First out the bag this week is The Cure. Last year’s Songs of a Lost World was the band’s first album in 16 years, and their first number-one album in the UK since 1992’s Wish. On the day of release, the band performed the album in full at London’s Troxy venue, and it’s this live performance that makes up Songs of a Live World.
The Delines’ fourth album tells the stories of romantic misfits and grifters who live out of suitcases and cars, who can’t seem to settle down, who hope that in the next town or city will be the score that saves them. The record features Amy Boone’s lush, world-worn voice, the cinematic production skills of John Morgan Askew and the horn and string arrangements of keyboardist and trumpeter Cory Gray, plus Sean Oldham on drums, Freddy Trujillo on bass and Willy Vlautin on guitar.
The Lumineers’ fifth studio album, Automatic, emerges in a musical landscape dominated by solo artists dependent on other writers. Front-man Wesley Schultz says that being one of the few groups now touring who write all their own material is a unique badge of honour. But that’s not to say they won’t collaborate with other artists; Schultz and band-mate Jeremy Fraites have recently written and appeared on songs with pop icon P!nk as well as rising singer-songwriters James Bay and Zach Bryan.
Love Conquers All is a collection of deeply moving songs by The Moody Blues’ John Lodge that was written during difficult times but that reflects the positive way in which John sees the world. As John explored his journey of healing, he invited different musicians to collaborate with him on the songs on this album, making each song unique but all carrying the same message: that love truly does conquer all.
Twilight is a twelve-track night drive from dusk ’til dawn, with all the moments in between. The album begins with ‘The Comedown’, a collaboration with Hifi Sean & David McAlmont’s friend ‘The Blessed Madonna’, who also narrates: “I can hear my heart beating like a drum.” The title track, ‘Twilight’, which follows, is an immersive wall of choral sounds and field recordings, incorporating David’s favourite birdsong and Sean’s dogs, Fred and Barney.
Our release of the week comes from Manic Street Preachers, who return with their most urgent album in years. Critical Thinking is a record of opposites colliding and of dialectics trying to find a path to resolution. While the music has an effervescence and an elegiac uplift, most of the words deal with cold analysis of the self, the exception being the three lyrics by James Dean Bradfield that look for and hopefully find answers in people, their memories, language and beliefs.
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