The best new music to listen to this week
Here are some of the best new albums and tracks our critics have heard over the past week. We’ll update the list regularly, so make sure you save this page. Feel free to join in the conversation in the comments section at the end with your own recommendations of what you’re listening to at the moment.
The Lemon Twigs
A Dream Is All We Know
★★★★☆
The look, sound and almost everything else about the Long Island brothers Michael and Brian D’Addario suggests a late Sixties sunshine pop band who ended up in the modern age by mistake. A closer listen, however, reveals more than mere historical re-enactment. My Golden Years turns nostalgia on its head against a melody that would do Paul McCartney proud. The ultra-gentle Ember Days is a perfect encapsulation of Sixties bossa nova and easy listening, although its lyrics about people whose spiritual home is a dark alleyway actually make it quite sinister. And the playing is off the scale, meaning the Lemon Twigs transcend their Beatles/Big Star influences and embody their own peculiar world. This is a delightful album. (Captured Tracks)
Jessica Pratt
Here in the Pitch
★★★★☆
This enigmatic Californian emerged in 2012 with a dreamlike take on folk rock and has been heading towards languid Twin Peaks-esque reverie ever since. With her fourth album she arrives at a totally unique approach to the torch song, with shades of Shirley Bassey and Dusty Springfield in her laid-back performance as she sings about wanting to be “the sunshine of the century” while sounding like she’s perennially trapped in a desolate cabaret bar. With unobtrusive string arrangements and shuffling drums behind her glacial delivery, this is a seductive work you can lose yourself in, accompanied ideally by a dry martini and a serious case of ennui. (City Slang)
Rachel Chinouriri
What a Devastating Turn of Events
★★★☆☆
There is a Noughties indie aspect to the debut album by this Croydon-born singer-songwriter, who had a big boost after Florence Pugh appeared in the video to the Coldplay-like singalong anthem Never Need Me. Chinouriri’s light, conversational vocal approach lends itself to storytelling: the title track concerns a tragic tale of a girl who loses her virginity to a boy she imagines she will marry, only to be left alone and in the family way. It is all very familiar, especially to anyone who remembers the mid-2000s chatty indie pop of Lily Allen and Kate Nash, but it’s nicely done. (Parlophone)
Best new tracks
by Blanca Schofield
Johnny Cash
Well Alright
A collection of previously unreleased 1993 demos by the country great is making its way into the light 31 years later. Glory be, or so it seems with this first charming release about a fling in a launderette that ends in marriage. It’s hardly his finest but is definitely worth a listen for his gruff humour
DOVE (Bicep)
Bi83
A busy spring and summer lie ahead for the Northern Irish electronic duo who just played Coachella and are performing at multiple UK events this year including Glastonbury. The latest intriguing track (under their alias DOVE) from their Chroma label is a spacier, mellower take on acid house.
Caroline Polachek
Starburned and Unkissed
The indie pop star’s album Desire, I Want to Turn into You was one of the most lauded records of 2023, leading to festival headline slots and Grammy and Brit nominations. Now she returns with her first post-Desire single, made with the PC Music megaproducer AG Cook. It’s a characteristically whimsical, distorted and thrilling number.
Laufey
Bored
Another dreamy piece of lounging, romantic jazz with a pop twist by the Grammy-winning Icelandic-Chinese artist. Check out the “Goddess Edition” of her album Bewitched for more gems.