Kicking off this week’s hotties is Starcatcher, which was written and recorded by Greta Van Fleet – lead singer Josh Kizska, guitarist Jake Kizska, bassist/keyboardist Sam Kizska and drummer Danny Wagner – alongside Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb at the legendary RCA Studios in Nashville, using the large recording room to capture the pure energy of their world-renowned live performances. Throughout the ten-song collection the band explores the duality of fantasy versus reality and the contrast between light and darkness. “We had this idea that we wanted to tell these stories to build a universe,” says Wagner. “We wanted to introduce characters and motifs and these ideas that would come about here and there throughout our careers through this world. When I imagine the world of Starcatcher, I think of the cosmos,” he says. “It makes me ask a lot of questions, like ‘Where did we come from?’ or ‘What are we doing here?’ But it’s also questions like, ‘What is this consciousness that we have, and where did it come from?’”
Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / In a Room7 F760 is, tantalisingly, the first new music from Aphex Twin in five years. Not to be missed!
As if to outdo Aphex, Dexys return a full 11 years since the release of their last album of original music, the acclaimed One Day I’m Going to Soar. Their stunning new record, The Feminine Divine, is Dexys’ fifth album of original material, and was produced once again by Pete Schwier, along with acclaimed session musician and producer Toby Chapman. After taking some time out to refocus his energy, Kevin Rowland came back to music with a fresh perspective and new-found positivity. The Feminine Divine is a personal, if not strictly autobiographical, record portraying a man whose views – not just on women, but the whole concept of masculinity he had been raised with – have evolved over time. This education and un-learning is traced across the arc of The Feminine Divine to dizzying effect.
Joni Mitchell stunned the Newport Folk Festival audience last summer when she gave a surprise performance – her first in 20 years – delivering a heartfelt set filled with some of her greatest songs. Mitchell’s triumphant return to the stage on 24 July 2022 – joined by a star-studded band led by Brandi Carlile featuring Wynonna Judd, Marcus Mumford, Celisse, Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig of Lucius, Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes, and more – is now featured on a new live album, At Newport, which has been produced by close collaborator Carlile with Mitchell.
William The Conqueror’s fourth album, Excuse Me While I Vanish, finds the indie-rock trio firing on all cylinders as frontman Ruarri Joseph confronts the thin line between creativity and madness, inspired by compassion for the real-life angels of the world. Produced by the band in a playground of vintage gear and mixed by Barny Barnicott (Arctic Monkeys, Sam Fender, Kasabian), the resulting album’s ten tracks marry earworm tunes with insistent, imperious, soaring rock shapes, punctuated by chorus hooks that are simultaneously nuanced and anthemic.
Our release of the week comes from Blur, one of the most successful British bands of the last three decades, who return with their first new album in over 8 years: The Ballad of Darren, preceded by first single ‘The Narcissist’. The album was produced by James Ford and recorded in Studio 13, London and Devon. It’s the sound of a band at the very top of their game, and comes with artwork featuring an image by British photographer Martin Parr.
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