New releases for 16 September 2022

First of this week’s smashers is The Beths’ new album, Expert In A Dying Field. Elizabeth Stokes’ songwriting on the album positions her somewhere between being a novelist and a documentarian. The songs collected here are autobiographical, but they’re also character sketches of relationships – platonic, familial, romantic – and, more importantly, their aftermaths: the…

Pre-sale of the week: The Mars Volta – The Mars Volta, out 16 September

Breaking a decade of omertà, The Mars Volta reawaken from their lengthy hiatus with an eponymous album that radically reshapes their paradigm. Formed by guitarist/composer Omar Rodríguez-López and singer/lyricist Cedric Bixler-Zavala, The Mars Volta rose from the ashes of El Paso punk-rock firebrands At The Drive-In in 2001. On a mission to “honour our roots…