The first of this week’s musical marvels is Benson Boone’s second album, American Heart. Benson solidified his status in 2024 with a string of hits, led by ‘Beautiful Things’ and its follow-up, ‘Slow It Down’. His show-stopping Coachella performance with Brian May marked the official reveal of American Heart, which is shaping up to cement him further as a global superstar.
The Farm – original DIY success story, indie/dance crossover icons and enduring figures across multiple realms of British popular culture – return with Let the Music (Take Control), their first new studio album in more than 30 years! Instantly recognisable sonically for their aspirational, observational and near-spiritual upbeat electro-inspired indie and visually for their mod-ish terrace-gang wardrobe, the formerly riotous, now reformed Liverpool five-piece return as wised-up statesmen of pop.
GoGo Penguin, the Manchester trio that has blended jazz, classical and electronic influences since forming in 2012, reaches a thrilling moment with their new album, Necessary Fictions. This release finds pianist Chris Illingworth, bassist Nick Blacka and drummer Jon Scott digging deep internally to reach their integral and authentic qualities at this moment in time. This entails some of their boldest moves to date, such as incorporating more modular synthesisers – and even guest players – into their sound.
Kelsey Waldon has earned wide praise for her “self-penned compositions [with] the patina of authenticity” (Rolling Stone). On her new album, Every Ghost – recorded at Southern Grooves studio in Memphis with her band, The Muleskinners – she confronts addiction, grief, generational trauma and even herself, and comes through it stronger and at peace. Waldon has earned the title of ‘Kentucky Colonel’ – an honour recognising goodwill ambassadors of the state’s culture and traditions – and a spot in the Country Music Hall of Fame’s 2024 American Currents exhibition, among other accolades.
Emerging from London’s underground music scene, The Sick Man of Europe is distinctly monochrome in its outlook. Each note counts in this climate – economical but played with absolute precision and conviction, propelled forward by machines and seeking solace in repetition. There are echoes of the post-punk and European art-rock pioneers at the cusp of the ’80s, but re-tooled for the present – connecting the current post-Brexit landscape to the austerity of Thatcherite Britain and the social conditions that shaped the likes of Bauhaus and Joy Division.
Our release of the week is I Quit, the first new album from Haim since 2020’s Women in Music Pt. III. The new album radiates the raw energy of seasoned performers whose deep reverence for classic rock shapes songs that are built for live performances. Women in Music received two Grammy nominations, including the prestigious Album of the Year, making Haim the first all-female rock group to be included in the Grammys’ top category.
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