Lianne La Havas – Lianne La Havas
Surely among the best albums of the year so far, the British soul singer's voice and performance skills are given the full exposure in this wonderful self-titled third studio LP, the first since 2015's Blood. Tenderness, heartbreak and more is captured with remarkable beauty and fragility by an extraordinary, ever maturing voice that reverberates and extends exquisitely across restrained music. These studio tracks that feel very much like live performances. Standouts include Bittersweet, previously highlighted on our New Songs section, Paper Thin, Can't Fight, the gentle driving drums and soft keyboards and vocal harmonies of Weird Fishes and also Sour Flower, both of which builds into a song reminiscent of Radiohead's In Rainbows. Mature, sensitive, and astonishingly beautiful work. Dive deep and soak it in. Out on Nonesuch.
Lianne La Havas – Weird Fishes
JARV IS … – Beyond The Pale
Localised human evolution, saving marine wildlife, drugs and dancing, and overall, that classic mixture of the ethereal and the earthy that is his trademark, sees Jarvis Cocker on fine form as returns with his first LP since 2009's Further Complications. After touring extensively last year with a band that includes Serafina Steer on keyboards, the group was conceived as a way of writing songs in collaboration with an audience, using live performances to build tracks. So here we have Cocker as his most breathy and mischievously narrative, aping Leonard Cohen on the dark opener Save The Whale. Must I Evolve? is an epic track inspired by the ancient cave dwellings at Sheffield's Cresswell Crags, stretching all the way from the Big Bang to losing drugs in a festival field. We haven’t come that far, have we. House Music All Night Long is the perfect lockdown parody, and Sometimes I Am Pharaoh narrates scenes from the point of view of a living statue. Full of ideas, storytelling and further national treasure material. Out on Rough Trade.
JARV IS … – Must I Evolve?
The Pretenders – Hate For Sale
An 11th studio album, the first since 2016's Alone, from the band with a colourful and tragic history, with Chrissie Hynde's lineup these days comprising the live touring band, and British co-writer and guitarist James Walbourne definitely showing his worth. And the years somehow seem to fall away here, with a tight, live sound, with only 10 songs across just over 30 minutes, but this is as strong as anything in the Pretenders’ name since the 1980s, each song full of vim and bite. Hynde has plenty to say about and experience of drugs, a running theme from the title viciously delivered title track opener to Junkie Walk. This is dynamic postpunk garage rock with Hynde's delivery full of sneer and nuance. Another drugs-related single The Buzz sounds very much like something straight from the Brass In Pocket and Back On The Chaingang era, but on this album there are also echoes of other early influences from The Stooges to Blue Oyster Cult (Maybe Love Is in NYC) glam rock on Turf Accountant Daddy, as well as reggae, and in particular The Specials on Lightning Man. From I Didn't Know Where To Stop to Didn't Want To Be This Lonely. Classic Pretenders, somehow transported to the present. Out on BMG.
The Pretenders - Didn't Want To Be This Lonely
The Chicks – Gaslighter
The veteran (well 30 years) trio from Texas have shorted their name from the Dixie Chicks to go with a release that cuts through the the issues in hand, dropping the D word because of its association with the racist antebellum south. It's also the first LP for 14 years, and it's full of serious issues, not least the title track, a term which refers to intimate psychological abuse and international political manipulation. No shortage of that around, then. You get the feeling that their album isn't only due, it's also a pressure-bursting necessity, with lead singer Natalie Maines also having got divorced. The style remains affable country-pop aside from the country-gospel historic struggle-reference March March, but overall the take-no-more-shit element is certainly to the fore, from Sleep At Night to Julianna Calm Down to the caustically catchy Texas Man. A very welcome return in critical times. Out on Columbia/Loma Vista.
The Chicks - Gaslighter
Sault – Untitled (Black Is)
After last year's superb matchstick cover albums '5' and '7' of soul, gospel mixed with other genres, both released very much under the radar, the mysterious band return with another excellent LP that this time has Black Lives Matter as a central theme. Soul is the central genre again, but the album also contains other elements including African chants and stripped-down drums to enjoy. Wildfires is featured on our New Songs section, with elements of 1970s Marvin Gaye, as well as Gnarls Barkley's Crazy, the as whole album includes skit messages of black positivity, and on such songs as Black, or the slow, soulful Miracles ("I will rise") as well as outrage at police crimes and racist cultures. Out The Lies is a hand-clapping protest call-and-response, Stop Dem is a brilliantly oddball rhythmic number, Hard Life is like acoustic trip-hop soul, Don't Shoot Guns Down is a dry, drum-based protest, while Sorry Isn't Enough builds from slow melancholy to powerful refrains, with Bow a brilliant piece of African-style dance. Perhaps the mystery profile helps the message and the music, but if those behind the project include the London-based musician called Dean Josiah and soul singer Cleo Sol, then they are to be congratulated on this work. Out on Forever Living Originals.
Sault – Bow
Ellie Goulding – Brightest Blue
The English pop singer-songwriter, now 33, returns with her first LP since 2015's Delirium. Weirdly, it's divided into two parts the first of 13 songs is labelled as the "vulnerable side", Brightest Blue, and the second, just five songs, the "confident side" EG.O. Don't all the best songs have a mixture of the two? Anyway, the other confusing element is the sheer number of singles from the album preceding it - seven no less, starting in 2018, with "Close to Me", followed by "Flux", "Sixteen", "Hate Me", "Worry About Me", "Power" and "Slow Grenade", with an extensive number of guest vocalists from Blackbear, Diplo, Juice Wrld, Lauv, serpentwithfeet and Swae Lee. It all needs a bit of pruning, perhaps lopping the EG.O section and sticking to the Goulding-only songs, such as Flux, Bleach though the title track's production level seems absurdly grandiose and commercial. Overall, some good moments, but a bit of a white out. Out on Polydor.
Ellie Goulding – Bleach
Wilma Archer – A Western Circular
Actually released earlier this year during Covid-19, and the song Last Sniff (featuring MF Doom) featured on our New Songs section , the full LP by record producer and multi-instrumentalist from Newcastle upon Tyne is worth some extra attention, with the variety of sounds and guest collaborations it offers. As well as the excellent MF Doom song, Archer hooks up with Sudan Archives, mixing jazz, classical and more and lovely brass on the beguilingly wonderful plod of Cheater, the off-beat gospel-ly Decades with Laura Groves and Future Islands' Samuel T Herring (also on the The Boon) the slow jazz-prog of Scarecrow, the strange Tom Waits-esque chamber orchestra track Killing Crab, the beautifully jazz sax of Ugly Feelings (Again) and more. A unique artist with a flair for the evading genre with a indefinable sound. Out now on Weird World.
Wilma Archer – Cheater featuring Sudan Archives
Protomartyr – Ultimate Success Today
Fifth album by the Detroit rock band has a powerful suite of postpunk songs that very hark back the Nick Cave, The Birthday Party, and The Fall, with Joe Casey's baritone, forceful semi-talking vocals at the forefront. His style also runs a parallel with Australia's Gareth Liddiard of Tropical Fuck Storm and The Drones. The music also echoes Wire with protopunk elements of prog thrown into this stormy, jagged guitar mix. Standout tracks include Processed By The Boys, I Am You Now, June 21, and Modern Business Hymns. Strong, angry, darkly humorous take-no-prisoners music. Out on Domino.
Protomartyr – Processed By The Boys
Oumou Sangaré – Acoustic
A reworking of the Malian star's acclaimed 2017 album Mogoya, which has also been released as a dance mix, but this is altogether more interesting and nuanced, recorded live in a French studio over two days last August without overdubs, it captures a new intimacy. Guitar and ngoni provide the intricate strings to Sangaré's and backing vocals, interweaving tales of domestic violence, and other feminist issues, including a reprise of Diaraby Nene, her 1990 great protest song which references sex, FGM and polygamy, as well as tributes to her singer mother and mentor, Amadou Ba Guindo. Magical performances. Out on Nø Førmat.
Oumou Sangaré – Saa Magni
This week's selection is by The Landlord.
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