This week’s bangers open with Chaos for the Fly, the debut solo album from Grian Chatten, vocalist of Dublin’s critically acclaimed band Fontaines D.C. Rare moments of respite from a relentless touring schedule afforded Chatten the opportunity to start work on something for himself, occupying a completely different headspace from his hugely successful work within the band. Co-produced by longstanding producer Dan Carey, the album is arguably the most poetic work we’ve heard from Chatten. Each song here has a sweep of colour and textures that breathe life into his lucid tales. Over its nine tracks, Chaos for the Fly is a record that takes in all of life’s rich emotions, transporting the you a place you not only want to visit, but will find yourself returning to again and again.
The Endless Coloured Ways is a collection of songs by legendary singer-songwriter Nick Drake, performed and recorded by over 30 stellar artists from a range of backgrounds, genres, age groups and audiences. From Fontaines D.C to Guy Garvey, from Aurora to Feist, each artist offers their own unique take on a timeless classic. Also included on this magical record are Let’s Eat Grandma, Bombay Bicycle Club, Aldous Harding, Emeli Sande and Ben Harper, to name just a few more.
The Japanese House’s second studio album, In the End It Always Does, which features recent single ‘Boyhood’, lives in the contradictory: beginnings and endings, obsession and mundanity, falling in love and falling apart. It’s about that desperate feeling when someone leaves you and the disbelief that they could. It’s funny you could have those kind of insane dramatic thoughts that feel so real at the time, but that you can later by some miracle look back in fondness to your entire life being ruined. It all circles back around.
Ingenious Devices features new versions of a trilogy of revered, epic Big Big Train tracks – ‘East Coast Racer’, ‘Brooklands’ and ‘Voyager’ – about how mankind has used ingenuity to extend its reach by the development and deployment of technology. The new versions of these three tracks feature an elite 17-piece string section recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London. Apart from the late David Longdon’s lead vocals, which have been compiled from the original album sessions, ‘East Coast Racer’ is a completely new studio version recorded by the line-up of the band as it was in 2019. ‘Brooklands’ features newly recorded drums, bass and bass pedals, while ‘Voyager’ includes additional guitar and violin. All three songs have been re-mixed for this release. Additionally, Ingenious Devices includes a previously unreleased orchestral piece called ‘The Book of Ingenious Devices’, which links ‘East Coast Racer’ and ‘Brooklands’, as well as a live version of ‘Atlantic Cable’, recorded on the band’s tour in September 2022.
Destination Düsseldorf is the brand-new studio album from Scotland’s legendary Skids. The band note Europe as an ongoing inspiration for the new LP. “From the beauty of the Renaissance to the savagery of many wars, the highs and lows have been there as an ongoing and ever evolving influence. This new album follows in the footsteps of Days in Europa as a celebration of friendship and shared experiences.”
Our release of the week comes from Lucinda Williams, who has used music to get her through her darkest days ever since she was growing up amid family chaos in the Deep South, as she recounts in her candid new memoir, Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You. Over the past two years, it’s been the force driving her recovery from the debilitating stroke she suffered in November 2020 at the age of 67. And her masterful, multi-Grammy-winning songwriting has never deserted her. Her stunning sixteenth studio album, Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart, brims over with some of the best work of her career. And though Williams can no longer play her beloved guitar – a constant companion since the age of 12 – her distinctive vocals sound as good as ever.
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