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In a branch of their own: Destroyer
New album: Full of surprises and changeability, a truly alternative, at times eccentric, meta-lyrical but also powerful new album by the Canadian rock band fronted by Dan Bejar, mixing everything from ambient, techno, spoken word and rock
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Barrie’s sophomore album, Barbara
New album: Strong second album by the Brooklyn-based songwriter and producer Barrie Lindsay, filled with musical invention but also fuelled contrasting emotions – the loss of her father, but also falling in love with and marrying fellow musician Gabby Smith
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New album: Entrancing third LP by the 29-year-old Catalonian star singer with a voice of huge range, mixing flamenco with reggaeton, hip hop, R&B and lush pop, feminism and food, heartbreak, the staccato with the smooth, and influences from MIA to Niña Pastori and José Mercé
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Youmi Zouma’s Present Tense
New album: Warm, engaging, bright, wistful but uplifting, this fourth LP by the Christchurch-formed quartet band is retro indie pop coming out of lockdown with light at the end of the tunnel, the sun bashfully bursting out of of heavy clouds
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The Mysterines: Reeling
New album: Dark, loud, and powerful, the much anticipated debut LP by the Liverpool rock band finally lands with a set of searing guitar riffs, stadium-filling sounds and an electrifying lyrical sizzle provided the vocal range of frontwoman Lia Metcalfe
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Acres of dreamy sky: Jenny Hval’s Classic Objects
New album: An ethereal journey of personal stories through the prism of art and philosophy by the Norwegian avant-garde pop experimentalist with music that evokes wide, sky-filled landscapes and strangely matter-of-fact lyrics
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Bodega’s second album, Broken Equipment
New album: Excellent second LP, following 2018’s debut Endless Scroll, by the punchy Brooklyn post-punk band, packed with sharp lyrics, driving rhythms and riffs, with central theme of how we are defined and shaped by outside influences and perceptions, from city environment to advertising
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Debut album: Wonderful debut by the Irish pop-country singer – Dublin’s Ciara Mary Alice Thompson has the melodies of Dolly, the panache of Glen Campbell, the range of Kate Bush, but above all a searing wit powered by self-deprecation and a caustically humorous instinct for tragedy
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Tamara Lindeman
New album: Nothing can compare to last year’s superbly crafted LP Ignorance, but Toronto’s Tamara Lindeman returns with a still powerful, if more pared-back LP of delicacy and intimacy of voice, piano and minimal orchestration
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Nilüfer Yanya’s second album, Painless
New album: With a clever, pared back mix of guitars, beats, synths and distinctive vocals, the Londoner’s follow-up to 2019’s Miss Universe has a more focused musical identity and style, in this excellent set of variously twisted love songs
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Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul: Topical Dancer
New album: Super-sharp electro-pop by the Ghent-based duo, packed with crisp, inventive sounds created in Soulwax’s Deewee studio and clever lyrics about race issues, political correctness and cultural identity
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Another van load of great numbers from HMHB
New album: Few things are more likely to bring joy, laughter and indeed titular pain relief, especially now, than a new HMHB release, this 15th album decorated again with singalong tunes and Nigel Blackwell’s incomparably brilliant lyrics, though here with death as a black-humoured running theme
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Things may get your goat, but let it go free … Superchunk’s Wild Loneliness
New album: The apocalypse may gradually be upon us, but this 12th album by the North Carolina indie-rockers is the perfect antidote, offering black humour and chin-up optimism with fabulous tunes, wry lyrics and a musical complexion of dappled light
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Johnny Marr: four in one
New album: The favourite of all former Smiths releases a double album made up of four gradually released 4-song EPs written in isolated lockdown, showing his dynamic range of musicianship and a common theme seeking empathy and unity
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The Tipping Point, the first album for 18 years by the Tears For Fears pair
New album: The first LP by Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal together since 2004 returns with a bang, including big melodies, drums, and production, some original twists, and an 80s sound very much in vogue again, perfectly timed
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Once Twice Melody is the eighth Beach House album
New album: A fabulous double LP 18-track return by the Baltimore duo of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally of dreamy, serene electro-pop, with a suddenly broadened scope of psychedelia and folk rock, gradually and now fully released across four chapters
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Metronomy’s seventh LP, Small World
New album: Crisp, breezy, sharply written pop accompanies the welcome return of Joe Mount and co with a seventh studio album that has bittersweet post-lockdown flavour, but ultimately is positively uplifting
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Shamir’s ironically titled new album, Heterosexuality
New album: The latest from Las Vegas-born artist 27-year-old Shamir Bailey is perhaps his most powerful LP to date – tumultuous emotions, huge production range from synth pop to metal, and explorations of queer gender issues via uncompromising lyrics and his expressive, rangy countertenor voice
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The Dream: alt-J’s fourth studio album, and the first since 2917’s Relaxer
New album: After a five-year break, the British trio return with a more free-flowing, experimental, but musically relaxed album than their previous three, but still brimming with oddness and some dark, stark, deathly references
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Big Thief’s campfire of inspiration
New album: Brooklyn’s Adrianne Lenker, Max Oleartchik, Buck Meek, and James Krivchenia return with a fifth and landmark double album of gorgeous, intelligent, free-flowing songwriting, mixing folk, pop, rock and country
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