Releases from September–October 2024

Great albums from around the world

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Releases for 25 October 2024

Opening 25 October’s slammers is Cartoon Darkness, the most musically diverse album yet from Amyl & The Sniffers, stretching from classic punk to glammy strut and even stormy balladry, and it’s bigger, brighter, smarter, sharper. The Night the Zombies Came finds Pixies at their most cinematic, with nods to druidism, apocalyptic shopping malls, mediaeval-themed restaurants, 12th-century poetic form, surf rock, gargoyles and bog people. Songs for a Nervous Planet features four new studio tracks from from Tears For Fears plus live tour recordings spanning all eras of the band, taking you on the incomparable sonic journey that is a Tears For Fears live show and through their career to date. If you have ever seen Beth Hart live or immersed yourself in her music, you know she puts every ounce of her being into her songs, and her her deep empathy and openness to fragility are apparent on You Still Got Me. Each track on Strawberry Hotel is a very different room – some soundtracked by little more than metronomic kick drum and robotic voice, others deep in layer upon layer of melody and euphoric noise – and each room unmistakably, uniquely Underworld.

Our release of the week comes from Laura Marling, who reflects on her own experience becoming a mother on Patterns in Repeat. She is an artist who aims to occupy different spaces and continues to surprise. The sounds are grounded in a specific and revelatory time in Laura’s life, but more broadly the album dives deeper into her reckoning with the ideas and behaviours we pass down through family over generations.

- Laura Marling Patterns in Repeat
Laura Marling is back with her latest studio album, Patterns in Repeat. Now eight albums and more than 15 years into her career as one of the most acclaimed, prolific and respected songwriters of her generation (multiple Grammy nominations, Mercury nods, a Brit Award and more), Laura aims to occupy different spaces and continues to surprise: Laura Marling is not quite who you might think she is. Written after the birth of her daughter in 2023 and recorded while she was in the room beside Laura, Patterns in Repeat now finds Laura reflecting on her own experience becoming a mother. The sounds are grounded in a specific and revelatory time in Laura’s life, but more broadly the album dives deeper into her reckoning with the ideas and behaviours we pass down through family over generations.

- Amyl and The Sniffers Cartoon Darkness
Amyl & The Sniffers have seen their horizons broaden exponentially in every way since the release of Comfort to Me. And it’s this attitude – bigger, brighter, smarter, sharper – that’s fuelling their third album, Cartoon Darkness. Recorded with producer Nick Launay at Foo Fighters’ 606 Studios in Los Angeles, on the same desk that captured Nirvana’s Nevermind and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, the latest Amyl offering is full of surprises. This is The Sniffers’ most musically diverse album yet, stretching from classic punk to the glammy strut of recent single ‘U Should Not Be Doing That’ and the stormy balladry of ‘Big Dreams’ (which is a sonic gear shift worthy of the title).

- Pixies The Night the Zombies Came
The Night the Zombies Came is the tenth album from Pixies – if you count their classic 1987 4AD mini-LP Come on Pilgrim – and their first new music since 2022’s acclaimed Doggerel. The 13 songs here find Pixies looking ahead on the most cinematic record of their career. Songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Black Francis explains that these are “fragments that are related and juxtaposed with other fragments in other songs. And in a collection of songs in a so-called LP, you end up making a kind of movie.” Druidism, apocalyptic shopping malls, mediaeval-themed restaurants, 12th-century poetic form, surf rock, gargoyles, bog people and the distinctive dry drum sound of 1970s-era Fleetwood Mac are just some of the disparate wonders that inform the new songs.

- Tears For Fears Songs for a Nervous Planet
Songs for a Nervous Planet, the new album from Tears For Fears, features four new studio tracks plus live recordings of Tears For Fears on tour and at their best, including performances of hit songs like ‘Shout’, ‘Head Over Heels’, ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’, ‘Mad World’ and more. Spanning all eras of the band from The Hurting to The Tipping Point and beyond, this record takes you on the incomparable sonic journey that is a Tears For Fears live show and through their career to date.

- Beth Hart You Still Got Me
Empathy can sometimes be a superhuman power; it can connect you so deeply with people, and that bond brings an acute level of trust and love that can sometimes be unparalleled. However, with the energy and emotion transferred into that moment, that feeling can come with a fragility that walks a tightrope. When you can majestically dance along that line, it looks mesmerising to all, but the falls can really hurt. So on the title track of Beth Hart’s new album, You Still Got Me, when she sings “He asked me if I need a hug, I said I got nothin’ inside left to love and then he said, But baby ya still got, baby you still got me,” you feel it. If you have ever seen Beth Hart live or immersed yourself in her music, you know she puts every ounce of her being into her songs. For all of those empathetic superpowers, she also needs someone to catch her when she falls.

- Underworld Strawberry Hotel
On Strawberry Hotel, gleaming tensile techno forms clean, straight lines while scratchy acoustic guitars scuff up edges to produce ghostly audio. Poetry is snatched from the overhead, removed from the overheard; words borrowed from the ether are spun into dizzying new shapes, sometimes reappearing in new settings, twisted back to front, side to side. Each track is a very different room – some soundtracked by little more than metronomic kick drum and robotic voice, others deep in layer upon layer of melody and euphoric noise – and each room unmistakably, uniquely Underworld. Their only advice upon entering: “Please don’t shuffle.”

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Releases for 18 October 2024

The first of 18 October’s stormers is Dreamstate, the fourth studio album from electronic artist Kelly Lee Owens, which is born from the experience of inner evolution in the aftermath of a break-up and which has an incredible feeling of freedom and escapism throughout. You Are Not a Stranger Here is the sound of Danny & the Champions of the World exploring new and surprising musical terrain, and it features frontman Danny George Wilson’s most compelling songs to date. I Want Blood, the new solo album from Alice In Chains guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell, has an energy that rivals any of Cantrell’s previous work – powerful, nuanced and electric. Rag’n’Bone Man – a truth-telling voice that has framed an era – is embracing newfound balance, returning to his creative foundations while building anew, and What Do You Believe In is the most vital chapter to date in one of British music’s defining stories. And W.H. Lung – one of the most joyous and arresting live bands in the country – have made Every Inch of Earth Pulsates feel as close to their live show as possible: not actually sounding like a live album but capturing the excitement of their live performances.

Our release of the week is Alone Again (Live), a solo acoustic offering that showcases Steve Earle performing as he did when he first started out and that leaves you feeling like you’ve been transported to the venue. The 15-song album features live recordings from Earle’s 2023 tour, including ‘I Ain’t Ever Satisfied’, ‘The Galway Girl’ and ‘Copperhead Road’, and it’s a worthy addition to his extensive body of work.

- Steve Earle Alone Again
Alone Again (Live) is a solo acoustic offering that showcases Steve Earle performing as he did when he first started out and that leaves you feeling like you’ve been transported to the venue. Having toured with The Dukes since 1982, Earle chose to return to performing solo after the band’s continuous bloodline ended with the death of his long-time bass player, Kelly Looney, in 2019. The 15-song album features live recordings from Earle’s 2023 tour, including ‘I Ain’t Ever Satisfied’, ‘The Galway Girl’ and ‘Copperhead Road’, and it’s a worthy addition to his extensive body of work.

- Kelly Lee Owens Dreamstate
There’s an incredible feeling of freedom and escapism found throughout Dreamstate, the fourth studio album from Kelly Lee Owens, which is born from the experience of inner evolution in the aftermath of a break-up. It’s the sound of a person letting loose and letting go while encouraging everyone else to do the same. Dreamstate is built on the foundations of collaboration, with producer-writer credits to Bicep, Tom Rowlands from The Chemical Brothers and George Daniel.

- Danny & The Champions of the World You Are Not a Stranger Here
You Are Not a Stranger Here, the long-awaited new album from Danny & the Champions of the World, is the sound of a band exploring new and surprising musical terrain. Their seventh studio release, their first since 2017’s Brilliant Light, is produced by Champs keyboard player Thomas Collison and features frontman Danny George Wilson’s most compelling songs to date.

- Jerry Cantrell I Want Blood
I Want Blood is the new solo album from Alice In Chains guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell. The album has an energy that rivals any of Cantrell’s previous work – powerful, nuanced and electric. The album was co-produced by Joe Barresi (Tool, Queens of the Stone Age) and features Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses), Robert Trujillo (Metallica), Gil Sharone (Team Sleep, Stolen Babies) and Mike Bordin (Faith No More), plus backing vocals from Lola Colette and Greg Puciato (Better Lovers, ex-The Dillinger Escape Plan).

- Rag’n’Bone Man What Do You Believe In
Rag’n’Bone Man is ready to accept joy into his life. The Sussex-born singer – born Rory Charles Graham – known for his gravelly blues vocals took the world by storm with his debut album, Human, in 2016. Having won many awards since, he is embracing newfound balance, returning to his creative foundations while building anew. What Do You Believe In is the most vital chapter to date in one of British music’s defining stories. A truth-telling voice that has framed an era, Rag’n’Bone Man’s success speaks for itself.

- W.H. Lung Every Inch of Earth Pulsates
“A huge thing for this record was to make it feel as close to our live show as possible,” says guitarist Tom Sharkett of W.H. Lung’s latest album, Every Inch of Earth Pulsates. “We didn’t want it to sound live but we wanted to capture the excitement of the live performances.” This is something that has become paramount to the group in recent years as they have undeniably blossomed into one of the most joyous and arresting live bands in the country. “The reason I’m in a band is to play live music,” says singer Joe Evans. “For me, music is live music. That’s what it’s for, to be played with people.”

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Releases for 11 October 2024

The first of 11 October’s peaches comes from Zach Bryan, whose highly anticipated new studio album, The Great American Bar Scene, comprises 18 tracks including a poem, plus notable features from John Mayer and Bruce Springsteen. Limits of Language is the first album of new music from Field Music for almost four years and has a different feel, in both sound and scope, from their earlier work. The mysterious and endlessly revivifying collective Goat’s latest, eponymous, album sees this ever-unpredictable outfit summoning rhythmically driven rituals in unmistakable, uplifting and scintillating style. Transparent Eyeball marks a new era for Liela Moss as she advances into a more daring sonic direction, working with production duo IYEARA (Mark Lanegan) to create a dramatic, menacing sound that is spacey, glitchy and breathtakingly stylish. No Obligation is the second full-length release from The Linda Lindas and further advances their unironic, joyful and exciting trajectory mashing up LA punk with alt-rock, garage rock, power pop, new wave, rock en español.

Our release of the week is Prelude to Ecstasy: Covers and Acoustics, which features the critically acclaimed debut studio album from one of the hottest bands around, The Last Dinner Party, plus curated acoustic versions and covers.

- The Last Dinner Party Prelude to Ecstasy: Covers and Acoustics
Prelude to Ecstasy: Covers and Acoustics features the critically acclaimed debut studio album from one of the hottest bands around, The Last Dinner Party, plus curated acoustic versions and covers.

- Zach Bryan The Great American Bar Scene
Zach Bryan releases his highly anticipated new studio album, The Great American Bar Scene, via Warner Records. The album comprises 18 tracks including a poem, plus notable features from John Mayer and Bruce Springsteen.

- Field Music Limits of Language
Limits of Language is the first album of new music from Field Music for almost four years. Back in 2022, the touring cycle for the Flat White Moon album ended with a sense of finality. For the first time since the Mercury-nominated Plumb ten years earlier, Peter and David had no plan for what, if anything, would come next. However, after six years of continuation, they were clear that if Field Music was to carry on then it would have to be different, in both sound and scope.

- Goat Goat
The Ouroborus – the iconic snake or dragon eating its own tail – appears to some a statement of the brutality of nature. To others of a Gnostic disposition it symbolises the duality of the divine and earthly in mankind. But most commonly, it’s taken simply to mean the endless cycles of death and rebirth that characterise life on this planet. As such, it’s an image that looms large in the world of Goat, the mysterious and endlessly revivifying collective whose latest album marks another adventure above and beyond this particular plane of reality. This may be a band that has named albums both Requiem and Oh Death, yet this eponymous salvo proves yet again that transcendence and metamorphosis are their watchwords. Goat sees this ever-unpredictable outfit summoning rhythmically driven rituals in unmistakable, uplifting and scintillating style, equally adept at igniting dance-floors and expanding minds.

- Liela Moss Transparent Eyeball
Transparent Eyeball marks a new era for Liela Moss as she advances into a more daring sonic direction. Working with production duo IYEARA (Mark Lanegan), Liela has created a dramatic, menacing sound characterised first by the ominous ‘Reward’ and, now, the atmospheric ‘Conditional Love’. Spacey, glitchy and breathtakingly stylish, the songs’ slick production combined with Liela’s powerful vocals provide a glimpse of what can be expected on the record.

- The Linda Lindas No Obligation
Here comes No Obligation, the second full-length release from The Linda Lindas, which further advances their unironic, joyful and exciting trajectory mashing up LA punk with alt-rock, garage rock, power pop, new wave, rock en español. No Obligation was written and recorded by the band during spring breaks, winter breaks, and long weekends (Lucia and Eloise are still in high school, Mila just finished middle school, and Bela is patiently waiting for them to get done with it already) and was produced by Carlos de la Garza (Paramore, Best Coast, Bleached).

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Releases for 4 October 2024

4 October’s smashers kick off with Live from the Ryman Vol. 2, 15 stunning live performances taken from Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit’s annual residency at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. The Last Flight is Public Service Broadcasting’s version of the story of pioneer aviator Amelia Earhart’s final, ill-fated journey in 1937, examining her remarkable character: a rare blend of grace, composure, technical aptitude and fortitude, enveloped by the soul of a poet. Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s new album, NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD, is a bleak, barren and beautiful soundscape of textured noise, field recordings, effects and post-rock dynamics, inspired by the cruelty of war and what this century might offer. Coldplay’s tenth album, Moon Music, features the MTV VMA-nominated ‘feelslikeimfallinginlove’ as well as the band’s latest hit, ‘We Pray’ featuring Little Simz, Burna Boy, Elyanna and TINI, and comes in limited, individually numbered first run CDs and LPs. Heavier Yet (Lays the Crownless Head) showcases the evolution of virtuoso artist and activist Seun Kuti and, with the expertise of Lenny Kravitz at the helm, the album is poised to redefine the boundaries of contemporary music while staying true to the roots of afrobeat.

Our release of the week is Cutouts, the third studio album from The Smile – Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Tom Skinner – recorded in the same period of time as Wall of Eyes and featuring string arrangements by the London Contemporary Orchestra.

- The Smile Cutouts
Cutouts features 10 brand-new tracks from The Smile. It’s the band’s third studio album following Wall of Eyes, released in January, and the trio’s 2022 debut album A Light for Attracting Attention. The new album was produced by Sam Petts-Davies and recorded in Oxford and at Abbey Road Studios during the same period of time as Wall of Eyes, and features string arrangements by the London Contemporary Orchestra. The album art was painted during the recording process by Stanley Donwood and Thom Yorke.

- Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit Live from the Ryman Vol. 2
Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit follow up 2018’s Live from the Ryman with a second volume of live recordings from their annual residency at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. Live from the Ryman Vol. 2 features live versions of 13 songs from Weathervanes and Reunions, plus a stunning rendition of ‘The Last Song I Will Write’ from Isbell’s self-titled 2009 album and a poignant cover of Tom Petty’s ‘Room at the Top’. These cuts are drawn from multi-track recordings by the band’s longtime front-of-house engineer, Cain Hogsed, from 4 of the last 6 years of sold-out shows at the venue.

- Public Service Broadcasting The Last Flight
The Last Flight is Public Service Broadcasting’s version of the story of pioneer aviator Amelia Earhart’s final, ill-fated journey in 1937. Rather than focus exclusively on the flight itself, the record examines Earhart’s remarkable character: a rare blend of grace, composure, technical aptitude and a fortitude that the rest of us can only dream of, all enveloped by the soul of a poet. She was possessed of a seemingly unquenchable thirst for life – in her words, “to find beauty in living … to know the answer to why I’m alive … and feel its excitement every moment.” That thirst for the abundance of life, the sheer joy and privilege of living, long outlasts her disappearance and death, and this record is an attempt to translate that inspiration into music.

- Godspeed You! Black Emperor NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD
THE PLAIN TRUTH== we drifted through it, arguing. every day a new war crime, every day a flower bloom. we sat down together and wrote it in one room, and then sat down in a different room, recording.
NO TITLE= what gestures make sense while tiny bodies fall? what context? what broken melody? and then a tally and a date to mark a point on the line, the negative process, the growing pile. the sun setting above beds of ash while we sat together, arguing. the old world order barely pretended to care. this new century will be crueler still. war is coming. don’t give up. pick a side. hang on. love.

- Coldplay Moon Music
Coldplay have announced the release of their highly anticipated tenth album, Moon Music. The album was produced by Max Martin and features the MTV VMA-nominated ‘feelslikeimfallinginlove’ as well as the band’s latest hit, ‘We Pray’ featuring Little Simz, Burna Boy, Elyanna and TINI.
In an effort to reduce waste, the first edition run of Moon Music (both EcoRecord rPET LP and EcoCD will be strictly limited and produced at a higher specification than any future editions. All first-edition EcoRecord rPET LP products will be individually numbered.

- Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 Heavier Yet (Lays the Crownless Head)
Afrobeat virtuoso Seun Kuti unleashes his latest musical masterpiece, Heavier Yet (Lays the Crownless Head), which is set to make waves globally. Coming 6 years after the Grammy-nominated album Black Times, this latest album marks a pivotal moment in Seun Kuti’s illustrious career, showcasing his evolution as an artist and activist. Executive-produced by legendary musician Lenny Kravitz and Fela Kuti’s original engineer Sodi Marciszewer, Heavier Yet (Lays the Crownless Head) promises to deliver a sonic experience like no other. With both Kravitz’s and Sodi’s expertise together with Seun Kuti’s unmatched talent, the album is poised to redefine the boundaries of contemporary music while staying true to the roots of afrobeat.

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Releases for 27 September 2024

First out of the box for 27 September is a record born of grief: Alan Sparhawk created White Roses, My God entirely on his own, and this taut, brilliant, provocative and thrilling album is powered by profound lyrics and propulsive beats. In 2024, after an absence of 35 years, all four original members of ’80s band Fairground Attraction reunited with a brand-new studio album, Beautiful Happening, and they follow up their classic song ‘Perfect’ by answering the question on everyone’s lips in their new single ‘What’s Wrong with the World?’ While Pale Waves’ first three albums focused on the band’s immediate present, Smitten is a lot more preoccupied with past lives, songwriter Heather Baron-Gracie looking back to times when she fell in love with someone who then became a total stranger. Rhoda Dakar Sings the Bodysnatchers was released in an incredibly limited vinyl edition in 2014, and Rhoda has now emastered the whole album and added 3 previously unreleased tracks. Stream of Life finds Maxïmo Park in perhaps the most reflective state they’ve been in, asking why people do the things that they do, even when they can seem counterintuitive to the outsider; there’s an inner flow to every individual – a stream of life.

Our release of the week, Dance, No One’s Watching, is an ode to the sacred yet joyous act of dancing; a musical guide through a night out in the city, from the opening of possibilities as a new evening spans out ahead to dawn’s final hours as the night comes to a close. Written during a blistering 2023 in which Ezra Collective toured the world and became the first jazz act ever to win the Mercury Prize, the album is a documentation of the many dance floors they encountered from London to Chicago, Lagos to Sydney.

- Ezra Collective Dance, No One’s Watching
Dance, No One’s Watching is an ode to the sacred yet joyous act of dancing. It’s an album that musically guides you through a night out in the city, from the opening of possibilities as a new evening spans out ahead to dawn’s final hours as the night comes to a close. Written during a blistering 2023 in which Ezra Collective toured the world and became the first jazz act ever to win the Mercury Prize, the album is a documentation of the many dance floors they encountered. From London to Chicago, Lagos to Sydney, dance and rhythm connect us. These songs are a testament to that spirit.

- Alan Sparhawk White Roses, My God
White Roses, My God is a record born of grief. You can hear it in the title as well as in tracks such as ‘Heaven’, in which Alan Sparhawk describes the afterlife, wrenchingly, as “a lonely place if you’re alone”. You can sense it too in Sparhawk’s decision to create this thing entirely on his own: every note, every lyric, every programmed beat. It would be reductive, even foolish, to see grief as the sole source or the final limit of this taut, brilliant, provocative and thrilling album, whose bold experimentation is powered by profound lyrics and propulsive beats.

- Fairground Attraction Beautiful Happening
In 2024, after an absence of 35 years, all four original members of ’80s band Fairground Attraction reunited with a brand-new studio album, Beautiful Happening. The band’s debut single, ‘Perfect’, went to #1 not only in the UK but in countries all around the world and, in 1988, it won Best Single at the Brit Awards. It has gone on to be regarded as a genuine pop classic. Like ‘Perfect’, the new album’s first single ‘What’s Wrong with the World?’ was written by the band’s guitarist Mark Nevin and sung by their brilliant vocalist, Eddi Reader. In a similar upbeat country-pop vein as their huge hit, they finally answer the question on everyone’s lips: “What’s wrong with the world?”

- Pale Waves Smitten
While Pale Waves’ first three albums focused on the band’s immediate present, Smitten is a lot more preoccupied with past lives – some more recent than others. Written two years after Unwanted, and after the tour that followed, songwriter Heather Baron-Gracie found herself in a headspace where she could finally breathe, and reflect, like peeling through the pages of a long-forgotten teenage diary and being surprised by what she found. “I found myself writing about not just a certain time period, but my whole life, from years ago,” she says. “When I fall in love, I fall deep, and it’s interesting to me that you can feel so fascinated and smitten with someone and then they can become a total stranger. So I feel like Smitten really summarised perfectly what I felt for others at a certain point.”

- Rhoda Dakar Sings The Bodysnatchers
Rhoda Dakar Sings the Bodysnatchers, released in 2014, was the original crowdfunded album. Rhoda did a deal at the time to produce a very limited vinyl edition for touring. The album has not been repressed since, but now Rhoda has remastered the whole album and added 3 previously unreleased tracks. The packaging has been completely redesigned with new album artwork, sleeve notes and vinyl colours.

- Maxïmo Park Stream of Life
Stream of Life finds Maxïmo Park in perhaps the most reflective state they’ve been in. Lead singer Paul Smith, this most lit-pop of lyric writers, took the album title from a short story by Ukrainian-born Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector, inspired by both its stream-of-consciousness style and the way it prompts reflection on the inner mechanisms of people’s minds. It begs the question of why they do the things that they do, even when they can seem counterintuitive to the outsider. There’s an inner flow to every individual – a stream of life.

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Releases for 20 September 2024

First of 20 September’s hottest releases comes from Katy J Pearson, whose signature acoustic singer-songwriter sound is transmuted on Someday, Now through the desk of electronic producer Nathan Jenkins aka Bullion. Jamie xx replicates the emotional crescendos and thrilling volatility of an almost mystical night out on In Waves over 12 tracks, including ‘Baddy on the Floor’, his joyous summer collaboration with club culture icon Honey Dijon. Five Dice, All Threes is a record of uncommon intensity and tenderness, communal exorcism and personal excavation from Bright Eyes, and it exudes a visceral thrill like nothing they have attempted before. Carve the Runes then Be Content with Silence gets its first public reveal 3 years after Erland Cooper buried the only master tape deep in the soil of Orkney and deleted all digital copies, and it is now being released exactly as it sounds after being ‘recomposed’ by the earth. And Mirage Tour ’82 captures Fleetwood Mac at the height of their collective power, delivering a hyper-charged set list filled with hits new and old, including a version of ‘Landside’ for the ages.

Our release of the week is Odyssey, the new album from Nubya Garcia, an artist associated with jazz but whose music encompasses classical, dub, R&B and whatever else Garcia wants to convey. It all comes from a place of exploration and self-study, of wanting to do all the things across all disciplines while ignoring arbitrary boxes that don’t.

- Nubya Garcia Odyssey
Nubya Garcia isn’t an artist whose music you can easily classify. Is it jazz? Sure, the London-born saxophonist, composer and bandleader grew up studying the genre under the noted pianist Nikki Yeoh at Camden Music. But listen to her latest album, Odyssey, and you hear a far broader creativity shining through: it’s jazz, classical, dub, R&B and whatever else Garcia wants to convey. It all comes from a place of exploration and self-study, of wanting to do all the things across all disciplines while ignoring arbitrary boxes that don’t.

- Katy J Pearson Someday, Now
Following 2020’s Return and 2022’s Sound of the Morning, Katy J Pearson’s signature acoustic-led, sweetly-voiced singer-songwriter fare is transmuted on Someday, Now through the desk of electronic producer Nathan Jenkins aka Bullion. After a period of burnout, self-enforced exile from music-making and solo travel, Pearson came back to her practice with clarity of mind and vision. “I knew exactly who I wanted to work with, I knew exactly who my session band were going to be, I knew where I wanted to record. It felt like I was finally calling the shots for myself, and that was so empowering,” she reflects.

- Jamie xx In Waves
Jamie xx replicates the emotional crescendos and thrilling volatility of an almost mystical night out on In Waves. The album’s 12 tracks include ‘Baddy on the Floor’, his joyous summer collaboration with club culture icon Honey Dijon, and features further collaborations with Robyn, The Avalanches, Kelsey Lu, John Glacier and Panda Bear, Oona Doherty and his The xx bandmates Romy and Oliver Sim. The music was created over a four-year period ushered in by his much-loved 2020 Essential Mix and peppered with periods of self-reflection, a global pandemic, the blinking re-emergence into the strobe light and a newly discovered love of surfing as escapism.

- Bright Eyes Five Dice, All Threes
Five Dice, All Threes is a record of uncommon intensity and tenderness, communal exorcism and personal excavation. These are, of course, qualities that fans have come to expect from Bright Eyes, nearly three decades into their career. The tight-knit band of Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott tends to operate in distinct sweeping movements: each unique in its sound and story but unified by a sense of ambition and ever-growing emotional stakes. Even with this rich history behind them, these new songs exude a visceral thrill like nothing they have attempted before.

- Erland Cooper Carve the Runes Then Be Content with Silence
Carve the Runes then Be Content with Silence, a new three-movement work for solo violin and string ensemble by Erland Cooper, gets its first public reveal 3 years after the only master tape was planted deep in the soil of the Islands of Orkney and all digital copies were deleted. It will be released exactly as it sounds after being ‘recomposed’ by the earth. The work was written to mark the centenary in 2021 of the birth of the celebrated Orcadian poet George Mackay Brown.

- Fleetwood Mac Mirage Tour ’82
In September 1982, Fleetwood Mac embarked on a 31-city US tour in support of Mirage, the band’s fourth consecutive multi-platinum album and third No. 1 in America. Both shows at The Forum were recorded, and Mirage Tour ’82 combines songs from both nights into a single concert experience. Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were at the height of their collective power at these shows, delivering a hyper-charged set list filled with hits new and old, with standouts including ‘Songbird’, ‘Oh Well’, ‘Love In Store’, ‘Go Your Own Way’ and a version of ‘Landside’ for the ages.

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Releases for 13 September 2024

The first of 13 September’s gems comes from the iconic Nick Lowe, who returns with his first studio album in over a decade, Indoor Safari, on which he exhibits his razor-sharp songwriting ability through a multitude of sonic environments. Tindersticks’ 14th album, Soft Tissue, showcases their exploratory spirit, mixing intimate songwriting with experimental soundscapes and underscoring the band’s enduring ambition and versatility. One of today’s most exciting musicians, Nilüfer Yanya, returns with My Method Actor, whose unique blend of soulful melodies, indie rock grit and jazz influences is a development and evolution from her previous sound. British trio London Grammar’s new album, The Greatest Love, is a celebration: the sound of a band laying to rest the past and realising a newfound sense of freedom. Divided Kind continues Native Harrow’s legacy of rich, engrossing records and instant classics with their beautifully soaring, rolling grooves and languid, dreamy clearwater shimmers of sound.

Our release of the week comes from Lady Blackbird, who has taken charge of her own life and her own sound and is walking a new path, making each note on Slang Spirituals a step in a radically different direction. Her sweeping, cinematic vocal power sets fire to the 11 tracks on the album.

- Lady Blackbird Slang Spirituals
In taking charge of her own life and her own sound, Lady Blackbird walks a new path, making each note on Slang Spirituals a step in a radically different direction. Across 11 tracks Lady Blackbird puts her sweeping, cinematic vocal power to use on everything from the soulful orchestral fanfares of ‘Let Not (Your Heart Be Troubled)’ to the finger-picking folk storytelling of ‘Man on a Boat’, the euphoric gospel empowerment of ‘Like a Woman’ and the seven-minute psychedelic soul instrumental of ‘When the Game Is Played on You’.

- Nick Lowe Indoor Safari
Nick Lowe returns with his first studio album in over a decade. On Indoor Safari, backed on every track by his trusted collaborators Los Straitjackets, Nick exhibits his razor-sharp songwriting ability through a multitude of sonic environments. With his signature wit on display for grooving numbers like ‘Went to a Party’ and ‘Don’t Be Nice to Me’ to the heartfelt sentiment on ‘Blue on Blue’ and ‘Jet Pac Boomerang’, and topped with Nick breathing new life into hidden gems of the ’60s like ‘Raincoat in the River’ and ‘A Quiet Place’, Indoor Safari demonstrates how Nick Lowe continues to make his mark as a performer, songwriter and producer over a half-century after his start in the music industry.

- Tindersticks Soft Tissue
Tindersticks’ 14th album, Soft Tissue, showcases their exploratory spirit, mixing intimate songwriting with experimental soundscapes. The album evolves from their previous work, balancing introspective lyrics with innovative musical textures. Band members, including singer Stuart Staples, emphasise the collaborative nature of the creation process, fostering a dynamic dialogue that shapes their music. Key tracks like ‘New World’ and ‘Always a Stranger’ highlight this blend of personal reflection and sonic exploration, underscoring the band’s enduring ambition and versatility.

- Nilüfer Yanya My Method Actor
One of the most exciting musicians today, Nilüfer Yanya, returns with a brand-new studio album, My Method Actor. With a unique blend of soulful melodies, indie rock grit and jazz influences, Yanya’s music continues to captivate audiences worldwide. This new body of work is a development and evolution from her previous sound. Her first album, Miss Universe, and its 2022 follow-up, Painless, cemented her as one to watch and a staple in the indie scene, lauded by critics on both sides of the Atlantic.

- London Grammar The Greatest Love
The Greatest Love follows British trio London Grammar’s critically acclaimed number 1 album Californian Soil, which was released in 2021 and earned the band their second Brit nomination for Best British Group. Arriving over a decade since the trio first entered the industry, the new album is a celebration: the sound of a band laying to rest the past and realising a newfound sense of freedom.

- Native Harrow Divided Kind
Over a catalogue of six albums, Native Harrow have produced a discography of “rich, engrossing records” and “instant classics” while single-mindedly following their own artistic code, acquiescing only to the exigence of the song: each song its own world with its own rules. Their music has been described as “beautifully soaring … rolling grooves ground languid and dreamy clearwater shimmers of sound”. Their latest album, Divided Kind, is set to continue this legacy.

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Releases for 6 September 2024

We open our run-down of 6 September’s finest releases with Luck and Strange, the first album of new material in nine years by David Gilmour, which was recorded over five months in Brighton and produced by David and Charlie Andrew, with lyrics by Gilmour’s long-time co-writer Polly Samson and vocals from Romany Gilmour. Tristwch y Fenywod’s self-titled debut is stark, striking and bewitching, sung exclusively in Welsh and conjuring an eldritch, subterranean, alien folk music played on dual zither, electronic drums and bass guitar: stark, martial rhythms vie with swirling claw-plucked strings to produce a simultaneously chilling and stirring effect. Mercury Rev’s ninth album, Born Horses, is a cascade of gleaming, glistening psych-jazz-folk-baroque-ambient that searches its soul but can never truly know the answer; it’s a sound and vision linked to their exalted past while quite unlike anything they have created before. Irish post-rock masters God Is an Astronaut unleash a captivating post-rock trip with Embers, which incorporates psych-rock and krautrock rhythms plus the captivating use of sitar, cello, zither, shamanic drums, bowed psaltery, chimes and tanpura. Last but by no means least, Nala Sinephro’s second album, Endlessness, expands her scope from the inward journey of Space 1.8 into widescreen orchestral ambient jazz compositions with a stellar supporting cast from the contemporary UK music scene.

Our release of the week is The The’s first studio album of new songs in a quarter of a century! The 12 songs on Ensoulment encompass characteristic topics ranging from love and sex, war and politics, life and death, to the meaning of what it is to be human in the 21st century.

- The The Ensoulment
The The release their first studio album of new songs in a quarter of a century! The 12 songs on Ensoulment encompass characteristic topics ranging from love and sex, war and politics, life and death, to the meaning of what it is to be human in the 21st century. Singer-songwriter Matt Johnson is joined by long-standing The The members James Eller (bass), DC Collard (keyboards), Earl Harvin (drums) and Barrie Cadogan (lead guitar). The album also marks the return of co-producer and engineer Warne Livesey, who previously worked on landmark The The albums Infected (1986) and Mind Bomb (1989).

- David Gilmour Luck and Strange
Luck and Strange, the brand-new album by David Gilmour, was recorded over five months in Brighton and London and is Gilmour’s first album of new material in nine years. The record was produced by David and Charlie Andrew, best known for his work with Alt-J and Marika Hackman, with lyrics mostly written by Polly Samson, Gilmour’s co-writer for the past thirty years. The album features eight new tracks along with a beautiful reworking of The Montgolfier Brothers’ ‘Between Two Points’, which sees Romany Gilmour, who performs backing vocals across the album, on vocals and harp.

- Tristwch y Fenywod Tristwch y Fenywod
Stark, striking and bewitching, Tristwch y Fenywod’s self-titled album is their debut studio recording, following just 10 gigs and a live demo. Formed in 2022, Tristwch y Fenywod (‘The Sadness of Women’) record exclusively in the Welsh language, conjuring an eldritch, subterranean, alien folk music played on dual zither, electronic drums and bass guitar. With towering, siren-like vocals curling around the Welsh consonants, accompanied by stark, martial rhythms and swirling claw-plucked strings, Tristwch y Fenywod feels like an early 4AD recording dredged from the waters of an Anglesey swamp. The effect is simultaneously chilling and stirring.

- Mercury Rev Born Horses
Spiritually, literally, psycho-geographically: where else does Mercury Rev’s ninth album, Born Horses, spring from? This cascade of gleaming, glistening psych-jazz-folk-baroque-ambient quest that searches its soul but can never truly know the answer? A sound and vision linked to their exalted past while quite unlike anything they have created before? The answer is somewhere between the homes of founder members Jonathan Donahue (the hamlet of Mt Tremper) and Grasshopper (the town of Kingston), in their veins and brains of their now-legendary tapping of musical cosmology, and the vital presence of new permanent member Marion Genser (keys), plus long-term ally Jesse Chandler (keys) and guests Jeff Lipstein (drums), Martin Keith (double bass) and Jim Burgess (trumpet).

- God Is an Astronaut Embers
Irish post-rock masters God Is an Astronaut unleash a captivating post-rock trip! For over two decades, the Wicklow-based trio have enthralled listeners from all over the world with their unique sonic universe. Now they return with their eleventh studio album, Embers, which from its first tone to the last proves why God Is an Astronaut are masters of their craft. The band, founded by brothers Torsten and Niels Kinsella, have created yet another exceptional masterpiece of art designed to allow listeners to form their own interpretations. From psych-rock to excellent krautrock trips, driving rhythms by drummer Lloyd Hanney and the captivating use of the sitar, cello, zither, shamanic drums, bowed psaltery, chimes and tanpura, God Is an Astronaut outdo themselves with the post-rock epic that is Embers.

- Nala Sinephro Endlessness
Nala Sinephro’s second album, Endlessness, expands her scope from the inward journey of Space 1.8 into widescreen orchestral ambient jazz compositions. The 10 tracks on the album were composed, produced, mixed and recorded by Sinephro and feature contributions from James Mollison (Ezra Collective), Morgan Simpson (black midi), Sheila Maurice-Grey (Kokoroko), Nubya Garcia, Lyle Barton, Natcyet Wakili (Sons of Kemet) and Dwayne Kilvington (Wonky Logic).

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Other releases for 2024

Find releases from 2025 | 2023.