup” column, whereby we aim to shine a light—albeit a relatively concise one—on the notable long players that have arrived in stores recently and warrant your attention. We’ve made time to give the following albums a solid listen and we encourage you to do the same!
OLIVIA CHANEY | Shelter
Nonesuch | Buy
★★★★½
With traceable echoes of Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush coupled with her own distinct phrasing, UK singer-songwriter Olivia Chaney’s crystalline voice is wonderful to behold. Here on her sophomore full-length release and successor to her 2015 debut LP The Longest River, sparse yet inviting acoustic guitar and piano arrangements offer the perfect canvas for her tales that traverse the depths of human experience with compassion and grace in abundance. [Standout Track: “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”]
FANTASTIC NEGRITO | Please Don’t Be Dead
Cooking Vinyl/Blackball Universe | Buy
★★★★
The past few years have seen Bay Area blues-rock-soul stalwart Fantastic Negrito secure long overdue acclaim, thanks in large part to the winning songcraft showcased on his Grammy-winning 2016 LP The Last Days of Oakland. Never one to rest on his laurels, Negrito packs the guitar-driven heat once again with his inspired follow-up effort, which finds him tackling our confounding, contemporary social and cultural landscape (“Transgender Biscuits”) and serving up inspiration amid all of the nonsense that currently surrounds us (“Bullshit Anthem”). [Standout Track: “Bullshit Anthem”]
GORILLAZ | The Now Now
Parlophone/Warner Bros. | Buy
★★★★
A noticeably less expansive and ambitiously orchestrated affair than its precursor, 2017’s guest-heavy Humanz, Damon Albarn and crew’s sixth studio album still bangs with the best of ‘em. In fact, the relative dearth of outside collaborators (only George Benson, Snoop Dogg and Jamie Principle appear here) make this a more intrinsically Gorillaz-driven song set than preceding efforts. And as expected, it sounds divine. [Standout Track: “Tranz”]
THE INNOCENCE MISSION | Sun on the Square
Badman/Bella Union | Buy
★★★½
For nearly 30 years, wife-husband duo Karen & Don Peris have crafted shimmering, evocative folk-pop that straddles the line between the melancholic and sanguine. While they mine the same tried-and-true approach throughout their tenth studio album Sun on the Square, Karen’s poetic and inquisitive musings give listeners fresh fodder for contemplation, in lines like “And it’s hard to know, now, where we should go / And where will we be, before the next season? / Of evenings and days we can hardly say / From which will we flower? / Brightly from the buildings, now” from “Buildings in Flower.” [Standout Track: “Look Out From Your Window”]
JAZZANOVA | The Pool
Sonar Kollektiv | Buy
★★★★½
Purveyors of kaleidoscopic electronic music that’s thankfully tough to pigeonhole into rigid subgenre classifications, the German collective Jazzanova have always exhibited a penchant for merging pristine production with an eclectic contingent of guest vocalists. Each of the twelve tracks on their fourth studio album The Pool features a different contributor (including Oddisee, Jamie Cullum and Ben Westbeech, among others), yet despite the distinctive voices represented, the song suite unfurls as a cohesive, compelling listen that warrants repeated plays, preferably deep into the night. [Standout Track: “I’m Still Here”]
LORI MCKENNA | The Tree
CN Records | Buy
★★★★
To say Lori McKenna has been prolific across her two-decades-long recording career is an understatement, what with ten studio albums of her own under her belt and a string of notable songwriting credits to boot, including recent GRAMMY Award-winning compositions for Little Big Town and Tim McGraw. Comprised of eleven elegantly crafted songs that stick long after initial listens, her tenth LP The Tree is an intimate portrait of the aging process and seeking solace in personal connection. [Standout Track: “The Way Back Home”]
THE SUFFERS | Everything Here
Shanachie | Buy
★★★★
Current state of world affairs got you down? Well, press play on The Suffers’ stellar sophomore LP Everything Here and feel your anxieties flutter away courtesy of this vibrant, groove-laden voyage of an album. Backed by bold, brass-infused melodies that call to mind the best of the Brand New Heavies and Incognito’s fare, the brand’s not-so-secret weapon is the vocal dynamo Kam Franklin. Seamlessly balancing its retro inspirations with contemporary underpinnings, Everything Here is an endlessly gratifying listen sure to put a smile on your face and some pep in your step. [Standout Track: “What You Said”]
YEARS & YEARS | Palo Santo
Polydor/Interscope | Buy
★★★½
Thankfully staving off the dreaded sophomore jinx, Years & Years have delivered a worthy follow-up to their acclaimed 2015 debut album Communion that finds frontman and pop-star-in-the-making Olly Alexander growing more confident in his songwriting skin. Framed as a concept album predicated upon a fictional world dominated by androids “where all the rules regarding gender and sexuality are not there,” as Alexander recently explained to The Sun, the sci-fi allusions don’t detract from the very human emotional thrust of these magnetic electro-pop tunes. [Standout Track: “Hallelujah”]