Releases from November–December 2022

Great albums from around the world

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Jump to: 25 November to 9 December | 18 November | 11 November | 4 November

Releases for 25 November to 9 December

We’ve got six sparklers coming out between 25 November and 9 December. Since a near-fatal car crash in 2011, Micah P. Hinson’s records have shaken with self-confrontation and danger, and I Lie To You (2 Dec) features eleven tales of love, loss and regret. Fireside Stories (2 Dec) are recently unearthed tapes from the early 1970s of a totally unknown teenaged folk singer named Trevor Beales – Hebden Bridge’s answer to Nick Drake – who matches a suffer-no-fools sense of realism with a storyteller’s ear for narrative and a sophisticated guitar-picking style that can confidently hold its own with the greats of the scene. Live From Finsbury Park (9 Dec) features recordings from Sam Fender’s sold-out headline show this summer, with the double LP pressed on coloured vinyl. Live At The Fillmore 1997 (25 Nov) picks the highlights from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ renowned 20-night residency at the legendary San Francisco venue, including re-arranged and distinctive versions of their hits, deep cuts, and many cover versions – paying tribute to the artists that Tom and the band had been influenced by. And Sweet Billy Pilgrim have described Somapolis (25 Nov) as a concept album about two artists looking out over a nameless metropolis – a sort of Wings of Desire, but with artists instead of angels – whose songs explore the act of creating as well as individual stories of the people living in the city.

Our release of the week is This Is What We Do (2 Dec), the first album in 7 years from seminal electronic music pioneers Leftfield, whose debut, Leftism, is widely regarded as one of the most boundary-pushing electronic albums ever released. This is only the fourth album in their 28-year history, and it’s been well worth the wait.

- Leftfield This Is What We Do
2 December: This Is What We Do is the first album in 7 years from seminal electronic music pioneers Leftfield, who are currently reaching a new audience through Idris Elba’s Gucci ad. Leftfield (originally comprising Neil Barnes and Paul Daley) have been at the cutting edge of dance music since the 1990s, releasing albums that have become some of the most influential electronic records of all time around the world, and being twice nominated for the Mercury Prize. Their debut, Leftism, is widely regarded as one of the most boundary-pushing electronic albums ever released, and This Is What We Do is only the fourth album in their 28-year history, and it’s been well worth the wait.

- Micah P. Hinson I Lie To You
2 December: In 2011, a near-fatal car crash paralysed Micah P. Hinson’s arms for months. He spent his recovery time listening to some demos he’d made before the crash. This material eventually culminated in Micah P. Hinson And The Nothing, the darkest and most intensely personal collection of songs from him thus far, which garnered widespread critical acclaim. Since then, each record has been a final confrontation with himself, each song shakes with danger. I Lie To You comes from five days and five nights of recording in Irpinia in southern Italy, with production by Alessandro Asso Stefana (PJ Harvey, Mike Patton, Vinicio Capossela). Accompanying Micah and Asso are Raffaele Tiseo’s celestial strings, Zeno De Rossi’s metaphysical drumming and the double bass of Greg Cohen. On this new album Micah sings, with his weathered, husky, prophet-like voice, eleven tales of love, loss and regret, which once again reveal his heart as an artist laid bare.

- Trevor Beales Fireside Stories (Hebden Bridge circa 1971-1974)
2 December: Fireside Stories features recently unearthed tapes from the early 1970s of a totally unknown teenaged folk singer named Trevor Beales. This superb cache of ‘loner folk’ songs by Hebden Bridge’s answer to Nick Drake shows a suffer-no-fools sense of realism that is defiantly Northern, yet also expresses a worldliness that belies Beales’ youth while showcasing an inherent storyteller’s ear for narrative. Here is a postcard from that crucial musical period of transition when the idealistic exponents of the 1960s emerged into an austere new decade that was to be shaped by strikes, rising unemployment and economic upheaval.
Beales’ natural musical ability showcases a sophisticated guitar-picking style that was leagues ahead of many of his (older, more recognised) contemporaries. This is music that can confidently hold its own with pioneers such as Davey Graham, Michael Chapman, Dave Evans, Bert Jansch and Jackson C. Frank, music that is as influenced by jazz, blues and steel guitar as any of the old songbook classics from ancient Albion.

- Sam Fender Live From Finsbury Park
9 December: Live From Finsbury Park features recordings from Sam Fender’s sold-out headline show this summer. The double CD includes the original Seventeen Going Under album plus additional B-sides. The double LP is pressed on coloured vinyl.

- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Live At The Fillmore 1997
25 November: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers famously played 20 nights at the legendary Fillmore venue in San Francisco in 1997. Six of the shows were professionally recorded and this release features some of the high points of the residency. Playing multiple nights in a small venue allowed the band to vary their sets each night, and they included re-arranged and distinctive versions of their hits, deep cuts, and many cover versions – paying tribute to the artists that Tom and the band had been influenced by.

- Sweet Billy Pilgrim Somapolis
25 November: Sweet Billy Pilgrim, now multi-instrumentalist duo Jana Carpenter and Tim Elsenburg, have described Somapolis – body of the city or city of the body, depending on how metaphorical you’re feeling! – as a concept album. The album begins with two artists looking out over a nameless metropolis, their job being to observe, curate and commemorate the world around them – a sort of Wings of Desire, but with artists instead of angels. The first song explores the experience of creating before we swoop down into the individual stories of the people living in the city. Then, towards the end, the album zooms back out to the observers for the final two songs, finishing – depending on the listener – on a note of either hope or resignation.

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Releases for 18 November 2022

The first of 18 November’s six peaches is And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow, a celestial-influenced folk album in which Weyes Blood searches for an escape hatch to liberate us from algorithms and ideological chaos, battling hyper-isolation and reconnecting people. On a similar theme, prepare to travel 500 years into the future as Richard Dawson returns with The Ruby Cord, set in an unreal, fantastical and at times sinister future where social mores have mutated, ethical and physical boundaries have evaporated; a place where you no longer need to engage with anyone but yourself and your own imagination. World Record – the follow-up to last year’s acclaimed Barn – was recorded live, like many of Neil Young’s albums with Crazy Horse, and finds Young reminiscing with gratitude about the gifts the Earth has given him and sets his sights on an uncertain future with hope that we can right this big blue-and-green ship; there’s real musical magic on this album. The title Sonder (‘the realisation that each random passer-by is living a life as vivid and complex as your own’) instantly resonated with Dermot Kennedy and became the perfect way to encapsulate the feeling in a record: “Let us share all of our triumphs, all of our troubles. Let this music belong to all of us, to find our own stories and our own solace within it.” Although Panda Bear and Sonic Boom are no strangers to each other’s music, Reset marks their first collaborative release, and you can hear the joy these two had working together in the nine gloriously, feverishly hook-bound tracks, which supplied temporary medicine for the duo during lockdowns and can now make the world feel a bit better for all of us.

Our release of the week is CAZIMI, which singer-songwriter Caitlin Rose finished in a blizzard of creative activity after a seven-year Sisyphean nightmare of false starts and career blocks following the release of The Stand-In, with the encouragement of close friend and producer Jordan Lehning. The global pandemic then further delayed its completion, but it is finally here to savour.

- Caitlin Rose CAZIMI
In February 2020, singer-songwriter Caitlin Rose settled in at Nashville’s Sound Emporium Studios for a week of tracking with William Tyler, Brian Kotzur, Jack Lawrence and Luke Schneider. After a seven-year absence – a self-described Sisyphean nightmare of false starts and career blocks – following the release of The Stand-In, Rose was ready, with the encouragement of close friend and producer Jordan Lehning, to give the rock a final push. “It happened so fast that there was no time to worry about what could go wrong; all I walked in with was the excitement,” she says. When she and Lehning planned to return for overdubs in early March, neither expected that the world would turn on its head in little more than a week, that a tornado would soon wipe half of east Nashville off the map, or a global pandemic would, as it has for so many others’ projects, further delay completion of what now comes to you as CAZIMI.

- Weyes Blood And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow
This celestial-influenced folk album is Weyes Blood’s follow-up to the acclaimed Titanic Rising, which Pitchfork, NPR, and the Guardian admiringly named one of 2019’s best. While Titanic Rising was an observation of doom to come, And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow is about being in the thick of it: a search for an escape hatch to liberate us from algorithms and ideological chaos. “I was asking a lot of questions while writing these songs. Hyper-isolation kept coming up,” Natalie Mering says. “Our culture relies less and less on people. Something is off, and even though the feeling appears differently for each individual, it is universal.”

- Richard Dawson The Ruby Cord
Pop in your earpiece, close your eyes and embrace the wonders (and horrors) of augmented reality, and prepare to travel 500 years into the future as Richard Dawson returns with The Ruby Cord. These seven tracks plunge us into an unreal, fantastical and at times sinister future where social mores have mutated, ethical and physical boundaries have evaporated; a place where you no longer need to engage with anyone but yourself and your own imagination. It’s a leap into a future that is well within reach, in some cases already here.

- Neil Young & Crazy Horse World Record
World Record – the follow-up to last year’s acclaimed Barn – was recorded live, like many of Neil Young’s albums with Crazy Horse. The album finds Young reminiscing with gratitude about the gifts the Earth has given him and sets his sights on an uncertain future with hope that we can right this big blue-and-green ship. “Now, with this recording, something special is happening and we know we have a good one,” he wrote. “Real magic lasts, and we think we have it.”

- Dermot Kennedy Sonder
The title Sonder, a word with the sense ‘the realisation that each random passer-by is living a life as vivid and complex as your own’, instantly resonated with Dermot Kennedy and transformed into the perfect way to encapsulate the feeling in a record. Speaking on the thinking behind the title, Dermot explained: “The meaning behind ‘Sonder’ has resonated with me so much for years. I exist in an industry where we’re encouraged to constantly only think about ourselves and I find that exhausting and uninspiring. I want to learn about you. Let us share all of our triumphs, all of our troubles. Let this music belong to all of us, to find our own stories and our own solace within it.”

- Panda Bear & Sonic Boom Reset
Although Panda Bear and Sonic Boom are no strangers to each other’s music, Reset marks their first collaborative release. When Pete Kember (Sonic Boom) pitched an idea to take their working relationship to the next level, he reckoned Noah Lennox (Panda Bear) might reject the proposition outright; but, in the nine gloriously, feverishly hook-bound tracks of Reset, you can hear exactly how much he loved the prospect. The kernel of Reset emerged not long after international lockdowns began. If making this record supplied temporary medicine for the duo, it is now permanently so for the rest of us, a reminder that sometimes playing and singing along to old favourites with friends can be enough to make the world feel a bit better.

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Releases for 11 November 2022

11 November’s smashers open with Blood Harmony, a whole-hearted invitation into the Southern landscape that Larkin Poe know intimately, fortifying their storytelling with a rock- and blues-heavy sound that hits right in the heart, by turns stormy and sorrowful and wildly exhilarating. Year Of The Dark Horse explores the shifting of a relationship and of the seasons, and is The White Buffalo’s most ambitious and challenging work to date: a collection of 12 musical vignettes – individual yet constant in flow – that are both spectacular and surprising. Redcar is the new persona of Christine & The Queens, and it will take some time to unveil, the same way it is unveiling to Redcar, as he acknowledges his crazy freedom – he’s not really there to affirm anything but the need to say who we are and what we pray for every day. Eliza Carthy is one of the most recognisable faces in British folk: a force of nature who has both stirred it up and put it back on the map, and Queen Of The Whirl features new interpretations of fan favourites from her previous albums, recorded with her band The Restitution. After experiencing a moment of focus about the sprawl of raw recordings she’d been amassing for her fifth album, Christina Vantzou moved to the small island of Ano Koufonisi to shape the source material into uneasy but lyrical movements, and No.5 feels to her almost like a first album.

Our release of the week is Only The Strong Survive, the new album from Bruce Springsteen – a collection of soul music gems that celebrate the legendary songbooks of Gamble and Huff, Motown, Stax and many more. The album features vocals from Springsteen with instrumentation primarily from his longtime producer Ron Aniello, guest vocals from Sam Moore and contributions from The E Street Horns.

- Bruce Springsteen Only The Strong Survive
Only The Strong Survive, the new album from Bruce Springsteen, is a collection of soul music gems that celebrate the legendary songbooks of Gamble and Huff, Motown, Stax and many more. The album features vocals from Springsteen with instrumentation primarily from his longtime producer Ron Aniello, guest vocals from Sam Moore and contributions from The E Street Horns.

- Larkin Poe Blood Harmony
Blood Harmony is a whole-hearted invitation into a world that Larkin Poe know intimately, a Southern landscape so precisely conjured you can feel the sticky humidity of the warm summer air. In bringing their homeland to such rich and dazzling life, Georgia-bred multi-instrumentalist sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell fortify their storytelling with a rock- and blues-heavy sound that hits right in the heart, by turns stormy and sorrowful and wildly exhilarating.

- The White Buffalo Year Of The Dark Horse
Loosely based around the shifting of the seasons and the shifting of a relationship, Year Of The Dark Horse is The White Buffalo’s most ambitious and challenging work to date: a collection of 12 musical vignettes – individual yet constant in flow – that show off the full scope of Jake Smith’s song-writing craft. The results, shaped by legendary producer Jay Joyce, are both spectacular and surprising, showing what can be achieved when creativity is hailed as king and genre restrictions are cast into the fire.

- Christine & The Queens Redcar Les Adorables Etoiles
Héloïse Letissier of Christine & The Queens unveils her new persona, Redcar. And it’s only the beginning. This is all an opera. It will take some time to unveil, the same way it is unveiling to Redcar, as he acknowledges his crazy freedom. Angels and stars, the sovereign verb, the heart at its centre. Redcar is not really there to affirm anything but the need to say who we are and what we pray for every day.

- Eliza Carthy & The Restitution Queen Of The Whirl
Describing herself simply as a ‘modern English musician’, Eliza Carthy is one of the most recognisable faces in British folk. From the purest unaccompanied traditional songs to original music incorporating myriad influences, she has moved through English folk music like a force of nature, both stirring it up and putting it back on the map. With a wealth of musical and life experience under her belt, Eliza’s talent has matured and is flourishing, and Queen Of The Whirl features new interpretations of fan-selected favourites from her previous albums, recorded with her band The Restitution.

- Christina Vantzou No.5
While on the island of Syros in the Aegean Sea for a film festival performance, Christina Vantzou experienced what she characterized as “a moment of focus” – a specific vision for the sprawl of raw recordings she’d been amassing for her fifth album. On relocating to the Cycladic island of Ano Koufonisi, she situated herself outside at a patio table with a laptop and headphones, taking brief breaks to swim, and began the “reductive process” of shaving and shaping the source material into uneasy but lyrical movements, alternately austere and adorned with strange inflections: glottal groaning, cavernous water, glittering eddies of modular synth, languorous silences. Mixing the pieces herself without outsourcing to an engineer compounded the intimacy and autobiographical dimension of the music; she refers to No.5 as “almost like a first album”.

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Releases for 4 November 2022

Our tasty treats for 4 November start with Where I’m Meant To Be, a thumping celebration of life from Ezra Collective that features Sampa The Great, Kojey Radical, Emile Sandé, Steve McQueen and Nao and that will light up sweaty dance floors and soundtrack dinner parties in equal measure. The Blues Don’t Lie, the amazing new album from Buddy Guy, is released exactly 65 years to the day that the legendary bluesman arrived in Chicago with just the clothes on his back and his guitar, and tells the story of his lifelong journey in the blues. The Besnard Lakes Are The Prayers For The Death Of Fame is an accompanying EP to the triumphant, epic …Are The Last Of The Great Thunderstorm Warnings album, much of it recorded in some form at the same time as their 2021 double album but since re-recorded, edited, extrapolated or straight-up psyched out. Ultra Truth finds Daniel Avery looking directly into the fire, not running away from it: music that navigates the darkness rather than acting as an escape or a distraction – it’s is an intentionally heavy and dense album, the edges frayed by flames. The title Sonder (‘the realisation that each random passer-by is living a life as vivid and complex as your own’) instantly resonated with Dermot Kennedy and became the perfect way to encapsulate the feeling in a record: “Let us share all of our triumphs, all of our troubles. Let this music belong to all of us, to find our own stories and our own solace within it.”

Our release of the week is the eagerly anticipated Palomino from Swedish duo First Aid Kit, which comes four and a half years after the release of Ruins. It’s the first record they’ve recorded in Sweden since their debut, 12 years ago, and it’s probably their most pop-sounding record yet.

- First Aid Kit Palomino
Four and a half years after the release of their previous album, Ruins, First Aid Kit (Swedish duo of sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg) return with their eagerly anticipated follow-up, Palomino. Discussing the 11-song album, the duo said: “This is the first record we’ve recorded in Sweden since we made our debut album, The Big Black And The Blue, 12 years ago. We worked with Swedish producer Daniel Bengtson at his lovely studio Studio Rymden in Stockholm. It was such a fun experience. We really let the recording take time, we didn’t want to rush it. It’s probably our most pop-sounding record yet.”

- Ezra Collective Where I’m Meant To Be
Where I’m Meant To Be is a thumping celebration of life, an affirming elevation in Ezra Collective’s winding hybrid sound and refined collective character. The songs marry cool confidence with bright energy. Full of call-and-response conversations between their ensemble parts, a natural product of years improvising together on stage, the album – which also features Sampa The Great, Kojey Radical, Emile Sandé, Steve McQueen and Nao – will light up sweaty dance floors and soundtrack dinner parties in equal measure.

- Buddy Guy The Blues Don’t Lie
The Blues Don’t Lie, the amazing new album from Buddy Guy, is the legend’s 34th studio album, following 2018’s Grammy-winning The Blues Is Alive And Well. Produced by songwriter and drummer Tom Hambridge, The Blues Don’t Lie features guests including Mavis Staples, Elvis Costello, James Taylor, Jason Isbell and more.
The album will be released exactly 65 years to the day that Buddy Guy arrived in Chicago on a train from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with just the clothes on his back and his guitar. His life would never be the same, and he was born again in the blues. The Blues Don’t Lie tells the story of his lifelong journey.
Reflecting on this body of work, Buddy says “I promised them all – B.B., Muddy, Sonny Boy – as long as I’m alive I’m going to keep the blues alive.” He has indeed proven that again, and proclaims, “I can’t wait for the world to hear my new album ’cause the blues don’t lie.”

- The Besnard Lakes The Besnard Lakes Are The Prayers For The Death Of Fame
Following the triumphant, epic …Are The Last Of The Great Thunderstorm Warnings album, released in early 2021, The Besnard Lakes release an accompanying EP – The Besnard Lakes Are The Prayers For The Death Of Fame. The majority of the music found on the EP was recorded in some form at the same time as their 2021 double album, but these pieces have since been either re-recorded, edited, extrapolated or straight-up psyched out.

- Daniel Avery Ultra Truth
Ultra Truth finds Daniel Avery in a very different place to where he’s been before. His previous albums have all focused on the idea of music being an escape or a distraction from the world, but that’s not the case this time. Ultra Truth is about looking directly into the fire, not running away from it. There’s a way through but it involves keeping the important people in your life close to you and navigating the darkness together. This is an intentionally heavy and dense album, the edges frayed by flames.

- Dermot Kennedy Sonder
The title Sonder, a word with the sense ‘the realisation that each random passer-by is living a life as vivid and complex as your own’, instantly resonated with Dermot Kennedy and transformed into the perfect way to encapsulate the feeling in a record. Speaking on the thinking behind the title, Dermot explained: “The meaning behind ‘Sonder’ has resonated with me so much for years. I exist in an industry where we’re encouraged to constantly only think about ourselves and I find that exhausting and uninspiring. I want to learn about you. Let us share all of our triumphs, all of our troubles. Let this music belong to all of us, to find our own stories and our own solace within it.”

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Other releases for 2022

Find releases from 2023 | 2021.