Releases from March–April 2020

Great albums from around the world

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Jump to: 20 March | 13 March | 6 March

Releases for 20 March 2020

Our sparkling recommendations for 20 March start with one of Rolling Stone’s hottest albums of 2020: the new, dynamic collection of 13 songs from Kelsea Ballerini. Aptly titled Kelsea, this is her most authentically self-aware album to date, an introspective look into the emotions of the last two years of her life. Also using her first name is fifteen-time Grammy award winner Alicia Keys, whose seventh studio album is entitled simply Alicia, and includes some incredibly strong songwriting. Rustin Man (aka Talk Talk’s Paul Webb) releases Clockdust, which has its roots in the sessions for its predecessor: the dense, guitar-based tracks became Drift Code, with Clockdust tighter and more spacious. Roger Eno and Brian Eno are two of the foremost innovators in experimental ambient music, having revolutionised many concepts of music production and performance, and Mixing Colours continues this work. And Kandace Springs, whose soulful jazz singing was praised by as a “voice that can melt snow”, unveils The Women Who Raised Me: a tribute to the female vocalists who have most impacted her music, stylings, and journey.

Our release of the week is The Night Chancers, the sixth studio album from Baxter Dury. It’s an album about being caught out in your attempts to be free, about the people who leave your hotel room at three in the morning and start a massive party in the room next door: the night chancers, the hotel ravers.

- Baxter Dury The Night Chancers
The Night Chancers is the sixth studio album from Baxter Dury, following 2017’s Prince Of Tears. Of his latest, Baxter says: “The Night Chancers is about being caught out in your attempt at being free, it’s about someone leaving a hotel room at three in the morning. You’re in a posh room with big Roman taps and all that, but after they go suddenly all you can hear is the taps dripping, and all you can see the debris of the night is around you. Then suddenly a massive party erupts, in the room next door. This happened to me and all I could hear was the night chancers, the hotel ravers.”

- Kelsea Ballerini Kelsea
The new, dynamic collection of 13 songs from Kelsea Ballerini is one of Rolling Stone’s most anticipated albums of 2020. Aptly titled Kelsea, this is her most authentically self-aware album to date, an introspective look into the emotions of the last two years of her life for which she wrote or co-wrote all of the songs. Using songwriting as therapy, she explores everything from social anxiety to the importance of real friendships, from new perspectives on old heartbreaks to the realisation that even the most independent, stubborn people sometimes need someone.

- Alicia Keys Alicia
The seventh studio album from fifteen-time Grammy award winner Alicia Keys is entitled simply Alicia. Since the release of her monumental debut Songs In A Minor, Keys’ songwriting has gone from strength to strength, and her latest album reflects that reality.

- Rustin Man Clockdust
Talk Talk’s Paul Webb now records as Rustin Man. Having waited 17 years for Drift Code, some may be surprised at Clockdust’s swift arrival, but the album’s roots can be found in the same extended sessions. “Early on I realised I had two albums-worth of material,” Webb explains. “The first tunes I wrote were electric guitar-based, with long arrangements that built up in layers to something sonically quite dense. These became the bulk of Drift Code. As a reaction, I wrote a batch of songs that were tighter in their structure but had more feeling of space. These make up the bulk of Clockdust.”

- Roger Eno And Brian Eno Mixing Colours
Roger Eno and Brian Eno – together and individually among the foremost innovators in experimental ambient music – release Mixing Colours on Deutsche Grammophon. The duo have revolutionised many concepts of music production and performance, from pioneering treatments of pop music by Brian Eno to younger brother Roger Eno’s ambient synth/piano recordings, reminiscent of Erik Satie.

- Kandace Springs The Women Who Raised Me
Kandace Springs – an accomplished artist whose soulful jazz singing led her late mentor Prince to praise her “voice that can melt snow” – unveils her newest project, The Women Who Raised Me. This new work is a tribute to the female vocalists who most impacted Springs’ music, stylings, and journey, and was produced by Grammy-winning producer Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock), who produced Springs’ 2016 debut Soul Eyes.

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Releases for 13 March 2020

Our six picks from 13 March’s offerings start with the latest from Liverpudlian indie outfit Circa Waves, which comes less that 12 months since their last! Sad Happy is an album of our times: one half happy, the other sad. Check Shirt Wizard is a barnstorming 20-song set, never previously released, culled from Rory Gallagher’s 1977 UK tour – fantastic live performances mixed from Rory’s original multi-track tapes and mastered at Abbey Road. Porridge Radio came out of Dana Margolin’s first musical experiments in her bedroom and at open-mic nights in Brighton and has been developed into a bright, noisy pop-rock sound blended with her tender, open-ended lyrics – which you can hear on Every Bad. The title Good Years couldn’t ring more true for UK duo The Shires, as it follows two gold-certified albums and three Top 10 singles, firmly cementing their status as one of country music’s most prominent voices. The Boomtown Rats release their first studio album in 36(!) years, Citizens Of Boomtown. The shy and retiring Bob Geldof said: “So why a new record? Because that’s what bands do. They make records. Songwriters write songs. … Whatever.” Welcome back, Sir Bob!

Our album of the week comes from Maria McKee, another artist returning from a long silence. La Vita Nuova is an homage to Dante’s opus on unrequited love, an elegy to desire that became a conjuring. Candid and passionate, McKee has quite simply had a beatific awakening and, in a crescendo of prose, her new album unlocks this story.

- Maria McKee La Vita Nuova
La Vita Nuova comes thirteen years since Maria McKee’s last studio album, Late December, and is an homage to Dante’s opus on unrequited love, an elegy to desire. Upon its completion it became a conjuring. Candid and passionate, Maria McKee has quite simply had a beatific awakening and, in a crescendo of prose, her new album unlocks this story.

- Circa Waves Sad Happy
Although they had already released an album in April last year, Liverpudlian indie outfit Circa Waves are not only doing it all over again within the space of 12 months, but putting out a double album this time! Sad Happy is very much an album of our times, formed of two diametrically distinctive sides: the first half of the album contains the Happy tracks, the latter the Sad tracks.

- Rory Gallagher Check Shirt Wizard – Live In ’77
Check Shirt Wizard is a barnstorming 20-song set, never previously released, culled from four shows (London, Brighton, Sheffield and Newcastle) from Rory Gallagher’s 1977 UK tour in support of his the album Calling Card. This recording features fantastic live versions of tracks from that album and from 1975’s Against The Grain, plus other live favourites, and has been mixed from the original multi-track tapes from the official Rory Gallagher archive and mastered at Abbey Road Studios.

- Porridge Radio Every Bad
Dana Margolin started making music in private in her bedroom in the seaside town of Brighton, writing songs and, slowly, starting to play them at open-mic nights to rooms of old men who stared at her quietly as she screamed in their faces. Though she eventually grew out of these open-mic nights, for Margolin they unlocked a love of performing and song-writing, as well as a new way to express herself. She decided to form a band through which to channel it all, and be noisier while she was at it – so Porridge Radio was born. Over time, the band’s sound – bright pop-rock instrumentation blended with Margolin’s tender, open-ended lyrics – has developed and refined into what you hear on Every Bad.
Note: the LP is available on indies-only coloured vinyl.

- The Shires Good Years
Good Years is the fourth studio album from UK country duo The Shires, recorded in Nashville, Tennessee. The title of the group’s newest record couldn’t ring more true for Ben and Crissie as the release follows two gold-certified albums and three Top 10 singles, which have firmly cemented their status as two of country music’s most prominent voices.

- The Boomtown Rats Citizens Of Boomtown
The Boomtown Rats release their first studio album in 36(!) years, Citizens Of Boomtown. The shy and retiring Bob Geldof said: “So why a new record? Because that’s what bands do. They make records. Songwriters write songs. There’s so much to respond to in this new and different febrile atmosphere that we live in. People forget we took our name from Woody Guthrie, the great musical activist. I think The Boomtown Rats have always shown that rock’n’roll is a form of musical activism. The music has intent and purpose even if that is just the sound, about boy/girl, nothing particularly at all, everything in general, or pointed polemical … Whatever.”

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Releases for 6 March 2020

6 March’s six lovelies start with an album Jonathan Wilson recorded with a crack Nashville session band in a six-day blur of creativity – hence the title, Dixie Blur. “There’s a magic created by the collective energy of musicians together in a room that is impossible to recreate otherwise,” he says. From Nashville to north-west England in a single leap, Manchester Calling is the fourth studio album by Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott of The Beautiful South, following their #2 album Crooked Calypso. Deacon Blue’s brand-new album, City Of Love, delivers eleven brilliant new tracks founded on the belief that hope can prevail even in the darkest corners of life, songs that are sure to become sing-along favourites with fans. Superstar is the bigger, badder, glitter-driven record by Caroline Rose – an epic aural movie about the pursuit of fame and fortune and what happens when it fails, chronicling a quirky anti-hero who decides to leave their old life behind in order to seek Hollywood stardom. Heavy Light is the seventh album by U.S. Girls, on which multi-disciplinary artist Meg Remy turns inward, recounting personal narratives in an inquest into the melancholy flavour of hindsight. Her previous album was recently chosen as one of Pitchfork’s albums of the decade.

Our release of the week is Out Of My Province, which showcases the sound of young artist Nadia Reid growing in profile and dexterity before international audiences while the world is changing before her eyes. It’s full of minutely observed mini-masterpieces, making this a must-listen.

- Nadia Reid Out Of My Province
Out Of My Province is the third album from Nadia Reid, following 2017’s critically acclaimed Preservation. The album showcases the sound of a young artist growing in profile and dexterity before international audiences while the world is changing before her eyes. The style of minutely observed mini-masterpieces from her first two albums is present and correct, making this album a must-listen.

- Jonathan Wilson Dixie Blur
Jonathan Wilson cut his new album in only six days. “It was so fast it was a blur,” he says – hence the title, Dixie Blur. “And there really is a magic that occurs when musicians play together in a room and create that one consistent thing in time, something is created by the collective energy that is impossible to recreate otherwise.” Working with this Nashville session band gave Wilson the same kind of feeling he had strumming along with local bluegrass bands as a kid. “There’s something about this level of musicianship, they’ve been in so many sessions. It was fun to play some of the more stoner canyony tunes for this crack session band and watch them write up their special Nashville charts with their numbers, symbols and diamonds… they call it ‘hillbilly arithmetic’ over there …”

- Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott Manchester Calling
Manchester Calling is the fourth studio album by acclaimed pop duo Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott, who were both previously members of The Beautiful South. The album is the follow-up to their 2017 release Crooked Calypso, which reached number 2 in the UK albums chart.

- Deacon Blue City Of Love
Deacon Blue’s brand-new album, City Of Love, is the fourth release of a prolific seven-year period for the multi-million-selling band, and delivers eleven brilliant new tracks. The cornerstone of the album is the belief that hope can prevail even in the darkest corners of life. Together the tracks form a beautiful composition of the different silhouettes of life and are sure to be a hit with fans to sing along and indulge in.

- Caroline Rose Superstar
Here comes Superstar – the bigger, badder, glitter-driven record by Caroline Rose. Written as a sequel to 2018’s Loner, the forthcoming 2020 release “plays out like an epic movie about the pursuit of fame and fortune,” as Rose puts it. “I’ve always been fascinated by this pursuit, but what’s even more fascinating is what happens when it fails.” Indeed, gone are the successful Hollywood hunks and starlets of old. Superstar chronicles a quirky anti-hero, who after receiving a wrong call from the elite hotel Chateau Marmont, decides to leave their old life behind in order to become a big Hollywood star.
Note: the LP is available on indies-only coloured vinyl.

- U.S. Girls Heavy Light
Heavy Light is the highly anticipated seventh album by U.S. Girls, the protean musical enterprise of multi-disciplinary artist Meg Remy. While Remy has been widely acclaimed for a panoply of closely observed character studies, on Heavy Light she turns inward, recounting personal narratives to create a deeply introspective about-face. The songs are an inquest into the melancholy flavour of hindsight, both personal and cultural. Heavy Light follows 2018’s internationally critically-acclaimed breakout album In A Poem Unlimited, which was recently named one of the best albums of the decade by Pitchfork and has been lauded over here by the likes of the Guardian, Sunday Times, Crack and Q magazine for being Remy’s most accessible record in her then decade-long career.
Note: the LP is available on indies-only coloured vinyl.

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Other releases for 2020

Find releases from 2021 | 2019.