More new releases for 17 November 2023

We’ve got some more peaches due for release on 17th November, and the first is Songs of Silence – incredibly, Vince Clarke’s first ever solo album. As its title suggests, Songs of Silence is a lyric-less instrumental album, and is hugely evocative for that. Unlike anything you’ve previously heard from Clarke as an artisan of…

Pre-sale of the week: The National – Laugh Track, out 17 November

The surprise companion to The National’s April release First Two Pages of Frankenstein, Laugh Track is the band’s most freewheeling, all-hands-on-deck album in years. If Frankenstein represented a rebuilding of trust between group members after 20+ years together, the vibrant, exploratory Laugh Track is both the product of that faith and a new statement of…

New releases for 28 April 2023

Josh Ritter kicks off this week’s soaraway six with his 11th album, Spectral Lines, in which he finds shared experiences in songs that push beyond the bounds of his previous work. Recorded with longtime collaborator Sam Kassirer producing, it’s an album full of wonder and light as Ritter considers the ideas of love, devotion and…

Pre-sale of the week: The National – First Two Pages Of Frankenstein, out 28 April

Anchored by evocative melodies and an enthralling lyrical narrative, First Two Pages Of Frankenstein signals a thrilling new chapter in the The National’s discography. The 11-song album was produced by the band at Long Pond Studios in upstate New York and features guest appearances by Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers and Sufjan Stevens. First Two Pages…

New releases for 17 May 2019

This week’s smashers start off with Small World Turning, the first new collection of songs from Thea Gilmore since 2017’s The Counterweight, which was her third successive Top-40 album. An artist of enduring international acclaim (Bruce Springsteen regularly names her as a favourite) and a justly revered lyricist, Gilmore’s musical settings have taken many ingenious…

Pre-sale of the week: The National – I Am Easy To Find, out 17 May

The National’s new album, I Am Easy To Find, is the band’s eighth studio album and the follow-up to 2017’s Grammy-award winning Sleep Well Beast. The album features vocal contributions from Sharon Van Etten, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Lisa Hannigan, Mina Tindle and more. As the album’s opening track, ‘You Had Your Soul With You,’ unfurls,…

New releases for 8 September 2017

Here are our recommended new releases for 8 September. Of Nothing But Thieves’ second album, Broken Machine, the band say: “The aim on Broken Machine was to create a rock album that feels fresh and exciting.” Job done! Micah P. Hinson is our favourite purveyor of the very darkest and most gothic Americana and his…

New releases for 30 October 2015

30 October is a huge day for new releases and could easily have included Enter Shikari, Martin Courtney, Son Volt, Maverick Sabre, Alison Moorer and more. The 8 stand-out releases are: Guy Garvey’s solo album, which confounds the stereotypes of lead-singer solo albums either being the same as the band or frankly bonkers; Matt Behringer’s…