In taking charge of her own life and her own sound, Lady Blackbird walks a new path, making each note on Slang Spirituals a step in a radically different direction. Across 11 tracks Lady Blackbird puts her sweeping, cinematic vocal power to use on everything from the soulful orchestral fanfares of ‘Let Not (Your Heart…
First up this week is Sea Girls who, since roaring onto the scene four short years ago, have cemented themselves a reputation as one of British indie’s most consistent and successful bands. Their immediacy and carefree attitude are the driving motivations of their superb new release, Midnight Butterflies, a record for fans of guitar music…
The first of this week’s super six is Eels Time!, which was recorded between Los Feliz, California and Dublin and consists of twelve brand-new tracks created with collaborators such as Koool G Murder, The Chet, Tyson Ritter, Sean Coleman and more. Eels Time! follows a busy year for the band, in which they finally hit…
Following 2020’s Return and 2022’s Sound of the Morning, Katy J Pearson’s signature acoustic-led, sweetly-voiced singer-songwriter fare is transmuted on Someday, Now through the desk of electronic producer Nathan Jenkins aka Bullion. After a period of burnout, self-enforced exile from music-making, and solo travel, Pearson came back to her practice with clarity of mind and…
The first of this week’s sparklers is Gravity Stairs, the eighth album from Crowded House, on which the band’s current incarnation – Neil Finn, Nick Seymour, Mitchell Froom, and Finn’s sons Elroy and Liam – prove to be as sharp as ever, feeling musically adventurous and still capable of reaching the staggering highs that have…
The The release their first studio album of new songs in a quarter of a century! The 12 songs on Ensoulment encompasses characteristic topics ranging from love and sex, war and politics, life and death, to the meaning of what it is to be human in the 21st century. Singer-songwriter Matt Johnson is joined by…
The first of this week’s smashers comes from John Peel favourites Billy Mahonie, a band formed in the first wave of British post-rock in the late ’90s alongside the likes of Mogwai, who return with Field of Heads, the first new music from their original line-up in some twenty-four years. Billy Mahonie always crafted their…
Chart-topping British blues-rocker Joanne Shaw Taylor returns with her eagerly anticipated 9th studio album, Heavy Soul. Following 2022’s universally praised Nobody’s Fool, Joanne yet again effortlessly demonstrates her blues rock wizardry as well her ever-evolving skills as a singer-songwriter. Heavy Soul highlights Joanne’s guitar prowess and instantly recognisable, smokey-yet-sultry vocals across seven brand-new original tracks…
The first of this week’s soaraway six is Lives Outgrown, the debut solo album from Portishead frontwoman Beth Gibbons, which features 10 beautiful new songs recorded over a period of 10 years. The album was produced by James Ford and Beth Gibbons with additional production by Lee Harris (Talk Talk). Lives Outgrown is, by some…
By turns devotional, empowering and nurturing, Jon Hopkins’ forthcoming Ritual is a 41-minute electronic symphony built from cavernous subs, hypnotic drumming and transcendent melodic interplay. Tense, immersive and ultimately triumphant, it is a culmination of themes explored throughout his 22-year career, and acts as the kinetic counterpart to 2021’s Music for Psychedelic Therapy. A single…