This week’s smashers kick off with the second volume of live recordings from Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit’s annual residency at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. Live from the Ryman Vol. 2 features live versions of 13 songs from Weathervanes and Reunions, plus a stunning rendition of ‘The Last Song I Will Write’…
First out of the box this week is a record born of grief. You can hear it in the title, White Roses, My God, as well as in tracks such as ‘Heaven’, in which Alan Sparhawk describes the afterlife, wrenchingly, as “a lonely place if you’re alone”. You can sense it too in Sparhawk’s decision…
THE PLAIN TRUTH== we drifted through it, arguing. every day a new war crime, every day a flower bloom. we sat down together and wrote it in one room, and then sat down in a different room, recording. NO TITLE= what gestures make sense while tiny bodies fall? what context? what broken melody? and…
The run-down of this week’s six best releases starts with Someday, Now, on which the signature acoustic-led, sweetly-voiced singer-songwriter fare of Katy J Pearson’s albums Return and Sound of the Morning is transmuted through the desk of electronic producer Nathan Jenkins aka Bullion. After a period of burnout, self-enforced exile from music-making and solo travel,…
The first of this week’s gems comes from the iconic Nick Lowe, who returns with his first studio album in over a decade. On Indoor Safari, backed on every track by his trusted collaborators Los Straitjackets, Nick exhibits his razor-sharp songwriting ability through a multitude of sonic environments. With his signature wit on display for…
Cutouts features 10 brand-new tracks from The Smile. It’s the band’s third studio album following Wall of Eyes, released in January, and the trio’s 2022 debut album A Light For Attracting Attention. Cutouts was produced by Sam Petts-Davies and recorded in Oxford and at Abbey Road Studios during the same period of time as Wall…
We open our run-down of this week’s finest releases with Luck and Strange, the brand-new album by David Gilmour and his first album of new material in nine years, which was recorded over five months in Brighton. The record was produced by David and Charlie Andrew, best known for his work with Alt-J and Marika…
Empathy can sometimes be a superhuman power; it can connect you so deeply with people, and that bond brings an acute level of trust and love that can sometimes be unparalleled. However, with the energy and emotion transferred into that moment, that feeling can come with a fragility that walks a tightrope. When you can…
The first of this week’s smashers comes from Wunderhorse, who “want it to feel like you’re right there in the room with us.” And in 10 songs and 40 minutes, they capture the raw power and energy that has set them apart as one of the most formidable live acts of recent years. With rugged…
The first of this week’s bangers is Whirlwind, a daringly honest look into multi-platinum Grammy award-winning artist Lainey Wilson’s life and journey through Nashville. The 14-track album, which was produced by Jay Joyce, follows on the heels of seven Country Music Association awards, including Entertainer of The Year, six Academy of Country Music awards and…