FEATURE:
One for the Record Collection!
IN THIS PHOTO: Jessie Ware
Essential April Releases
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THERE are some terrific albums…
IN THIS PHOTO: Billie Marten
due next month that I want to guide people towards. These are ones you should pre-order and add to your collections. With a dozen or so albums to get through, let’s start with 7th April. This is a strong week, and there are a few albums that I want people to think of. Billie Marten’s fourth studio album, Drop Cherries, comes out this week. A remarkable artist who makes such beautiful and enduring music, you need to pre-order this album:
“Billie Marten releases her fourth record Drop Cherries via Fiction Records. Recorded entirely on tape in Somerset and Wales late last summer, Drop Cherries marks the very first time that Billie Marten has both written and co-produced (with Dom Monks) one of her records; following critically-lauded 2021 album Flora Fauna, Feeding Seahorses by Hand (2019) and Writing of Blues and Yellows (2016).
The title is taken from a tale she heard from a friend just before she was starting to create songs for the album, and the title track came soon after. It’s a metaphor where the gift of cherries stands for offering someone your love; doing anything you can to make them happy. “Dropping cherries,” she begins, “is such a strong, visceral image that I tried to channel throughout recording in Somerset and Wales, to capture the vibrancy, unpredictability, and occasional chaos one experiences within a relationship”.
An incredible new artist that everyone should know about is Blondshell. An amazing artist that has definitely caught my ear, I would recommend that everyone pre-order the debut album, Blondshell. The stage name of L.A.-based singer/songwriter Sabrina Teitelbaum, I am excited to see how this is received by critics. It is fairly early into her career, but you already know that Blondshell is going to be a huge name and someone who will be releasing music for many years to come. There is something truly special about her music that just hits you and stays in the memory for a long time:
“In the past few years, 25-year-old Sabrina Teitelbaum has transformed into a songwriter without fear. The loud-quiet excavations that comprise her hook-filled debut as Blondshell don’t only stare traumas in the eye - they tear them at the root and shake them, bringing precise detail to colossal feelings. They’re clear-eyed statements of and about digging your way toward confidence, self-possession, and relief. Sabrina shed her previous, pop-leaning project, Baum, and the process emboldened her. Subtracting self-consciousness became a catalyst for the lucid songs of Blondshell, on which her experiences all coalesce to form her truest expressions of self yet. “It was me, as a person, in my songs,” she says. When she showed a few to producer Yves Rothman (Yves Tumor, Girlpool, Porches), he encouraged her to write an album, joining a chorus of friends saying, “This is you”.
A group that I am a fan of is Daughter. I have been following them for a few years, so it is great that a new album is coming on 7th April. Called Stereo Mind Game, I would urge those who have not heard of Daughter to pre-order their album. It is a decision that you will not regret! The group’s latest album is shaping up to be something very different from their previous work. It is clear they have embarked upon a new phase in their career:
“Returning with their first studio album for seven years, Stereo Mind Game is a new chapter for Daughter. The group’s third record follows Not to Disappear (2016) and soundtrack Music from Before the Storm (2017). After more than a decade spent depicting the darkest emotions, the trio of Elena Tonra, Igor Haefeli and Remi Aguilella present their most optimistic record yet.
The album’s lead single, ‘Be On Your Way’ is accompanied by a video created by Tiff Pritchett. The track is a longing but resilient song about an enduring connection that is also indefinable. The romantic figure Tonra addresses in the song is someone she met in California while writing the record. They shared a significant connection but she knew the Atlantic lay between them. The video for ‘Be on Your Way’ evokes a collection of memories, with footage of Tonra superimposed with images of beautiful passing moments – the flight of a bird, a field of flowers. ‘Be On Your Way’ is not a loss of hope but a confidence in and acceptance of the passage of time.
Connection and disconnection permeate Stereo Mind Game’s twelve songs literally and figuratively. In the intervening years since the Ivor Novello-nominated Music from Before the Storm (2017), the band has moved away from their initial London base – Aguilella relocated to Portland, Oregon, Haefeli to Bristol, England – and spent time on their own projects (including Tonra’s debut solo album under the moniker Ex:Re in 2018). However, despite the physical distance – further exacerbated by the pandemic – Daughter continued to meet and write together. Produced by Haefeli and Tonra, Stereo Mind Game was written and recorded in various locations including Devon, Bristol and London, England, San Diego, California, and Vancouver, Washington.
For the first time, Tonra’s is not a lone voice. Haefeli lends vocal lines on ‘Future Lover’ and ‘Swim Back’ and on ‘Neptune’ a choir appears. Voice notes from friends and family feature on ‘Wish I Could Cross The Sea’ and ‘(Missed Calls)’. London-based string orchestra, 12 Ensemble, feature throughout the album, with orchestration by Josephine Stephenson, and a brass quartet brings warmth to ‘Neptune’ and ‘To Rage’. While Daughter’s previous work found power in emotional honesty, Stereo Mind Game welcomes opposing feelings. “It’s about not working in absolutes,” Haefeli says”.
I will move on to an album from a major artist. There is a nice bundle of option for Ellie Goulding’s Higher Than Heaven. Even though Rough Trade has a later release date, Goulding’s official website states that you can buy her new album from 7th April. It is one that I would recommend that people pre-order, as it is sounding like one of Goulding’s best albums yet. Maybe it is not your taste, but I think that Higher Than Heaven is going to offer up some treats. She has brought on board some collaborators that are sure to give the album extra layers and levels:
“Pop megastar Ellie Goulding releases her highly anticipated fifth studio album, Higher Than Heaven. Some of pop music’s finest were enlisted to craft the album with her including Greg Kurstin (Sia, Maggie Rogers, Elton John), Jessie Shatkin (Charli XCX, Years and Years), Koz (Sam Ryder, Madonna, Dua Lipa) and Andrew Wells (Halsey, Yungblud). The record sees Ellie put her own spin on modern pop music. Higher Than Heaven is jam packed with infectious hits that see Goulding’s signature vocals take center stage, with top notch production, stomping basslines, soaring synths and euphoric melodies”.
Before moving to albums from 14th April worth pre-ordering, there is one more from 7th that I would point people in the direction of. The brilliant Heather Woods Broderick is releasing the incredible Labyrinth on that date. You may not have heard of her, but I can promise you will be mesmerised by her music. I would encourage everyone to pre-order this album:
“On Labyrinth, Heather Woods Broderick serves as our reflective host, subverting expectations of conventional songcraft with impressionistic language and quietly relentless explorations of the human experience that’s at once light and dark, more circular and less linear. “Many of us yearn for stillness and peace, as an escape from the movement all around us,” she explains when asked about the themes of the album. “Yet movement is perpetual, happening all the time on some level. It’s as wild as the wind, yet eternally predictable in its inevitability. It is linear in part, but infinite in its circuitry. Our lives just punctuate it.”
Broderick began crafting Labyrinth in March 2020, when most forms of movement were brought to a creeching halt. The Maine-born, Los Angeles-based songwriter who, in addition to her work as a solo musician, built a life playing and touring with acts such as Sharon Van Etten, Beth Orton, Damien Jurado, and Efterklang was suddenly forced off the road for the first time in her career. She used this disruption as an opportunity to pare down her creation process and construct the scaffolding for Labyrinth in her apartment. Employing only the most crucial tools at her disposal, Broderick found herself opening different artistic doors as she focused on sharpening her recording skills, capturing the majority of the album on her own before finishing the remainder with co-producer D. James Goodwin.
For all of Broderick’s sage lyricism and vocal authority, Labyrinth never provides the listener with any easy answers. If the image of the labyrinth represents the enormity of modern life and the difficulty of navigating it, Heather Woods Broderick provides a guide to its endless kinetic wonders of being present, aware, and connected despite its disconnects. She describes the texture of its walls, its indifferent rhythms, and the inherent poeticism of feeling lost amid the dead-ends and unexpected turns. At this point in our history, perhaps that’s all we need to keep moving”.
Let’s move on to 14th April. There are a few albums from this week that need to be on your radar. The first of four that I want to highlight is from the remarkable Feist. The stunning and hugely talented Canadian artist prepares to release Multitudes. It is bound to be another world-class album from Feist. I would definitely urge people to pre-order the upcoming album from one of music’s very best:
“Multi-Award winning, hugely influential musician Feist returns with Multitudes, her sixth solo album and first since 2017’s Pleasure. Multitudes was produced by Feist with longtime collaborators Robbie Lackritz (The Weather Station, Bahamas, Robbie Robertson) and Mocky (Jamie Lidell, Vulfpeck, Kelela). Blake Mills (Bob Dylan, Fiona Apple, Perfume Genius) and Joseph Lorge came in to mix, with Mills as a co-producer in the final stages.
Multitudes took shape soon after the birth of her daughter and sudden death of her father, a back-to-back convergence of life-altering events that left the Canadian singer / songwriter with “Nothing performative in me anymore.” As she cleansed her songwriting of any tendency to obscure unwanted truths, Feist slowly made her way toward a batch of songs rooted in a raw and potent realism which is touched with otherworldly beauty.
Largely written and workshopped during an intensely communal experimental show of the same name through 2021 and 2022, the songs on Multitudes developed in parallel with and were deeply influenced by the mutuality of the unconventional experience. The production, developed by Feist with legendary designer Rob Sinclair (David Byrne’s American Utopia, Peter Gabriel, Tame Impala) was formulated to bring people together as they re-emerged from lockdown while providing an outlet for connection between artist, art, and community”.
The next album from 14th April that I want to recommend to people is from the exceptional Fenne Lily. Sporting one of the most striking album covers of the year, do check out Big Picture. This is an album that I can confidently and wholeheartedly recommend people go and pre-order and spend some time with. It is going to be superb:
“A gorgeous and gripping portrait of Fenne’s last two years, Big Picture was pieced together in an effort to self-soothe. Tracked live in co-producer Brad Cook’s North Carolina studio, the album delineates the phases of love and becomes a map of comfort vs claustrophobia. Though its creation took place amid personal and global turmoil, the ruminative yet candid Big Picture is Fenne’s most cohesive, resolute work to date, both lyrically and sonically. “This isn’t a sad album — it’s about as uplifting as my way of doing things will allow,” she says. “These songs explore worry and doubt and letting go, but those themes are framed brightly.” With confidence and quiet strength, each track provides an insight into Fenne’s ever-changing view of love and, ultimately, its redefinition — love as a process, not something to be lost and found. While the album was written alone in Fenne’s Bristol flat – a fact intentionally reflected in its compact sonic quality – Big Picture was transformed from a solitary venture into a unifying collaboration during the recording process when she was joined by her touring band, Melina Dutere of Jay Som (mixing), Christian Lee Hutson (guitar and co production), and Katy Kirby (vocals). Notably, these 10 songs are Fenne’s first and only to have been written over the course of a relationship; 2018’s On Hold and 2020’s Breach both confront the pain of retrospection, saying goodbye to a love that’s gone. Big Picture does the exact opposite - rooted firmly in the present, it traces the narrative of two people trying their hardest not to implode, together. “This album is an observation of the way I think about love, the self[1]examination that comes with closeness and the responsibilities involved in being a big part of someone else’s small(er) world,” summarizes Fenne. “It was written in a place of relative emotional stability – stability that felt unstable because of its newness, but also because of the global context. 2020 was the year of letting go, but we’d all already let go of so much and nothing felt like mine anymore. Writing always did, though, so that’s what I chose to do”.
Before the final suggestion from 14th April – with two more packed weeks ahead -, I want to change musical tastes. Metallica release 72 Seasons. It is going to be the eleventh studio album of original music from the Metal legend. I am looking forward to this one, and I would urge anyone who is a fan of the American band to go and pre-order 72 Seasons. It is going to be a huge and important album from the band by the sound of things. It is amazing that they continue to release such important and powerful music so many years since their formation:
“72 Seasons is heralded by first single “Lux Æterna,” a short, sharp blast that distills 40 years of Metallica into three and a half minutes!
Speaking on the concept of the album title, James Hetfield said: “72 seasons. The first 18 years of our lives that form our true or false selves. The concept that we were told ‘who we are’ by our parents. A possible pigeonholing around what kind of personality we are. I think the most interesting part of this is the continued study of those core beliefs and how it affects our perception of the world today. Much of our adult experience is reenactment or reaction to these childhood experiences. Prisoners of childhood or breaking free of those bondages we carry”.
There are about seven or so more albums after this one that I want to bring to your attentions. Before that, and round off 14th April, The Tallest Man on Earth’s Henry St is one that I would definitely recommend people pre-order and check out. I am particularly looking forward to this album coming out, that is for sure. It is going to be a sublime and beautiful work from an incredible songwriter:
“Kristian Matsson has never remained in one place for very long.
Having spent much of the last decade touring around the world as The Tallest Man on Earth, Matsson has captivated audiences using, as The New York Times describes, every inch of his long guitar cord to roam the stage: darting around, crouching, stretching, hip-twitching, perching briefly and jittering away. Mr. Matsson is a guitar-slinger rooted in folk, and his songs are troubadour ballads at heart.
Now, Matsson returns as The Tallest Man on Earth with Henry St., his sixth studio album following 2012's There's No Leaving Now, full of vivid imagery, clever turns-of-phrase, and devastating, world-weary observations (Under The Radar) and 2015's Dark Bird Is A Home, his most personal record surreal and dreamlike (Pitchfork). Henry St. notably marks the first time he recorded an album in a band setting. My entire career I’ve been a DIY person mostly fuelled by the feeling that I didn't know what I was doing, so Id just do everything myself. But now, longing for the energy that's only released when creating together with others, Matsson invited his friends to come and play. Nick Sanborn (of Sylvan Esso) produced Henry St., which includes contributions from Ryan Gustafson (of The Dead Tongues) on guitar, lap steel and ukulele, TJ Maiani on drums, CJ Camerieri (of Bon Iver) on trumpet and French horn, Phil Cook on piano and organ, Rob Moose (of Bon Iver, yMusic) on strings and Adam Schatz on saxophone”.
Let’s get to 21st April. There are some exciting and interesting albums out this week. The first I want to spotlight is Everything But the Girl’s Fuse. Forty years after their formation, the legendary duo of Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt give us their first studio album in over two decades. This is one that you will definitely want to pre-order and hold close:
“Everything But The Girl formed in 1982 by singer-songwriter-musicians Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt. Their debut single was a stark jazz-folk cover of Cole Porter's Night and Day. Acclaimed for their tender-tough lyrics, Thorn’s unique voice and Watt’s arrangements, they released a string of UK gold albums throughout the 1980s experimenting with jazz, guitar pop, orchestral wall-of-sound and drum-machine soul.
1990 saw their breakthrough in America with the radio hit, Driving. In 1992 their world tour was abandoned when Ben was dramatically admitted to hospital with a life-threatening auto-immune disease from which he nearly died. The story is captured in his acclaimed memoir, Patient.
The pair returned with the million-selling ardent folk-soul of Amplified Heart (1994). The album includes their biggest hit, Missing, after New York DJ-producer Todd Terry’s remix unexpectedly made the leap from heavy club play to global radio success (#2, US Hot 100; # 3 UK Top 40).
It was followed by the sparkling Walking Wounded (1996, #4 UK Album Chart), brimming with sounds and grooves from the mid 90s electronic scene. Spawning four UK Top 40 hits, it became the band’s first platinum album.
After Temperamental (1999), the duo chose to quit on a high. Tracey focused on family life away from the spotlight before returning with a run of solo albums and best-selling autobiographical books. Ben moved into DJing and remixing, and launched the respected electronic label, Buzzin' Fly. He returned to his singer-songwriter roots with a trilogy of solo albums from 2014-2020.
Now Everything But The Girl return with a new studio album - the first for over two decades”.
An acoustic version of The Mars Volta’s celebrated eponymous album of last year, Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon is one that you will want to get a hold of. Many artists do release acoustic versions of studio albums or they do a remix version with other artists and producers reworking songs. This is going to be very interesting. The Mars Volta are always keeping things fresh when it comes to their work. Even if you are not overly-familiar with the band, I would recommend that you check out what Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon has to offer up:
“After the successful worldwide release of the studio album The Mars Volta, the band also releases the album as an acoustic album. The harmonic album Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon.
The Mars Volta plays a similar game: it is subtly subversive – end- lessly inventive, but never at the cost of the song. Many of the same val- ues that made The Mars Volta’s previous albums so ground-breaking, so acclaimed, are still present here, but they are employed in different, adroit ways. The Caribbean rhythms that powered their blistering earlier records still flourish across The Mars Volta – they aren’t the foreground now, but they ripple underneath each of these tracks.
Similarly, the big rock moves and proggy complexities of their landmark releases have given way for more sonic subtlety, for immediacy and directness. But while The Mars Volta shies away from Grand Guignol flourishes, it remains a dark, powerful and affecting listen, mature and deeply satisfying in its restraint”.
The first album due on 28th April is actually released digitally that day, before the physical release in May. Baby Rose’s Through and Through is available digitally from 28th April, but I would also accompany that with the physical release. The reason I say that is because Baby Rose is an exciting rising talent who is going to be a major artist. Someone to watch very closely:
“One of today’s most essential singer/songwriters, Baby Rose with her highly anticipated new album, Through and Through. In celebration, Rose shares her most explosive song to date, ‘I Won’t Tell’ ft. Smino, and an electrifying visual to match which includes smouldering new song ‘Paranoid’ at the end of the film. The insatiable track captures the daring essence of Through and Through, a dynamic body of work that is rooted in bold authenticity and Rose’s newly found sense of self. Directed by Audrey Ellis Fox, the visual chronicles an opulent heist gone wrong with Rose stepping fully into her own as a thrilling new actress. Through and Through will show Baby Rose like we have never seen or heard her before. Sonically, the album see’s Rose carving out a lane for herself that is unrestricted by genres and showcases her extraordinary range as a skilled singer, songwriter and executive producer. Paired with her once-in-a-lifetime voice, Through and Through will exist like nothing else in music right now”.
There are a few albums from 28th April I want to finish off with before ending. The first is from Indigo De Souza, and it is the brilliant All of This Will End. If you are looking for an artist new to your ears, or something that is quite different, then I would recommend that you pre-order this album. De Souza is an amazing artist that everybody needs to check out and follow:
“Indigo De Souza releases her new album All of This Will End, the anticipated follow-up to her acclaimed 2021 breakthrough album Any Shape You Take via Saddle Creek. All of This Will End marks a warmer and unmistakably audacious era for her. It’s a statement about fearlessly moving forward from the past into a gratitude-filled present, feeling it all every step of the way, and choosing to embody loving awareness. Across 11 songs, the album is a raw and radically optimistic work that grapples with mortality, the rejuvenation that community brings, and the importance of centering yourself now. These tracks come from the most resonant moments of her life: childhood memories, collecting herself in parking lots, the ecstatic trips spent wandering the Appalachian mountains and southern swamps with friends, and the times she had to stand up for herself. “All of This Will End feels more true to me than anything ever has,” she says”.
The penultimate album due next month is possibly the best and most anticipated. Jessie Ware’s That! Feels Good! Is one you are sure to want to get a hold of. Go and pre-order this beauty from one of our greatest artists. I am excited to see what Ware’s new album offers up. She is always exceptional and sensational, so I feel her upcoming album is definitely going to be no exception:
“Jessie Ware releases her fifth studio album That! Feels Good! via EMI Records. Lead track Pearls sees the dancefloor diva back where she belongs. Thumping with 70’s funk infused basslines and infectious grooves towed by sonic synthesisers, the track was co-written and produced by Coffee Clarence JR, Sarah Hudson and legendary British producer Stuart Price. The track is riding high on captivating energy that seems like it could’ve emerged straight from a mirror ball.
“Pearls is a record that doesn’t take itself too seriously but demands you to have a dance. It’s inspired by divas like Donna Summer, Evelyn Champagne King, Teena Marie and Chaka khan and I guess attempts to show - in lightness - all the hats I try to wear (usually at the same time). It’s the second song you will hear from my collaboration with Stuart Price and Coffee - with the wonderful addition of Sarah Hudson - and hopefully gives you a taste of the fun we have working together. “ Jessie also added, “That! Feels Good! stems from over 10 years of understanding who I am, and who I enjoy being as an artist and the thrill of performance. “ That! Feels Good! is the follow up album to 2020’s What’s Your Pleasure?, which proved her status as one of the UK’s most influential artists and became her highest charting album to date”.
Let’s end with the intrudingly named Hardly The Same Snake from Skinny Pelembe. This is an album that I would urge people to pre-order, as Pelembe is a wonderful artist who always releases the very best music. If you have not heard of him or the album, then Rough Trade provide more information and insight. I am looking forward to hearing what Hardly The Same Snake has to offer:
“Visceral yet inherently soulful, Hardly The Same Snake is the sound of the Johannesburg-born, Doncaster-raised artist Doya Beardmore finally finding his voice – both literally and figuratively. In practical terms, that involved finding the courage to foreground his gravelly baritone in these gloriously genre-agnostic productions. But it also meant branching out beyond his safety net to figure out the artist he truly wanted to be. As Skinny puts it today, “This album is what I would have created the first time round had I rated my own voice.” The idea of forging your own path – and shedding skin, so to speak – is integral to 'Hardly The Same Snake'. Begun pre-pandemic and completed in the spring of 2021, it’s a defiantly outward-looking record contemplating family, religion and major life milestones, from parenthood to death. Where previously Skinny relied on dream diaries as his primary lyrical resource, this time he took notes at design exhibitions, using these unfiltered observations as a jumping off point for songs. If this superb second album proves anything, it’s that it doesn’t matter how much Skinny errs on the side of self-deprecation – he remains one of the UK’s most fearlessly original voices. Skinny Pelembe's second album Hardly The Same Snake is released on Partisan Records”.
If you need some guidance as to which albums due next month are worth getting, then I hope the above is of some use. There is a good range in terms of genres covered, so there should be something in there that takes your fancy. I think that there is…
PLENTY to look forward to.