Releases from May–June 2020

Great albums from around the world

Click to order your copy to make sure you don’t miss out! You can pay for your order when you collect it. Please note that we cannot post items to you.

Find releases from 2021 | 2019.

Also check out some of the great reissues of classic albums.

The hottest pre-sale releases

Pre-sale of the week is Romance by Fontaines D.C, out on 23 August.

Click here to see all our current pre-sale offers

Releases for 26 June 2020

We kick off 26 June’s recommendations with Mordechai, a vocal album from previously instrumental nomadic wanderers Khruangbin, a shift that brings an emotional directness to their transportive melange of such diverse elements as East Asian surf-rock, Persian funk and Jamaican dub. The ten-track Monovision is the eighth studio album from the Grammy Award-winning Ray LaMontagne, and artist who continues to push himself in different directions, yet with a unique signature sound that could only be his. Women In Music Pt. III is the third studio album by American band Haim, and includes one of the bands’s fastest and heaviest songs to date along with the breezy and beautiful ‘Summer Girl’, poignant reflective ballad ‘Hallelujah’ and emotionally charged ‘Now I’m In It’. Living In A Ghost Town is a new song from The Rolling Stones that reflects on the lock-down experience and that the band finished while in isolation: ‘It’s a song we thought would resonate through the times that we’re living in right now,’ said Mick Jagger.

Our release of the week is Kitchen Sink, on which Nadine Shah explores the pressures and expectations that come with being a woman in her 30s. Jovial and playful at times, unblinkingly daring at others, it bursts with Shah’s winning personality while simultaneously refusing to compromise on the social commentary that she continues to deliver so fearlessly.

- Nadine Shah Kitchen Sink
Nadine Shah brings the same ferocious determination and distinct voice heard on her Mercury Prize-nominated 2017 album Holiday Destination to matters closer to home with Kitchen Sink, an album that explores her own story as a woman in her 30s and the societal pressures and expectations that come with that.
Jovial and playful at times, unblinkingly daring at others, Kitchen Sink bursts with Shah’s winning personality while simultaneously refusing to compromise on the social commentary that she continues to deliver so fearlessly.

- Khruangbin Mordechai
Khruangbin has always been multilingual, weaving far-flung musical languages like East Asian surf-rock, Persian funk and Jamaican dub into mellifluous harmony. But on their third album, they’re finally speaking out loud. Mordechai features vocals prominently on nearly every song, a first for the mostly instrumental band. It’s a shift that rewards the risk, reorienting Khruangbin’s transportive sound toward a new sense of emotional directness, without losing the spirit of nomadic wandering that’s always defined it. And it all started with them coming home. In those years away from home, Khruangbin’s members often felt like they were swimming underwater, unsure of where they were going, or why they were going there. But Mordechai leads them gently back to the surface, allowing them to take a breath, look around, and find themselves again. It’s a snapshot taken along a larger journey – a moment all the more beautiful for its impermanence. And it’s a memory to revisit again and again, speaking to us now more clearly than ever.

- Ray LaMontagne Monovision
This ten-track Monovision is the eighth studio album from Grammy Award-winning artist Ray LaMontagne and finds him in the multiple roles of songwriter, singer, producer and engineer, as well as performing all the instruments. The first songs to be released as singles from Monovision are ‘We’ll Make It Through’ and ‘Strong Enough’. Ray LaMontagne’s albums display an artist who continues to push himself in different directions, yet with a unique signature sound that could only be his.

- Haim Women In Music Pt. III
Women In Music Pt. III is the third studio album by American band Haim, and was produced by Danielle Haim, Rostam Batmanglij and Ariel Rechtshaid. Standout tracks include ‘The Steps’, which pushes guitar to the fore in a way the band has not done before: clean, chorused electric guitar, overdriven lead lines and strummed acoustic 12-strings lock in together to generate what feels like an endless chug. The result is one of Haim’s fastest and heaviest songs to date. The breezy and beautiful ‘Summer Girl’, poignant reflective ballad ‘Hallelujah’ and emotionally charged ‘Now I’m In It’ are all gems.

- The Rolling Stones Living In A Ghost Town
Living In A Ghost Town is a new song from The Rolling Stones, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, that was created and recorded in Los Angeles, London and in isolation. Mick Jagger says: ‘So the Stones were in the studio recording some new material before the lockdown and there was one song we thought would resonate through the times that we’re living in right now. We’ve worked on it in isolation. And here it is – it’s called Living In A Ghost Town – I hope you like it’. Keith Richards: ‘So, let’s cut a long story short. We cut this track well over a year ago in L.A. for part of a new album, an ongoing thing, and then shit hit the fan Mick and I decided this one really needed to go to work right now and so here you have it, Living In A Ghost Town. Stay safe!’ Charlie Watts: ‘I enjoyed working on this track. I think it captures a mood and I hope people who listen to it will agree.’ Ronnie Wood: ‘Thanks so much for all your messages these past few weeks, it means so much to us that you enjoy the music. So we have a brand new track for you, we hope you enjoy it. It has a haunting melody, it’s called Living In A Ghost Town.’

[back to top]

Releases for 19 June 2020

Our pick of 19 June’s releases starts with Rough And Rowdy Ways, the 39th studio album from Bob Dylan (57 years! after his debut) and his first album of original material since 2012; it features the 17-minute ‘Murder Most Foul’ about the assassination of JFK. Already heralded as one of the most highly anticipated albums of the year, Punisher – the second album from singular talent Phoebe Bridgers – cements her as one of the most irresistibly clever and tender songwriters of our era. Gretchen Peters’s new album, The Night You Wrote That Song, features stripped-down versions of Mickey Newbury’s songs and was recorded at the same studios where he recorded three of his legendary albums. Kiss The Sky is a no-nonsense, power-packed rock and roll album from Bad Touch, and it’s catchy, feel-good rock music with the groove, foot-stomping guitar riffs and an abundance of energy. Hermitage is the first album from Canadian legend Ron Sexsmith since he moved to a more bucolic life in Stratford, Ontario, and was recorded in Ron’s living room with producer Don Kerr.

Our release of the week is Neil Young’s great lost album from 1975, Homegrown – what he has called “the unheard bridge between Harvest and Comes A Time,” which perfectly describes the warm, semi-acoustic feel of these twelve songs. The album has a legendary status among Neil’s fans and finally sees the light of day 45 years later. Don’t miss it.

- Neil Young Homegrown
Homegrown is Neil Young’s great lost album from 1975. Young has called it “the unheard bridge between Harvest and Comes A Time,” which perfectly describes the warm, semi-acoustic feel of these twelve songs. Originally intended for release in 1975, the album has never seen the light of day until now, and has a legendary status among Neil’s fans.
Seven of the songs are previously unreleased on any album, and different versions of the other five songs would appear on later Neil Young albums. Neil plays guitar, piano and harmonica on the album, and is accompanied by a stellar group of musicians including Levon Helm, Ben Keith, Karl T Himmel, Tim Drummond, Emmylou Harris and Robbie Robertson.

- Bob Dylan Rough And Rowdy Ways
Rough And Rowdy Ways is the 39th studio album from Bob Dylan, released 58 years after his debut LP, and his first album of original material since 2012’s Tempest. The ten-song double album includes several songs released this spring, including the 17-minute ‘Murder Most Foul’, about the assassination of JFK, ‘I Contain Multitudes’ and ‘False Prophet’. Dylan’s most recent album was the 2017 triple set Triplicate, a 30-song compilation of classic American tunes, which followed 2016’s Fallen Angels and 2015’s Shadows In The Night.

- Phoebe Bridgers Punisher
Already heralded as one of the most highly anticipated albums of the year, 25-year old singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers presents her second solo album, Punisher. Bridgers is a singular talent, and also that rare artist with enough humour to deconstruct the tired heuristics of a meteoric rise. Punisher, written and recorded between summer 2018 and autumn 2019, cements her as one of the most irresistibly clever and tenderly prolific songwriters of our era. Returning to work with her Stranger In The Alps collaborators Tony Berg and Ethan Gruska, Bridgers – who co-produced the boygenius EP and the Better Oblivion Community Center album – stepped into the role of co-producer for Punisher and has drawn from the same tight-knit group of musicians who appeared on her debut as well as those she has worked with since.

- Gretchen Peters The Night You Wrote That Song
Gretchen Peters’s new album, The Night You Wrote That Song: The Songs of Mickey Newbury, was recorded at the historic Cinderella Studios, where Newbury recorded his legendary albums of the late 1960s/early 1970s: Looks Like Rain, Frisco Mabel Joy and Heaven Help The Child. A lifelong devotee of Mickey Newbury’s albums as well as his songwriting, Peters chose to record his songs in stripped-down fashion at the same studio where the original magic happened.

- Bad Touch Kiss The Sky
Kiss The Sky is a no-nonsense rock and roll album at heart. For their fourth album, Bad Touch have stripped everything right back and thought about the essence of a great album. They’ve stuck to what they do best, which is writing catchy, feel-good rock music. Kiss The Sky is a power-packed album that has the groove with huge chorus hooks, foot-stomping guitar riffs and an abundance of energy. The album was recorded at the legendary Rockfield Studios with Nick Brine (The Darkness, Thunder, Ash).

- Ron Sexsmith Hermitage
Hermitage is the first new album from Canadian songwriting legend Ron Sexsmith since he moved from his long-time home of Toronto to a more bucolic life in Stratford, Ontario. Ron worked with producer Don Kerr to create this album; the two set up in Ron’s living room to record, where Ron played all the instruments, except the drums, for the album.

[back to top]

Releases for 12 June 2020

Our six picks for 12 June start with Liam Gallagher, who last summer joined the list of all-time greats to record a prestigious MTV Unplugged session. An electrifying performance at Hull’s City Hall finds his songs resonating in stripped-back form, his vocal shining among string arrangements by the 24-piece Urba. After a remarkable two years that included a world tour and a Grammy nomination, Larkin Poe have returned with their most artistically adventurous work to date. Self Made Man sees Rebecca and Megan Lovell inspired by their epic world travels yet still powerfully rooted in the heritage of the American South. Rated PG brings together, for the first time, a selection of songs written by Peter Gabriel used in films, from his first score, 1985’s Birdy, on, including new and previously unreleased versions, otherwise unavailable songs and a brand-new track, displaying a mix of different styles and moods appropriate to each setting. Celebrated singer/songwriter Brigid Mae Power paints expansive song-pictures that are effortless, hypnotic and folk-oriented like those of Judee Sill, Bill Callahan and Sharon Van Etten. Her third album, Head Above The Water, is a coming of age opus featuring an engaging blend of strings, bouzouki, piano and Power’s distinctive vocal. To Love Is To Live, the debut solo album from Savages frontwoman Jehnny Beth, features a number of collaborators, including producers Flood, Atticus Ross and longtime co-creator Johnny Hostile, plus The xx’s Romy Madley Croft and Idles’ Joe Talbot, and an appearance from actor Cillian Murphy on a track originally written for Peaky Blinders.

Our album of the week comes from Norah Jones, who turned away from the album concept to brief collaborative sessions with after touring 2016’s Day Breaks. Pick Me Up Off The Floor has been formed from unreleased session songs, but is anything but a disjointed collage: it holds together beautifully, connected by the sly groove of her piano trios and a heavy mood that leans into darkness before ultimately finding the light.

- Norah Jones Pick Me Up Off The Floor
Norah Jones didn’t even intend to make another album. After she finished touring 2016’s Day Breaks – her return to piano-based jazz – she moved into unfamiliar territory without boundaries: a series of short sessions with an ever-changing array of collaborators. But then, slowly but surely, the session songs Jones hadn’t released congealed into that very thing she’d meant to avoid – an album. “Every session I’ve done, there’ve been extra songs I didn’t release and they’ve sort of been collecting for the last two years,” says Jones. But Pick Me Up Off The Floor is anything but a disjointed collage: it holds together beautifully, connected by the sly groove of her piano trios, lyrics that confront loss and portend hope, and a heavy mood that leans into darkness before ultimately finding the light.

- Liam Gallagher MTV Unplugged (Live At Hull City Hall)
Last summer Liam Gallagher joined the list of all-time greats who have filmed a prestigious MTV Unplugged session. Having missed Oasis’s 1996 session through illness, the show at Hull’s City Hall found Liam fulfilling some unfinished business entirely on his own terms. The electrifying atmosphere is palpable from the very beginning with a phenomenal reaction as Liam takes to the stage with ‘Wall Of Glass’. Material such as his personal favourite ‘Once’ and the joyous ‘Now That I’ve Found You’ resonates in this stripped-back format, with his vocal shining alongside a trio of backing singers and string arrangements performed by the 24-piece Urba.

- Larkin Poe Self Made Man
After a remarkable two-year run that saw them earn a Grammy Award nomination for their last chart-topping studio album while touring the world, Larkin Poe have returned with what is undeniably their most wide-reaching and artistically adventurous work to date. Self Made Man sees the multi-instrumentalist sister duo of Rebecca and Megan Lovell pushing their music and message towards hitherto unexplored terrain, inspired by their epic world travels yet still powerfully rooted in the creative heritage of their beloved American South. From the thunderous power of the album-opening ‘She’s A Self Made Man’ through the nostalgic ‘Tears Of Blue To Gold’ and from the fierce Chicago blues of ‘Scorpion’ to the front-porch jubilation of ‘Easy Street’, the album is ambitious in both its eclectic, energetic sound and its universal lyrical approach fuelled by tradition, invention, and Larkin Poe’s remarkable ability to touch hearts and souls.

- Peter Gabriel Rated PG
Rated PG brings together in one place, for the first time, a selection of songs written by Peter Gabriel especially for, or used to notable effect in, films, from his first score – for Alan Parker’s film Birdy in 1985 – through Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ (that became the album Passion), Philip Noyce’s film Rabbit-Proof Fence (released as the album Long Walk Home) and others. It includes new and previously unreleased versions, otherwise unavailable songs and a brand new track. “I have always loved film and any chance I have been offered to work with good film projects and good directors I have jumped at,” says Gabriel. “This album is a mixture of songs that have been written for specific films, and existing songs that found an appropriate place in a story. Consequently, there is a mix of different styles and moods.” Originally a limited release for Record Store Day 2019, the album is now getting a general release.

- Brigid Mae Power Head Above The Water
Celebrated singer/songwriter Brigid Mae Power paints expansive song-pictures that are effortless, hypnotic and folk-oriented like those of Judee Sill, Bill Callahan and Sharon Van Etten. Her third album, Head Above The Water, is a coming of age opus featuring a ground-breaking amalgamation of traditional folk and country – an engaging blend of strings, bouzouki, piano and Power’s distinctive vocal make this an achingly beautiful body of work. It’s a continuing tale of everyday survival; more diverse, different, a bigger canvas, with broader brushstrokes. The album was recorded in analogue studio The Green Door in Glasgow with Alasdair Roberts co-producing alongside Brigid and Peter Broderick.

- Jehnny Beth To Love Is To Live
To Love Is To Live is the debut solo album from Savages frontwoman Jehnny Beth. Recorded in Los Angeles, London, and Paris, the record features a number of collaborators, including producers Flood, Atticus Ross and longtime co-creator Johnny Hostile, plus The xx’s Romy Madley Croft and Idles’ Joe Talbot. Actor Cillian Murphy also makes an appearance on ‘I’m The Man’, a track Beth originally recorded and released for the BBC series Peaky Blinders.

[back to top]

Releases for 5 June 2020

Our super six for 5 June start with Sideways To New Italy, a return to home for Australian guitar-pop five-piece Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever after the relentless touring schedule for their critically regarded 2018 debut, Hope Downs. Artistically, they were inspired by a “bizarre place” that captured the feeling of manufacturing a sense of home: New Italy, a remote village in NSW founded by Venetian immigrants, with replica Roman statues dotted like alien souvenirs on the otherwise rural landscape. Already a three-time Grammy winner at just 28 years old, Sarah Jarosz explores the competing desires to escape and to stay put on World On The Ground. With the scope of a novel and a sound inspired by classic Texas songwriting, she paints a portrait that exists outside of time. To complete their album reissue programme, The Blue Nile worked diligently on High, released as a deluxe 2-CD set featuring more than 32 minutes of new music and for the very first time on LP – a reissue fans will truly enjoy. Quickies features twenty-eight new short songs by Stephin Merritt of Magnetic Fields, ranging in length from thirteen seconds to two and a half minutes and inspired by micro-fiction and baroque harpsichord music. Merritt used small notebooks to keep his creativity tightly focused. From its opening track, Teddy Thompson’s new album, Heartbreaker Please, reckons with the breakdown of love with a wistful levity as satisfying as it is devastatingly honest. It’s also a projection of his relationship with New York City, where this son of legends Linda and Richard settled after leaving home at 18. Teddy is a commanding artist at the top of his craft.

When a musical ensemble chooses to self-title an album mid-career, it usually signifies their conviction that they’ve struck the motherlode and arrived at a long-striven-for pinnacle. After months of aural alchemy in their native Manchester, propulsive jazz trio GoGo Penguin now take their upward trajectory to its next stage with this wondrously ambitious breakbeat-infused new album, which is our release of the week.

- GoGo Penguin GoGo Penguin
When a musical ensemble chooses to self-title an album mid-career, it usually signifies their conviction that they’ve struck the motherlode, hit the jackpot, stepped up and generally arrived at a point they’ve always striven for but never quite attained before. After months of aural alchemy in their native Manchester, propulsive jazz trio GoGo Penguin are now ready to go back into the wider world again and take their upward trajectory to its next stage with this wondrously ambitious breakbeat-infused new album.

- Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever Sideways To New Italy
After years spent looking out at landscapes and loved ones and an increasingly unstable world, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have turned their gaze inward, to their individual pasts and the places that inform them, on their second album, Sideways To New Italy. Led by singer-songwriter-guitarists Tom Russo, Joe White and Fran Keaney, the guitar-pop five-piece returned home to Australia after the relentless touring schedule that came following their critically regarded 2018 debut, Hope Downs.
Feeling the literal and metaphorical ground under their feet had shifted, the band began grasping for something reliable. For Keaney, that translated into writing “pure romantic fiction” and consciously avoiding the temptation of angsty break-up songs, while Russo looked north to a “bizarre place” that captured the feeling of manufacturing a sense of home when his own had disappeared. The New Italy of the new album’s title is a village near New South Wales’ Northern Rivers – the area drummer Marcel Tussie is from. A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pit-stop of a place with fewer than 200 residents, it was founded by Venetian immigrants in the late 1800s and now serves as something of a living monument to Italians’ contribution to Australia, with replica Roman statues dotted like alien souvenirs on the otherwise rural landscape.

- Sarah Jarosz World On The Ground
At just 28 years old, Sarah Jarosz is already a three-time Grammy winner. And World On The Ground is her first new album in four years. It’s a collection of stories both real and imagined that explore the tension and inertia of small-town living. Jarosz, a small-town Texan native currently living in New York City, explores the competing desires to escape and to stay put. The album is populated by sensitive souls, aimless wanderers and back-porch daydreamers, whose stories are illuminated by the album’s spacious yet intricate arrangements and Jarosz’s captivating voice and richly detailed songwriting. With the scope of a novel and a sound inspired by classic Texas songwriting, World On The Ground paints a portrait that exists outside of time.

- The Blue Nile High
To complete their album reissue programme, The Blue Nile have been working alongside long-term producer/engineer partner Calum Malcolm on High. The album has been produced as a deluxe 2-CD set, featuring nine remastered tracks plus a bonus disc consisting of four previously unreleased songs plus two extended remixes – over 32 minutes of new music. The album is also available on LP for the very first time, produced on 180g black vinyl.
The band’s fanbase has been waiting patiently for the reissue of High to complete the set, and so the band has worked diligently to deliver an album that fans will truly enjoy.

- Magnetic Fields Quickies
Quickies is a new set from Magnetic Fields that features twenty-eight new short songs by Stephin Merritt, ranging in length from thirteen seconds to two and a half minutes. “I’ve been reading a lot of very short fiction,” says Merritt, “and enjoyed writing 101 Two Letter Words, the poetry book about the shortest words you can use in Scrabble. Also I’ve been listening to a lot of French baroque harpsichord music. Harpsichord doesn’t lend itself to languor. I’ve been thinking about one instrument at a time, playing for about a minute or so and then stopping, and narratives that are only a few lines long. To make the album, I used a lot of small notebooks, so when I reach the bottom of the page, I’ve only gone a short way.”

Magnetic Fields – Quickies 5 x 7 inch vinyl

- Teddy Thompson Heartbreaker Please
From its opening track, Teddy Thompson’s new album, Heartbreaker Please, reckons with the breakdown of love with a wistful levity as satisfying as it is devastatingly honest. As he sings frankly: “You don’t love me anymore. I can tell you’ve got one foot out the door.” And while the album is drawn from the demise of a real-life relationship, as told from Thompson’s perspective, it might also be seen as a projection of his relationship with New York City, the place he has called home for the better part of two decades. A member of the British musical dynasty started by his parents, Linda and Richard Thompson, he left London for the States at 18, settling in New York five years later. “At the time I was just taking a long vacation that never ended,” he says. “I wanted to reinvent myself and it was easier to leave it behind and go somewhere new to announce myself as a musician, rather than explain to all the people who’ve known you since you were a kid. And you can actually reinvent yourself in America, step off the plane, say ‘my name is whatever’.” Twenty years later, Heartbreaker Please finds Teddy Thompson perfectly himself, a commanding artist at the top of his craft.

[back to top]

Releases for 29 May 2020

We swing back into the new release groove with a selection from 22 & 29 May, starting with Banana Skin Shoes (out 22 May), a huge statement of intent from Badly Drawn Boy and the most glorious, colourful, warming, honest pop record you’ll hear this year. If that’s not enough to tempt you, we have a free limited edition poster to give away with each pre-order. Tim Burgess, who’s been hosting numerous Twitter listening parties during lock-down, releases I Love The New Sky (out 22 May), written in the middle of nowhere with no distractions, just dreaming away with music. James Elkington’s new album, Ever-Roving Eye (out 22 May), moves from the traditions of 1970s folk revival to rope in echoes of British library music, horror-film soundtracks, demure psychedelia and more rocking elements of folk-rock. The result is a record even more elaborate, shrewd, thoughtful and confessional than its predecessor. Hether Blether (out 29 May) is the third and final album in a trilogy of releases shaped by the Orkneys, where contemporary composer and multi-instrumentalist Erland Cooper grew up. He has previously explored their birdlife and seas and, on this record, the land, manifesting an immersive collection of music, words and imagery. Lady Gaga’s highly anticipated sixth studio album, Chromatica (out 29 May), features collaborations with Ariana Grande, Elton John and Blackpink. Whether or not her machine-tooled pop extravaganzas are your thing, one thing Chromatica won’t be is boring!

If you’re a fan of Steve Earle, the fact that Ghosts Of West Virginia (out 22 May) centres on the Upper Big Branch coal-mine explosion that killed twenty-nine men in 2010 in that state in 2010, making it one of the worst mining disasters in American history shouldn’t surprise. Earle “thought that, given the way things are now, it was maybe my responsibility to make a record that spoke to and for people who didn’t vote the way that I did.” It’s our release of the week.

- Steve Earle & The Dukes Ghosts Of West Virginia
Ghosts Of West Virginia (out 22 May) centres on one of the worst mining disasters in American history: the Upper Big Branch coal-mine explosion that killed twenty-nine men in 2010. When asked about what drove him to craft his deeply evocative new album, Steve Earle says: “I thought that, given the way things are now, it was maybe my responsibility to make a record that spoke to and for people who didn’t vote the way that I did. … This is one move toward something that might take a generation to change. I wanted to do something where that dialogue could begin.”

- Badly Drawn Boy Banana Skin Shoes
Banana Skin Shoes (out 22 May), the ninth album from Damon Gough a.k.a. Badly Drawn Boy, comprises 14 tracks including previously released track ‘Is This A Dream?’ Always one to wear his heart on his sleeve, Gough’s ninth album is a truly personal and heartfelt collection of songs, a huge statement of intent and the most glorious, colourful warming, honest pop record you’ll hear this year.

- Tim Burgess I Love The New Sky
The twelve tunes on I Love The New Sky (out 22 May) were written, says Tim Burgess, “in Norfolk, in the middle of the countryside, with the nearest shop eight miles away. There are no distractions, and I guess that way things happen. I wrote everything on acoustic guitar, and the chords were really considered. The guitar lines would lead the melody, and the melody would inform the lyrics – just dreaming away with music.”

- James Elkington Ever Roving Eye
Where James Elkington’s first record was more firmly situated in the sonic tradition of England’s more interesting 1970s folk revivalists, Ever-Roving Eye (out 22 May) engages in a broader wrassle, roping in echoes of British library music, horror-film soundtracks, demure psychedelia, and more rocking elements of folk-rock. The result is a record even more elaborate, shrewd, thoughtful and confessional than its predecessor.

- Erland Cooper Hether Blether
Hether Blether (out 29 May) is the third and final album in a trilogy of releases shaped by the islands where Erland Cooper grew up. Hailing from the archipelago of Orkney in Scotland, the contemporary composer and multi-instrumentalist has explored the birdlife (2018’s Solan Goose), seas (2019’s Sule Skerry) and, on Hether Blether, the land, manifesting an immersive collection of music, words and imagery.

- Lady Gaga Chromatica
Lady Gaga’s highly anticipated sixth studio album, Chromatica (out 29 May), features collaborations with Ariana Grande, Elton John and Blackpink. Gaga’s last full-length studio album was 2016’s Joanne. In 2018 she released the soundtrack for A Star Is Born, which won her four Grammy Awards as well as an Oscar for the hit song ‘Shallow’.
Whether or not Lady Gaga’s machine-tooled pop extravaganzas are your thing, one thing Chromatica won’t be is boring!

[back to top]

Releases for 15 May 2020

As we get back into the weekly new release cycle, we bring you three gems released on 15 May. First up, Sleaford Mods stepped out of 2019 with a Top Ten album, Eton Alive, under their belt, their biggest sold-out tour to date and the swagger of a band that have never been more relevant, topically challenging and downright entertaining. Now they’re set to continue their onslaught into 2020 with the release of All That Glue, a collection of songs spanning the last seven years of the band’s career: an array of crowd-pleasers, B sides, unheard tracks and rarities for fans and the curious. On record you can hear their sinews, live you can touch their veins. Biffy Clyro have announced their new album, A Celebration Of Endings. “This is a very forward-looking album from a personal perspective and a societal perspective,” explains frontman Simon Neil. “The title is about seeing the joy in things changing, rather than the sadness. Change means progression and evolution. You can retain everything you loved before, but let’s lose the bad stuff. It’s about trying to take back control.”

Our release of the week comes from former Drive-By Trucker Jason Isbell, who have once again come together with The 400 Unit for a new album, Reunions, their follow-up to 2017’s Grammy-winning The Nashville Sound. Isbell explains the album’s title thus: “There are a lot of ghosts on this album. Sometimes the songs are about the ghosts of people who aren’t around anymore, but they’re also about who I used to be, the ghost of myself. I found myself writing songs that I wanted to write 15 years ago, but in those days, I hadn’t written enough songs to know how to do it yet. Just now have I been able to pull it off to my own satisfaction. In that sense, it’s a reunion with the me I was back then.”

- Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit Reunions
Former Drive-By Trucker Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit come together again for a new album, Reunions, their follow-up to 2017’s Grammy-winning The Nashville Sound. Isbell explains the album’s title thus: “There are a lot of ghosts on this album. Sometimes the songs are about the ghosts of people who aren’t around anymore, but they’re also about who I used to be, the ghost of myself. I found myself writing songs that I wanted to write 15 years ago, but in those days, I hadn’t written enough songs to know how to do it yet. Just now have I been able to pull it off to my own satisfaction. In that sense, it’s a reunion with the me I was back then.”

- Sleaford Mods All That Glue
Jason Williamson and Andrew Fearn stepped out of 2019 with a Top Ten album, Eton Alive, under their belt, their biggest sold-out tour to date and the swagger of a band that have never been more relevant, topically challenging and downright entertaining. Sleaford Mods are set to continue their onslaught into 2020 with the release of All That Glue, a collection of songs spanning the last seven years of the band’s career: an array of crowd-pleasers, B sides, unheard tracks and rarities for fans and the curious.
Over the past few years Sleaford Mods have become one of the most intractable British pop stories. One of its best. Their music is drawn at a flawless fault-line of anger, tenderness and humour, a triumvirate of raw energy which frequently jostles in the space of a cadence for supremacy. On record you can hear their sinews, live you can touch their veins.

- Biffy Clyro A Celebration Of Endings
Biffy Clyro have announced their new album, A Celebration Of Endings. “This is a very forward-looking album from a personal perspective and a societal perspective,” explains frontman Simon Neil. “The title is about seeing the joy in things changing, rather than the sadness. Change means progression and evolution. You can retain everything you loved before, but let’s lose the bad stuff. It’s about trying to take back control.”

[back to top]

Other releases for 2020

Find releases from 2021 | 2019.