Releases from July–August 2022

Great albums from around the world

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Releases for 26 August 2022

26 August’s aural refreshers start with Pre Pleasure, the breathtaking third album from Australian singer-songwriter Julia Jacklin: the most intimate, raw and devastating ten songs so far from this uncompromising and masterful lyricist. Embrace have put everything they have into How To Be A Person Like Other People, and the blend of the intimate, personal and autobiographical with their confident, rousing and anthemic sound is sure to delight fans. Steve Earle & The Dukes follow tributes to mentors Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark with Jerry Jeff, a 10-song collection of songs written by the gypsy songman Jerry Jeff Walker to which they have given the full-band treatment. Acclaimed Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Valerie June presents Under Cover, a specially curated set featuring singular interpretations of songs by Mazzy Star, Frank Ocean, Joe South, Gillian Welch, Nick Cave, John Lennon, Nick Drake and Bob Dylan. Rounding off this week’s selection, electronic dance music titan William Orbit returns with a quintessentially Orbit new album, The Painter, featuring vocals from Katie Melua, Beth Orton, Georgia, Polly Scattergood, Ali Love and more.

Our release of the week is Will Of The People from Muse, a record influenced by the increasing uncertainty and instability in the world, both in human society and the natural world, with democracy wavering and the rise of authoritarianism while wildfires and natural disasters abound. The album is a personal navigation through those fears and a preparation for what comes next.

- Muse Will Of The People
Muse frontman Matt Bellamy says: “Will Of The People was created in Los Angeles and London and is influenced by the increasing uncertainty and instability in the world. A pandemic, new wars in Europe, massive protests & riots, an attempted insurrection, Western democracy wavering, rising authoritarianism, wildfires and natural disasters and the destabilization of the global order all informed Will Of The People. It has been a worrying and scary time for all of us as the Western empire and the natural world, which have cradled us for so long, are genuinely threatened. This album is a personal navigation through those fears and a preparation for what comes next.”

- Julia Jacklin Pre Pleasure
Pre Pleasure is the breathtaking third album from Australian singer-songwriter Julia Jacklin. Co-produced with Marcus Paquin (The Weather Station, The National), Pre Pleasure shows Jacklin at her most authentic, delivering the most intimate, raw and devastating ten songs of her career to date. This uncompromising and masterful lyricist is always willing to mine the depths of her own life experience, and she has a singular talent for translating this into deeply personal, timeless songs.

- Embrace How To Be A Person Like Other People
Embrace have announced their eighth studio album, How To Be A Person Like Other People, released on their own Mo’betta label. Talking about the album, guitarist Richard McNamara said: “Whenever we put out a new album it’s always a really big deal to us, we put everything we have into it. We know that there’s something about what we do that people love, that they just don’t get from other bands. It’s like a pact, they want us to be intimate and personal and autobiographical, but they also want us to be confident and rousing and anthemic. It sounds like a contradiction, but I think when we’re at our best we somehow pull it off. I think in that sense this is the most Embrace album we’ve ever made.”

- Steve Earle & The Dukes Jerry Jeff
Steve Earle has been creating intimate and personal music for well over four decades now. His songwriting has wound itself along a path from Texas to Tennessee and his education came in the form of learning from the best: 2009’s Grammy-nominated Townes was a tribute to his dear friend and mentor, Townes Van Zandt; and, ten years later, Earle released Guy, an album paying homage to the late Guy Clark and the indelible friendship that they had formed in stories told through song. 2022 welcomes the release of Jerry Jeff, a 10-song collection of songs written by the gypsy songman Jerry Jeff Walker. Featuring hits like ‘Mr Bojangles’ and ‘Gettin’ By’, Earle & The Dukes honour the late Texan by amplifying the concept and sound of each song with a full-band recording.

- Valerie June Under Cover
Acclaimed Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Valerie June presents Under Cover, a specially curated 8-track covers collection that contains singular interpretations of some of her favourite songs, including previously unreleased versions of Mazzy Star’s ‘Fade Into You’, Frank Ocean’s ‘Godspeed’, Joe South’s ‘Don’t It Make You Want To Go Home’, Gillian Welch’s ‘Look At Miss Ohio’ and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ ‘Into My Arms’. Under Cover also includes two tracks from the recently released digital-only deluxe edition of Valerie’s own The Moon And Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers: John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’, and Nick Drake’s ‘Pink Moon’. Bob Dylan’s sublime ‘Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You’, previously available only as an Amazon Original exclusive, rounds out the set.

- William Orbit The Painter
Electronic dance music titan William Orbit returns with his first new album in more than eight years. Entitled The Painter, it is unmistakeably William Orbit and features vocal collaborations from an array of artists including Katie Melua, Beth Orton, Georgia, Polly Scattergood, Ali Love and more.

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Releases for 19 August 2022

We spark off 19 August’s scorchers with a record to bring solace to anyone who has experienced loss: after the deaths of his grandmother and mother in quick succession, American Aquarium’s B J Barham explored how to deal with those losses, finding hope that comes from the realisation that you are not alone. Bleed Out is a song cycle about the allure and futility of vengeance that had its birth in the pulpy action films Mountain Goats frontman John Darnielle watched during lockdown, finding himself drawn to the antiheroes – particularly the ways in which their quests for justice were almost inevitably doomed – and it’s a cinematic experience in itself. Chicago-based instrumental trio Russian Circles have traversed a diverse topography of sounds, moods and approaches with their limited armoury of drums, bass and guitar: you might easily find drone-heavy meditations, dazzling prog exercises, knuckle-dragging riff-fests, haunting folk ballads and tension-baiting noise rock all within the span of a single album. However fast or far a man travels, he can never truly outrun his past, and on his new album, Walter Trout found himself eyeing the horizon and the green shoots of his triumphant late career – still, aged 70, writing fresh chapters of his life story. Finally, Scottish modern classical/ambient composer Erland Cooper shares a new mesmerising ambient album to be listened to while growing your own flowers and plants, blending the sounds of piano, harp, cello, violin and vocals with atmospheric electronics to hypnotic effect.

Our release of the week is a cracker: Freakout/Release is another dizzying high in a multi-decade career that’s seen Hot Chip continuing to innovate and develop a rich, resonant songcraft. And while they continue to operate at peak form, the album also feels like a new chapter for the group – a collection of flesh-and-blood songs that finds the band reaching into the darkness to emerge as a true creative unit, their gazes fixed positively on the future ahead.

- Hot Chip Freakout/Release
Freakout/Release is another dizzying high in a multi-decade career that’s seen Hot Chip continuing to innovate and develop a rich, resonant songcraft. And while they continue to operate at peak form, the album also feels like a new chapter for the group – a collection of flesh-and-blood songs that finds the band reaching into the darkness to emerge as a true creative unit, their gazes fixed positively on the future ahead.

- American Aquarium Chicacomico
Over six months spanning the end of 2019 and early 2020, American Aquarium’s B J Barham lost his grandmother and mother, and watched as the world fell into a more than 2-year pandemic that decimated businesses, relationships and dreams. Chicacomico is a record about dealing with those losses. He writes: “My hope is these songs serve a salve for anyone else experiencing loss. A reminder that you are not the only one that lost a friend this year, or a parent, or a loved one. There’s a special kind of hope that comes from that realisation. I am not alone.”

- The Mountain Goats Bleed Out
In the depths of the pandemic at the end of 2020, Mountain Goats frontman John Darnielle passed the time while trapped at home watching pulpy action films, finding comfort in familiar tropes and sofabound escapism. This inspired him to pen the songs that make up Bleed Out, a song cycle about the allure and futility of vengeance and a cinematic experience in itself.
Running narrative themes are not new to Mountain Goats projects, especially in recent years, be it the pro wrestlers of 2015’s Beat The Champ or the characters in 2017’s Goths. Darnielle was drawn to the antiheroes of the hard-boiled action flicks he was binge-watching, particularly the ways in which their quests for justice were almost inevitably doomed. Bleed Out could be all one film, telling typically vivid, deliberately recognisable vignettes of desperate characters in no-win situations who plan on taking as many people down with them as they have to. But Darnielle sees these as unconnected stories that feel universal in their desire for justice, if not in their wanton bloodshed.

- Russian Circles Gnosis
Across the span of their previous seven studio albums, Chicago-based instrumental trio Russian Circles traversed a diverse topography of sounds, moods and approaches with their limited armoury of drums, bass and guitar. It’s difficult to chart an evolution in their sound when their records have always felt like well curated playlists: you might easily find drone-heavy meditations, dazzling prog exercises, knuckle-dragging riff-fests, haunting folk ballads and tension-baiting noise rock all within the span of a single album.

- Walter Trout Ride
However fast or far a man travels, he can never truly outrun his past. On his new album, Walter Trout found himself eyeing the horizon and the green shoots of his triumphant late career, including a new record deal and a move from California to Denmark with his beloved family. Even now, aged 70, Trout is still writing fresh chapters of his life story.

- Erland Cooper Music For Growing Flowers
Erland Cooper shares a new mesmerising ambient album to be listened to while growing your own flowers and plants. The Scottish modern classical/ambient composer creates a hypnotic sonic embrace for thinking about our relationship with nature, blending the sounds of piano, harp, cello, violin and vocals with atmospheric electronics. Nodding to impressionist painting techniques, he intends that the listener will hear new textures with each listen.

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Releases for 12 August 2022

The first of 12 August’s hot six is Day-Glo – an unexpected album, featuring 10 brand-new Erasure songs, each track created using elements from The Neon’s universe but bearing little resemblance to the original album. A fiery, confident kick-back against convention, Pale Waves’ third record, Unwanted, sees the group building on the promise of last year’s UK Top 3 album Who Am I? and staking their claim as British rock’s most dynamic young group. Cheat Codes blends Danger Mouse’s soulful, freewheeling production with Black Thought’s metronomic, pin-sharp and chorus-free lyrical deluge on a dizzying, thrilling album from two of contemporary music’s most respected artists. Of Kasabian’s new album, The Alchemist’s Euphoria, Serge Pizzorno says: “One thing about this record I feel over the other ones is it definitely feels like a body of work that belongs together. It was a beautiful moment to finally hear it as a piece. I think it really holds up in our seven albums.” Smash-cut to Kiwi Jr.’s third album, Chopper, which has been described as an anti-patio-sunscreen Beach Boys bachelor-cruise sing-a-long – The Monkees star in Blade Runner or Michael Mann directs Encino Man. No, we don’t know what that means either!

Our release of the week comes from Osees, who don’t seem to mutate or morph so much as remain extraordinarily open to what they are moved to do next, and remain capable of making music that’s consistently good, and this is shown on the hyperconcentrated burst of meteor density somewhat punkazoidal music that is A Foul Form.

- Osees A Foul Form
Osees don’t seem to mutate or morph so much as remain extraordinarily open to what they are moved to do next, and remain capable of making music that’s consistently good. What motivated the band to turn loose the hyperconcentrated slightly less than 22-minute burst of meteor density somewhat punkazoidal music that is A Foul Form? When it comes to Osees, that’s a pointless question as they just do the next thing – genre, prevailing tastes or whatever influence might guide a lesser unit are not even a consideration for them.

- Erasure Day-Glo (Based On A True Story)
Day-Glo is an unexpected album, featuring 10 brand-new Erasure songs, each track created using elements from The Neon’s universe. Familiar but unexpected, the songs bear little resemblance to the original album, although echoes of The Neon can be heard from time to time. The album is an alternative look at Vince and Andy’s world, and marks the closure of this chapter of The Neon.

- Pale Waves Unwanted
A fiery, confident kick-back against convention, Pale Waves’ third record, Unwanted, sees the group building on the promise of last year’s UK Top 3 album Who Am I? and staking their claim as British rock’s most dynamic young group.

- Danger Mouse & Black Thought Cheat Codes
Cheat Codes is Danger Mouse’s first hip-hop album since his 2005 DangerDOOM collaboration with the late, great MF DOOM, and Black Thought’s only full-length collaboration beyond his pioneering music in The Roots. Danger Mouse’s soulful, freewheeling production serves as the perfect backdrop to Black Thought’s metronomic, pin-sharp and chorus-free lyrical deluge. The result is a dizzying, thrilling album from two of contemporary music’s most respected artists.

- Kasabian The Alchemist’s Euphoria
Of Kasabian’s new album, The Alchemist’s Euphoria, the band’s seventh, Serge Pizzorno says: “One thing about this record I feel over the other ones is it definitely feels like a body of work that belongs together. It was a beautiful moment in mastering hearing it as a piece. I think it really holds up in our seven albums…. The Magnificent Seven.”

- Kiwi Jr. Chopper
Smash-cut to Kiwi Jr.’s third album, Chopper, overseen by trusted pilot Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs) on the renowned Sub Pop label. Turning nocturnal with necks mock turtle, our Local Kiwi Jr. takes neon flight off the digital cliff – like The Monkees starring in Blade Runner; like Michael Mann directs Encino Man. Ten songs with synth shimmer, zen gongs with yard strimmer. The signs along the highway read “LESS BAR, MORE NOIR AHEAD.” Ah, those late summer, Joe Strummer, Home on the Range Rover Blues. There’s a melancholy to all forms of flight, and the view out the Chopper is as hazy as it gets: mission-oriented, both stealth and self-realised. This album is decidedly (yet almost secretly) anti-patio-sunscreen-Beach Boys bachelor-cruise sing-a-long.

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Releases for 22 July 2022

22 July’s six sizzlers start with The Kooks’ sixth studio album, Ten Tracks To Echo In The Dark – a fresh-sounding, electronic-tinged evolution of their iconic sound and the result of several years of creative effort, including time spent collaborating in Berlin. Gulp! is the second studio album from one of Britain’s most exciting breakthrough bands of recent years, Sports Team – a band, according to NME, that you’ll either love or hate – and it signposts a bold and ambitious new era for them. Bloodline Maintenance is largely inspired by the loss of a long-time friend of Ben Harper and the lingering influence of a mercurial and charismatic father, and features his signature lap steel, supercharged through a powerful Dumble amplifier to create a truly unruly tone that Harper describes as “a sort of a merging of Robert Johnson and Jimi Hendrix.” Tossing down straight acoustic shots with an electric guitar chaser, Hello, Hi rides through the valley of yer ol’ Canyon legends, finding an isolated place to unspool Ty Segall’s copious reserves of nervous energy beneath an open sky: a lean, mean deal, baked in saltwater and sunlight, full of compassion. Finally, the inimitable Bananarama celebrate their 40th anniversary with a brand new studio album, Masquerade, produced by Ian Masterson.

Our release of the week is Entering Heaven Alive, the fifth studio album from Jack White – founding member of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather – and his second album of 2022, after April’s Fear Of The Dawn. True to his DIY roots, this record was recorded throughout 2021 at White’s Third Man Studio, mastered by Third Man Mastering and released by Third Man Records.

- Jack White Entering Heaven Alive
Entering Heaven Alive is the fifth studio album from Jack White – founding member of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather – and his second album of 2022, after April’s Fear Of The Dawn. True to his DIY roots, this record was recorded throughout 2021 at White’s Third Man Studio, mastered by Third Man Mastering and released by Third Man Records.

- The Kooks 10 Tracks To Echo In The Dark
The Kooks’ sixth studio album, Ten Tracks To Echo In The Dark, is a fresh-sounding, electronic-tinged evolution of their iconic sound. The album is the result of several years of creative effort, during which the band partially relocated to Berlin for inspiration and collaborated with several noteworthy artists. This time was cut short, however, as the pandemic forced the group to return to the United Kingdom, where they eventually finished the album.

- Sports Team Gulp!
Gulp! is the second studio album from one of Britain’s most exciting breakthrough bands of recent years, Sports Team, and it signposts a bold and ambitious new era for the band. Of lead track ‘R Entertainment’, the band explain that it explores “the packaging down of all human experience into entertainment, prompted by the infinite scroll through social feeds and the manic formlessness of the images we are hit with every day. Graphic news interrupted by ads for season 17 of The Bodyguard, news as a rubbernecking, passively waiting for the next drop of horror as we flick through recipes.”

- Ben Harper Bloodline Maintenance
Bloodline Maintenance, the 17th studio album from Ben Harper and his first non-instrumental solo album of new songs since 2016, is a work largely inspired by the loss of a long-time friend and the lingering influence of a mercurial and charismatic father. Harper performs the majority of the album’s instruments on his own, spanning guitar, bass, drums and an eclectic assortment of percussion including a plastic toy snare. The album is further fuelled by his signature lap steel, supercharged through a powerful Dumble amplifier to create a truly unruly tone that Harper describes as “a sort of a merging of Robert Johnson and Jimi Hendrix.”

- Ty Segall Hello, Hi
Tossing down straight acoustic shots with an electric guitar chaser, Hello, Hi rides through the valley of yer ol’ Canyon legends, finding an isolated place to unspool Ty Segall’s copious reserves of nervous energy beneath an open sky. Swarms of harmony vocals caper among the clouds, but there’s a rider on the horizon behind, with crossbow trained on his very own heart – the engine driving all the relationships of life, whether down Broadway or over the cliffs at night. Whatever doesn’t get killed is getting stronger all the time. A lean, mean deal, baked in saltwater and sunlight, compassion pouring out of its beautiful blue eyes.

- Bananarama Masquerade
The inimitable Bananarama celebrate their 40th anniversary with a brand new studio album, Masquerade, produced by Ian Masterson. For the past three decades, Bananarama’s Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward have been one of pop’s most influential and revered groups. Their hit-packed career happened because they were the mould-breakers. Sometimes reminders of pop genius come in the slightest of touches, the subtlest of triggers.

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Releases for 15 July 2022

We’ve got some crackers for 15 July, starting with black midi’s new album, Hellfire, their most thematically cohesive and intentional album yet, building on the melodic and harmonic elements of last year’s Cavalcade while expanding the brutality and intensity of their debut, Schlagenheim. Full of songs created in the shadow of terror and loss but that crackle and pop with defiance, Fear Fear is a stunning and unique achievement from Working Men’s Club: a record made for agitating and dancing, for heart and soul, for here, now and tomorrow, and that displays a top-to-bottom rigour and a complete vision. Night Drives, the first album from Kathryn Williams since Hypoxia in 2015, opens with some electronic tracks with bold, layered production; others have a cinematic sound, with delicate acoustics and elated, emotive strings; and her more familiar folk-inspired melancholia appears; but always with Kathryn’s inimitable charm. 30 Something, a stupendous new 2-CD / 4-LP box set, celebrates 30 years of Orbital with a wealth of new editions containing reworks, remakes, remixes and re-imaginings of landmark tracks based on the duo’s unrivalled live show: remixers include Yotto, ANNA, Jon Hopkins, Dusky, Joris Voorn, Logo 1000, Eli Brown and Shanti Celeste. Special is the highly anticipated new album from 3-time Grammy-winning global superstar Lizzo, which follows her multi-platinum top-10 2019 debut album, Cuz I Love You, featuring her irresistible new single ‘About Damn Time’.

Our release of the week is Interpol’s pandemic record. Coming from a group whose early work was populated by Polish knife-wielders and incarcerated serial killers, you might expect it to be an emotional tar pit, but singer Paul Banks felt the call to push in a ‘counterbalancing’ direction, and The Other Side Of Make-Believe features paeans to mental resilience and the quiet power of going easy.

- Interpol The Other Side Of Make-Believe
When lockdown clamped in March 2020, Interpol quickly got into a productive mood. Coming from a group whose early work was populated by Polish knife-wielders and incarcerated serial killers, you might expect Interpol’s pandemic record to be an emotional tar pit – doubly so, given the presence of towering producer–engineer duo Flood and Moulder on the boards. But singer Paul Banks felt the call to push in a ‘counterbalancing’ direction, and The Other Side Of Make-Believe features paeans to mental resilience and the quiet power of going easy. “The nobility of the human spirit is to recover and rebound,” he says. “Yeah, I could focus on how fucked everything is, but I feel now is the time when being hopeful is necessary, and a still-believable emotion within what makes Interpol Interpol.”

- black midi Hellfire
black midi’s new album, Hellfire, builds on the melodic and harmonic elements of last year’s Cavalcade while expanding the brutality and intensity of their debut, Schlagenheim. It is their most thematically cohesive and intentional album yet.

- Working Men’s Club Fear Fear
Full of songs created in the shadow of terror and loss but that crackle and pop with defiance, Fear Fear is a record made for agitating and dancing, for heart and soul, for here, now and tomorrow. It’s a record that explores juxtaposition: that of life and death, acceptance and isolation, environment and humanity, hope and despair, the real world and the digital world. That top-to-bottom rigour, that complete vision, is what makes the second album from Working Men’s Club such a stunning and unique achievement.

- Kathryn Williams Night Drives
Kathryn Williams’s first official album since Hypoxia in 2015, Night Drives, opens with some of her most immediate electronic tracks to date, such as the nihilistic ‘Human’, big ballad ‘Answer In The Dark’ – with all its bold, layered production – and the dynamic, infectious ‘Radioactive’. Elsewhere, on the likes of ‘Moon Karaoke’, ‘Magnets’ and ‘The Brightest’, she explores a more cinematic sound, slowly unravelling stories backed by delicate acoustics and elated, emotive string pieces. ‘Put The Needle On The Record’ and joint closers ‘Starry Heavens’ and ‘I Am Rich In All That I’ve Lost’ are relaxed and fall into the more traditional world of folk-inspired melancholia. Kathryn’s inimitable charm colours the whole album with emotion and affection: occasionally brooding, always likeable.

- Orbital 30 Something
This 2-CD / 4-LP box set celebrates 30 years of Orbital with a wealth of new editions containing reworks, remakes, remixes and re-imaginings of landmark tracks based on the duo’s unrivalled live show. The pandemic caused Orbital to miss their actual thirtieth anniversary, but it gave Paul and Phil Hartnoll space to think and find a way to celebrate their past that was actually about the future, and 30 Something was born. The set includes remixes by Yotto, ANNA, Jon Hopkins, Dusky, Joris Voorn, Logo 1000, Eli Brown and Shanti Celeste.

- Lizzo Special
Special is the highly anticipated new album from 3-time Grammy-winning global superstar Lizzo, which follows her multi-platinum top-10 2019 debut album, Cuz I Love You. The album features her irresistible new single ‘About Damn Time’. Cuz I Love You spent 24 consecutive weeks in the Top 10 while ‘Truth Hurts’ also became the longest-running #1 in history by a solo female rap artist after spending seven weeks atop the charts.

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Releases for 8 July 2022

The choicest new releases for 8 July begin with Found Light, which feels, in many ways, like Laura Veirs’ debut: a liberating collection of inquisitive and surprisingly assured snapshots of healing and personal growth following 2020’s My Echo, a testament to the inspiration of independence, to shaping new possibilities for yourself even after great loss. It’s almost unbelievable that Toast, the near-mythical 2001 studio album by Neil Young With Crazy Horse, is finally going to see the light of day! Whispered about in hushed tones by collectors, with Young dropping occasional nuggets of information about it here and there, the album finds Crazy Horse at a ragged and thundering apex and features three never-before-released songs. After providing an aural balm at just the right moment with her debut album, Katy J Pearson reflects a world brimming with curiosity, back in action and wanting to expand its horizons on her second album, Sound Of The Morning, on which she is pushing herself musically and lyrically into new waters. Sunset Dreams is a brand-new six-track EP featuring remixes of tracks from Jane Weaver’s acclaimed album Flock plus two unreleased tracks from the album sessions, beautifully capturing the pop vision of this ever-morphing electronic pioneer. BANKS enters previously uncharted territory in every sense – from sound to lyrics to visuals, and everything in-between, letting go and freeing herself by taking full production responsibilities on the 13-track Serpentina.

Our release of the week is When The Purple Emperor Spreads His Wings by The Wave Pictures, who have released over twenty albums of their own along with exciting side projects and collaborations. Across these varied releases, accommodating Dave Tattersall’s free-flowing fountain of songwriting, The Wave Pictures have shown their deep affection for rock and roll, blues, jazz, classic rock, and of course Dave’s legendary love of a good guitar solo.

- The Wave Pictures When The Purple Emperor Spreads His Wings
Formed over twenty years ago by Franic Rozycki and David Tattersall in Wymeswold, Leicestershire, and joined by Jonny ‘Huddersfield’ Helm since 2005, The Wave Pictures have released over twenty albums of their own, along with exciting side projects such as garage-rock supergroup The Surfing Magazines, several albums with Stanley Brinks, and Dave’s recent guitar contributions to albums by Billy Childish, with whom the band also collaborated on their 2014 album Great Big Flamingo Burning Moon. Across these varied releases, accommodating Dave’s free-flowing fountain of songwriting, The Wave Pictures have shown their deep affection for rock and roll, blues, jazz, classic rock, and of course Dave’s legendary love of a good guitar solo.

- Laura Veirs Found Light
Found Light may be Laura Veirs’ twelfth studio album but it also, in many ways, feels like her debut. If 2020’s My Echo – written and mixed in 2019 just before Veirs split from her husband, long-time producer and the father of her two sons – was her break-up album, Found Light is about what comes after. This is a liberating collection of inquisitive and surprisingly assured snapshots of healing and personal growth, and the first release on which she has co-production credits. Despite the sadness and suffering that prompted these 14 graceful wonders, the result is a testament to the inspiration of independence, to shaping new possibilities for yourself even after great loss. It is a reminder that we are always capable of something more.

- Neil Young With Crazy Horse Toast
Neil Young announces the long-anticipated release of his near-mythical 2001 studio album, Toast. Recorded at Toast Studios in San Francisco around the turn of the millennium, Toast features Young’s legendary musical collaborators Crazy Horse at a ragged and thundering apex. For the past two decades, Toast has been whispered about in collectors’ circles in hushed tones, with Young dropping occasional nuggets of information about it here and there, especially as it contains three never-before-released songs. Last year, in his virtual daily newspaper, The Times Contrarian, Young wrote about the album in-depth. “The music of Toast is about a relationship,” he said. “There is a time in many relationships that go bad, a time long before the breakup, where it dawns on one of the people, maybe both, that it’s over. This was that time.”

- Katy J Pearson Sound Of The Morning
It feels fitting that, with Katy J Pearson having provided an aural balm at just the right moment with her debut album, Return, its follow-up should reflect a world brimming with curiosity, back in action and wanting to expand its horizons. If her extracurricular activities in recent months have shown that she can dip a toe into a multitude of genres – providing guest vocals on Orlando Weeks’ recent album Hop Up; popping up with Yard Act for a collaboration at End of the Road festival; singing on trad-folk collective Broadside Hacks’ 2021 project Songs Without Authors – then her second album, Sound Of The Morning, takes that spirit and runs with it. It’s still Katy J Pearson – effortlessly charming, full of heart and helmed by that inimitable vocal – but it’s Katy J Pearson pushing herself musically and lyrically into new waters.

- Jane Weaver Sunset Dreams
Sunset Dreams is a brand-new six-track EP that elevates Jane Weaver’s acclaimed album Flock to new esoteric pop heights. The EP features two unreleased tracks from the Flock sessions in addition to remixes from W.H. Lung and See Thru Hands. The stand-out ‘Sunset Dreams’ appears in its original breath-taking form, and there is an extended remix of ‘Solarised’ along with northern combo W.H. Lung’s remix of the track. Furthering the eclectic electronic vibe, there’s also a See Thru Hands mix of ‘The Revolution Of Super Visions’ and two new tracks: ‘The Lexical Distance’ and ‘Don’t Tell Me I’m Wrong’, all capturing the pop vision of this ever-morphing electronic pioneer.

- BANKS Serpentina
BANKS enters previously uncharted territory in every sense – from sound to lyrics to visuals, and everything in-between. “In the past, I’ve been really tight and controlled, and I don’t feel like that right now,” she says. “I just feel more wild and free.” Featuring the singles ‘The Devil’ and ‘Skinnydipped,’ the 13-track Serpentina started taking form in the early days of quarantine, when BANKS decided to use the time under lockdown to master the production software Ableton. Despite being heavily involved with the production across all of her previous three records, it was her first time fully in control. “It felt like opening up a whole new world,” she says. “It feels like a journey listening to it from the beginning to end.”

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Releases for 1 July 2022

The first of our pick of the pops for 1 July is A Very Lonely Solstice, the new album from Fleet Foxes, which captures a poignant moment in time – originally live-streamed on the winter solstice of 2020, during a long Covid lockdown – fans worldwide, quarantined at home, found solace and a sense of community in a period of extreme isolation. London supergroup-of-sorts Warmduscher take the unique, potent blend of raw musicianship, down ’n’ dirty rock riffs and devil-may-care party attitude shown on their critically acclaimed 2019 release Tainted Lunch and inject it with a slightly more polished ’80s funk sound on At The Hotspot, kind of like stumbling home to your loft squat after a drunken night at the local disco. Last Night In The Bittersweet, the fourth album from Paolo Nutini, is a 70-minute epic that spans the distance from classic rock to post-punk to hypnotic Krautrock, in the process proving its value as his deepest, most varied, most accomplished, and ultimately most rewarding set so far. While in lockdown Nick Cave wrote a number of small, sacred songs – one a day for a week – and these Seven Psalms are presented as one long meditation on faith, rage, love, grief, mercy, sex and praise: a veiled, contemplative offering borne of an uncertain time. 1977, the spectacular debut album from Ash, was a monument in the Brit-rock scene, reaching No.1 in the UK and since achieving platinum status, and includes the band smashing out the huge singles ‘Girl From Mars’, ‘Kung Fu’, ‘Goldfinger’, ‘Angel Interceptor’ and ‘Oh Yeah’.

Release of the week is Tresor (Treasure), the third full-length solo album from Gwenno Saunders and her second almost entirely in the Cornish language (Kernewek). Written in the Cornish town of St. Ives just prior to the lockdowns of 2020 and completed at home in Cardiff during the pandemic along with her co-producer and musical collaborator Rhys Edwards, Tresor reveals an introspective focus on home and self, a prescient work echoing the isolation and retreat that has been a central, global shared experience over the past two years.

- Gwenno Tresor
Tresor (Treasure) is Gwenno Saunders’ third full-length solo album and her second almost entirely in the Cornish language (Kernewek). Written in the Cornish town of St. Ives just prior to the Covid lockdowns of 2020 and completed at home in Cardiff during the pandemic along with her co-producer and musical collaborator Rhys Edwards, Tresor reveals an introspective focus on home and self, a prescient work echoing the isolation and retreat that has been a central, global shared experience over the past two years.

- Fleet Foxes A Very Lonely Solstice
A Very Lonely Solstice, the new album from Fleet Foxes, captures a poignant moment in time. The recording was originally broadcast as a live-stream event on the winter solstice of 2020, just days after New York declared a state of emergency, tightening restrictions again in response to increasing COVID-19 cases. Robin Pecknold describes the set as “me by myself on the longest night of the year … honoring the loneliness of 2020 with a nylon string and some songs new and old.” Fans worldwide tuned in while quarantined at home, finding solace and a sense of community in a period of extreme isolation.

- Warmduscher At The Hotspot
Warmduscher have never taken to the term ‘supergroup’, but it’s safe to say that their unique, potent blend of raw musicianship, down ’n’ dirty rock riffs and devil-may-care party attitude was born of the union of Clams Baker and The Witherer of Paranoid London; Lightnin’ Jack Everett and Quicksand, formerly of Fat White Family; and Mr. Salt Fingers Lovecraft, hailing from Insecure Men.
At The Hotspot takes the raucous energy Warmduscher solidified on their critically acclaimed 2019 release Tainted Lunch and injects it with a slightly more polished ’80s funk sound, kind of like stumbling home to your loft squat after a drunken night at the local disco. It’s crunchy on the outside, smooth on the inside, and might be the most immediately enjoyable music Warmduscher have ever graced us with.

- Paolo Nutini Last Night In The Bittersweet
Last Night In The Bittersweet, the fourth album from Paolo Nutini, is a 70-minute epic that spans the distance from classic rock to post-punk to hypnotic Krautrock, in the process proving its value as his deepest, most varied, most accomplished, and ultimately most rewarding set so far. The insistent motorik rhythms of new single ‘Lose It’, which bring shades of early ’70s German bands like Can and Neu!, are a product of Paolo writing increasingly on bass guitar.

- Nick Cave Seven Psalms
“While in lockdown I wrote a number of psalms, or small, sacred songs – one a day for a week. The seven psalms are presented as one long meditation – on faith, rage, love, grief, mercy, sex and praise. A veiled, contemplative offering borne of an uncertain time. I hope you like it.” – Nick Cave

- Ash 1977
1977, the spectacular debut album from Ash, was a monument in the Brit-rock scene, reaching No.1 in the UK and since achieving platinum status. The Northern Irish band smashed out the huge singles ‘Girl From Mars’, ‘Kung Fu’, ‘Goldfinger’, ‘Angel Interceptor’ and ‘Oh Yeah’ on the album.

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Other releases for 2022

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