FEATURE:
Record Highs
IN THIS PHOTO: Cleo Sol
Year-Defining Albums from Female Artists
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THIS year is not through yet…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kylie Minogue/PHOTO CREDIT: Ed Cooke via Rolling Stone UK
though I think most of the best albums we will get have already been released. Towards the start of next year, I am going to do a general feature about the best albums of the year. In 2023, just like the past, I don’t know, six or seven years, there has been a clear dominance by women! Not to ever exclude male artists but, at a time when equality reigns and there is still not parity on stages on playlists, it is important to highlight the extraordinary music released by women this year. I have selected a portion of (if not all) of the albums that are among the best of this year – in fact, I think these could all be in the top forty of anyone’s year-best (so far) without people arguing too much. From recent chart-topping work by an Australian icon, through to amazing debuts from terrific artists who are only going to grow stronger, below are the 2023 gold albums from music queens that everyone should have firmly in their collection. I have assembled a playlist below with a song from each. This year has been amazing one for music! The best and most memorable albums, by and large, have been made by women. I know that this is going to continue into…
IN THIS PHOTO: Mitski/PHOTO CREDIT: Ebru Yildiz
NEXT year.
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Iraina Mancini – Undo the Blue
Release Date: 18th August
Label: Needle Mythology
Producers: Simon Dine/Jagz Kooner/Sunglasses for Jaws/Erol Alkan
Buy: https://needlemythology.tmstor.es/?ffm=FFM_223547f986c515dad3b8ba21bf8b1dcd
Key Cuts: Cannonball/Sugar High/What You Doin’
Review:
“Iraina’s love affair with music stretches back to her childhood when she spent her time immersed in her dad’s Northern Soul records. By her early 20s, she was a familiar presence in the DJ booth at many discerning London club nights. Her love of French ye-ye, British freakbeat, Brazilian bossa nova, soul, and Turkish psych was established and is now shared with the listeners of her Soho Radio show.
Seemingly always a singer, Iraina has built her sound and her songs via a growing collection of collaborators including Jagz Kooner (Sabres Of Paradise), Sunglasses For Jaws (Miles Kane) Simon Dine (Paul Weller, Noonday Underground) Kitty Liv (Kitty Daisy & Lewis). Now with the arrival of her debut album, we’re seeing a joyous collision between her historic influences and her own evolving sonic palette.
Regular readers and visitors to Right Chord Music will be familiar with a string of her singles from Iraina Mancini including Undo The Blue, Deep End, Shotgun and What You Doin’ each has been met with gushing enthusiasm and excitement.
Now these familiar faces are packaged up alongside some new treats which also contain a reassuringly familiar retro sound. In some ways it’s like being reacquainted with a lost friend, you know the one that you can instantly just fall back into easy conversation with.
Listening to Undo The Blue is a wonderful aural experience. The overwhelming feeling is positivity and sunshine. While writing this review, words like joyous and glorious rolled off the tongue. I’m sure if I wanted to dive deeper into the lyrics I could find themes of lost love and uncertainty, but for today I’m quite content with the glow of happiness that radiates from this record. On that note, check out track 6 My Umbrella, and the title track Undo The Blue, amazing.
Ultimately this album is a lot of fun, and hell we could all do with some of that in our lives at the moment. To add to the fun Iraina is selling a beautiful vinyl of this album, via Needle Mythology. If you are new to vinyl, this would be a great way to start your collection!” – Right Chord Music
Standout Track: Undo the Blue
Kylie Minogue – Tension
Release Date: 22nd September
Labels: Darenote/BMG
Producers: Duck Blackwell/Cutfather/Jackson Foote/Jon Green/Oliver Heldens/KayAndMusic/Lostboy/PhD/Biff Stannard
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/product/kylie-minogue/tension-5
Key Cuts: Padam Padam/Tension/You Still Get Me High
Review:
“Few artists straddle both commercial success and cult fandom like Kylie Minogue. She’s not only her adopted nation’s sweetheart (and every dad’s biggest crush) but her devoted queer fanbase reveres her legacy career as highly as Madonna’s. Previous albums ‘Golden’ and ‘Disco’ - country and disco records respectively - scored high on both the mainstream and hardcore scales, sustaining solid positions on traditional charts before only really living on in memory through dedicated stans. Perhaps the issue was a younger generation of streamers unfamiliar with her cultural peaks, an assumption that her work solely belongs to mums and aged gays. But this time around on sixteenth studio record ‘Tension’ she’s here for her flowers, and has global listeners - old and new - gripped.
Yes, trending tracks can be fleeting, but ‘Padam Padam’ continues to be a gargantuan moment still, four months following its release - marbleised in memes, parodied by drag queens and danced along to by Hobbycraft staff on TikTok. It charted globally, too, and cemented the fifth consecutive decade that Kylie has achieved a Top Ten single in the UK. Perhaps its success is owed to its reference to a time of pop music immemorial when Top Tens were blissfully free from the shackles of seriousness.
‘Tension’ pushes the carefree energy of ‘Padam Padam’ to a thousand. Using 2003 hit ‘Slow’ as a reference point, Kylie’s intention was to stray from genre-locked records towards a collection that “celebrate[s] each song’s individuality”. That it does - there’s a commitment to make each the best on the album. Ironically, there’s an ease in ‘Tension’ then, a welcome flourish of authority over pop that’s pulsating and vibrant, a gift for a preoccupied culture. It’s got the sort of effortlessly glamorous swish that will have gays screaming “mother!”, while noughties Scandipop, synthpop and Eurodance infuse the album with sweaty dancefloor catharsis. It’s quintessential Kylie - throughout she touches on classic monolithic Kylie sounds - while imagining what a future Minogue Club Utopia might look like, where perpetual dance and ecstasy push an agenda of, well, just having a load of fucking fun and not thinking about too much else.
Its highlights include the title track, the dancefloor euphoric ‘Tension’, featuring experimental robotic vocals; the preppy Scandipop and whispering sax of ‘You Still Get Me High’, and ‘Vegas High’. Then there’s ‘Hands’, a cut that throws back to the ’90s with ‘Vogue’-ish vocals that will surely have her fanbase grinning with glee: “Big trap on the baseline / Tick tock on the waistline / Don’t rush, baby, take time,” she instructs rhythmically.
It’s been suggested ‘Tension’ is more a promo album for More Than Just a Residency - Kylie’s Las Vegas run later this year - than a fully fledged creative project, but that’s not the case. There’s no sign of cash-grab radio pop; it has more perspective than that. But even if so, there’s enough originality pumped throughout each track that ‘Tension’ will undoubtedly stand as one of the most favoured contemporary Kylie eras. There’s no pretension to its greatness, just our Kylie, once again, humbly proving how easily she can forge gold and transform into pop culture phenomenon. Padam? Padam” – DIY
Standout Track: Hands
boygenius – the record
Release Date: 31st March
Label: Interscope
Producers: Catherine Marks/boygenius
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/product/boygenius-2/the-record-5
Key Cuts: $20/Cool About It/Anti-Curse
Review:
“From their Nirvana-inspired Rolling Stones cover shoot, up to the recent announcement of their UK shows, the supergroup have been dominating the social media feeds of excited fans for months. Now, their debut album – aptly titled the record – is here in all its poetic, cutting glory; and it’s been entirely worth the wait.
The product of three bright musical minds with an enviably close connection, Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus continue to bloom under their wry moniker. Following on from their debut self-titled EP released in 2018, the record is an unfiltered love letter to true friendship and intimacy in its many guises. Across twelve tracks, the trio extrapolate on everything from nearly drowning in the sea (“Anti-Curse”), gushing over genuine infatuation (“We’re In Love”), to unexpectedly long and meaningful road trips (“Leonard Cohen”). It’s the latter that arguably started it all.
“If you love me / you will listen to this song,” muses Dacus in the opening line of “Leonard Cohen,” recalling the real life moment that Bridgers asked her bandmates to listen to “The Trapeze Swinger” by Iron & Wine in their car. Clocking in at nine and a half minutes, the epic duration meant that Bridgers missed their turn off, but Baker and Dacus didn’t mention it until it was too late, because she was so engrossed in the music. This motion-picturesque, yet ridiculous moment is the lifeblood of the record, deftly summed up by Dacus’ line: “It gave us more time to embarrass ourselves / telling stories we wouldn’t tell anyone else / you said ‘I might like you less / now that you know me so well’”.
Shame is a potent emotion that can skew perspective and shrink a narrative, but boygenius’ direct-yet-tactful dynamic and genuine off-stage friendship means they transgress this. “I want to hear your story / and be a part of it” the trio of harmonious voices sing on demo-like opener “Without You Without Them,” and what follows is a collection of life-affirming, sometimes joyful, occasionally crushing poetry about that.
Their narratives are often eccentric, ambiguous and deeply personal, but their universal veins of frustration, revelation, growth and unfiltered feelings – both platonic and romantic – permeate the record. Whether Dacus is delivering poetic ruminations on “True Blue” (“When you don’t know who you are / you fuck around and find out”), or all three songwriters are “feeling like an absolute fool about it” on “Cool About It”, they’re underscored by the band’s trademark patience, grace, and deadpan humour. Only someone like Baker could get away with writing a bop about a near death experience in the sea on “Anti-Curse,” only someone as dry as Dacus could sing the lyric “and I am not an old man having an existential crisis / in a Buddhist monastery / writing horny poetry” on “Leonard Cohen,” and only someone like Bridgers could deliver the line “you called me a fucking liar” with such tenderness on “Emily I’m Sorry.”
What truly sets the record apart from its predecessor is Baker’s input of genuinely 'sick riffs'. Whilst they were present on the EP (“Stay Down,” “Salt In The Wound”) on the album they really propel things forward and kick in at all the right moments, fully fleshing out boygenius’ sound. Indie anthems like “$20,” “Not Strong Enough” and the superb “Satanist” contrast well amidst the softer moments on “Revolution O” and closing track “Letter To An Old Poet.” This considered instrumentation allows the vocals of each songwriter to shine through consistently.
It goes without saying that there are songs that listeners will instantly take to on the record, and others that will require more patience, but “Satanist” is one of the former. “Will you be a satanist with me?” asks Baker, “Will you be an anarchist with me?” Bridgers propositions, “Will you be a nihilist with me?” questions Dacus – all irresistible invitations that can’t be refused even after repeated listens. This rebellious spirit, one that encourages listeners to mess around, make mistakes and quite literally take the wrong route, is what makes the record such a bright and brilliant listen” – The Line of Best Fit
Standout Track: Without You Without Them
Cleo Sol - Heaven
Release Date: 15th September
Label: Forever Living Originals
Pre-order: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/product/cleo-sol/heaven-3
Key Cuts: Self/Miss Romantic/Love Will Lead You Here
Review:
“Not much is known about Sault, even though the mysterious London collective have released 11 startling albums over the past few years. Their output exists without exegesis: no interviews or photos. They have yet to play live.
The soul singer Cleo Sol is a big part of Sault. But compared with them, the enigmatic vocalist is – almost – an open book. We know what she looks like. We know she was born in London as Cleopatra Zvezdana Nikolic; her parents (Jamaican and Serbian-Spanish) are thought to have met in a jazz band. She has a social media presence; she plays live. Earlier this year, Sol sold out two nights at London’s Royal Albert Hall. (It was easier, complained some on Twitter, to get tickets to Beyoncé.)
We know that Sol and Sault also share a label, Forever Living Originals (FLO), run independently by producer Inflo (Flo for short), the alias of Dean Josiah Cover, whose productions have racked up Mercurys, Mobos, Ivor Novellos and Brits either for Inflo specifically or for his clients. Michael Kiwanuka and Little Simz have both made award-winning records with the producer and have guested on Sault outings; Sol has appeared on Little Simz tracks such as Woman. Inflo and Sol are an item, and it’s assumed that it’s their sleeping child on the cover of Sol’s very personal 2021 album, Mother – watched over by a photo on the wall, thought to be of Sol’s own mother.
Other than her social media posts, some since deleted, Sol hasn’t explained her art in detail in quite some time. Sol/Sault records drop most often with no warning, as Heaven, her third overall, did just over a week ago. Context and motivations can only be guessed. (This is where FLO’s independence is key: letting the art speak for itself is easier when there aren’t multiple stakeholders to please.)
But while Sault’s more rhythm-forward music comes with a distinct political edge, the music of Sol can be heard as the yin aspect to Sault’s more outgoing yang. Her work is cool, dreamy, downtempo; inward-facing and often consolatory.
Like those before it, her latest record feels like a balm; succour offered in the context of the continuing challenges of living. Sol often sings simply of faith, love and courage – all at play on Heaven. It’s unclear who the title track is addressed to, but it seems to pick up where Mother left off, thanking the almighty for a child.
If Heaven feels a little less cohesive when compared with the unifying themes of Mother, where Sol sang about new parenthood in the context of her experience as a daughter, it’s a short and delicate offering that crystallises her distinct appeal. Here, her butterfly vocals, gossamer instrumentation and stylistic breadth are all allied to a quiet righteousness.
Hard lessons, personal growth and ways to cope all receive an airing in these delicate, matter-of-fact songs that often wrestle with everyday situations. Miss Romantic, by far the poppiest tune here, recalls the 1990s tendency for dishing out advice in R&B form: TLC’s No Scrubs, say, or the work of Lauryn Hill. In response to a love triangle, Sol deploys an iron fist in a velvet glove, redirecting a friend towards self-respect. Her voice climbs to peaks of clarity without resorting to showy melismas.
These retro musical touches – 90s neo-soul, 70s soul fusion, jazz inflections – continue across nine brief songs that seem to hover outside time. Most startling here, stylistically, is the guitar-led Airplane. It borders on 60s folk music. “You will find your power/ Little bird, wait,” Sol counsels.
The road to Heaven has been winding. Sol started off more than a decade ago as a featured vocalist on pop-grime era tracks, via producer DaVinChe. After a hiatus, the singer came back more soulfully in 2018 with an EP called Winter Songs – and a more personal set of themes and motivations. Her first album proper, Rose in the Dark (2020), appeared at times to be addressed to her younger self.
Sol doesn’t just dish out advice to others; a great many of her songs are addressed to the mirror. Self is a jazz-inflected plea for self-development, for doing the internal work before trying to “change the world”. (“Ooh, save me, save me from myself,” she sings, featherlight, at the start of the record.)
The core diffidence that pervades the Sault family does crop up in the music too. Old Friends, one of the more direct tracks on Heaven, regretfully calls time on a friendship. “You had my trust and we had choices,” croons Sol delicately, to a simple backing of keys: “But you told my secrets to strangers.”
PR-wise, then, Sol keeps things on the down-low. But she does share with strangers – in the controlled space of her own music, where confessionals about her life, and the lives of those around her, open up generously, full of love and conscious thought. And if these songs occasionally feel underwritten – many are brief, jazzy sketches that seem to wander in and meander back out again – they contrast pointedly with the overwritten, attention-deficit music crafted to punch out on today’s Spotify playlists. Sometimes all you need is a little tenderness” – The Guardian
Standout Track: Heaven
Caroline Polachek – Desire, I Want to Turn Into You
Release Date: 14th February
Labels: Sony Music/The Orchard/Perpetual Novice
Producers: Caroline Polachek/Danny L Harle/Dan Nigro/Jim-E /Stack/Sega Bodega/Ariel Rechtshaid
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/product/caroline-polachek/desire-i-want-to-turn-into-you-2
Key Cuts: Bunny Is a Rider/Blood and Butter/Sunset
Review:
“Few artists have seen a meteoric rise in recent years quite like Caroline Polachek; sidestepping away from band-work to solo, then stepping out from the umbrella of pseudonyms and monikers to truly unleash her solo star power upon the world. Her debut record, ‘Pang’, shattered expectations with its quirky angle on pop, an avant-pop sound bathed in razor sharp production and slick songwriting. Since, Polachek has refused to slow down, most notably collaborating with UK avant-pop counterpart Charli XCX, among a myriad of other contemporary talents. Several years on from the debut, Polachek delivers her hotly anticipated sophomore record – ‘Desire, I Want To Turn Into You’.
Like she did on her debut, Polachek sprints with her distinctive experimental slant that sets her apart from so many. Whether it be bagpipes, breakbeats or angelic vocal performances, Polachek covers a serious number of bases – and it never once feels tacky or forced. Her songwriting is natural, the production choices organic. Opener ‘Welcome To My Island’ bursts with classic pop sensibilities, but radiates a leftfield energy, helped in part to that bridge performance, as well as some fierce production from hyperpop trailblazer Danny L Harle, who also assisted on the creation of ‘Pang’.
The production and writing have some immaculate moments across the record, most notably on ‘Pretty In Possible’; a free-flowing cut bursting with Bjork, Aphex Twin and SOPHIE flavours, the glitchy percussion cementing an almost industrial edge to the track. Though some influences are easy to pick out, it still remains quintessentially Caroline: her vocal work, whether it be smooth onomatopoeic passages, charismatic spoken moments or pure ethereality, is her trademark. Though amidst the heavenly timbres of much of the record, halfway through the tracklist Polachek takes a detour, inviting you into her own nightclub, the clientele high calibre and brilliant. ‘Fly To You’, boasting stunning features from Grimes and Dido, lays a drum ‘n’ bass foundation, ambient-soaked breakbeats, and ‘I Believe’ delivers noughties pop paired with UK garage, Polachek two stepping her way across the track. But then closer ‘Billions’ feels like a heavenly fever dream, with its trip-hop percussive textures and choral passages. ‘Desire’ boldly tackles a plethora of styles, sounds and genres, moulding them in her hands to create something truly astonishing.
‘Desire’ is an extension of pop music, redefining the concept of pop songwriting and production while never once losing the essence and polish that the genre, or even ethos, requires. Polachek raises her own bar for vocal performance, delivering some of the most ethereal vocal work heard in pop for quite some time. Her free-flowing approach to writing, matched with some of the most unique and interesting collaborators in the scene right now, creates the innovative, beautiful and sub-shaking ‘Desire, I Want To Turn Into You’.
Despite only being February, Caroline Polachek has set a serious precedent for any pop releases that follow it this year. She is an artist completely in her own lane, refusing to conform, every moment on this record a vicissitude. Her commitment to her craft is undeniable, her talent indisputable - 9/10” – CLASH
Standout Track: Fly to You
Jessie Ware – That! Feels Good!
Release Date: 28th April
Label: EMI
Producers: James Ford/Stuart Price
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/product/jessie-ware/that-feels-good
Key Cut: Free Yourself/Pearls/Lightning
Review:
“That! Feels Good! is an emphatic answer to 2020's What's Your Pleasure? in more than one way. The dialogue evoked by the titles translates to how Jessie Ware's fifth album relates to her fourth, as this moves the party into a bigger and more opulent disco with a laser focus on fevered physical gratification. Continuing to work with primary What's Your Pleasure? collaborator James Ford, Ware also pairs here with Stuart Price -- who reached out after helping Pet Shop Boys and Dua Lipa make other dancefloor bombs dropped in 2020 -- to assist in turning up the heat. Somewhat surprisingly, this set is considerably less electronic, more "Relight My Fire" than "I Feel Love." The dashing '70s flashback on the previous LP's "Step into My Life" was a kind of precursor to the wider use of robust brass and strings, and pianos skip and rollick through a few especially potent songs such as "Free Yourself" and "Begin Again." Ware and company cleverly twist tried-and-true lyrical themes present throughout the history of dance music -- rebirth, independence, communal celebration, the quest for release after being overworked and, of course, the desire for passionate intimate connection. Vocally, Ware has somehow found another gear, turning in her most commanding performances while having what sounds like a ball with her background singers. She isn't above supplementing her unmistakable smoldering and blazing leads with clear references to inspirations, recalling effervescent Teena Marie (again) and authoritative Grace Jones at points in the title song, and striking a pose like Madonna in "Shake the Bottle." The Ford and Price collaborations are almost evenly split and easily commingle, so it's only right that the producers each assist with a slower number. "Hello Love," modeled on lavish late-'70s soul with a warm zephyr from Chelsea Carmichael's saxophone, delights in an unexpected rekindling, while "Lightning," a spacious and pulsing slow jam, basks in a blooming romance. These two ballads don't have the feel of afterthoughts on an album fizzing with wholly liberated and exhilarating grooves” – AllMusic
Standout Track: Hello Love
Blondshell – Blondshell
Release Date: 7th April
Label: Partisan
Producer: Yves Rothman
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/product/blondshell/blondshell
Key Cuts: Vernoica Mars/Kiss City/Joiner
Review:
“Some albums devastate you with subtlety, and others bust your lip – Blondshell’s superb debut album is certainly the latter. There’s no lack of the lighter stuff currently – just look at Boygenius and Gracie Abrams’ seriously impressive releases – but seldom do they use rage and despair, pointed inwards or outwards, to make the point. It’s what makes this LA rocker’s debut so memorable, potent and enjoyable.
Sabrina Teitelbaum, currently based in LA, began her recording career writing and releasing on-trend pop, a world away from her childhood loves of The Rolling Stones and The National. That period would spawn a mildly successful single in 2020’s ‘Fuckboy’, a dramatic, if anonymous, track that would eventually get lost in the scrap for attention on streaming services. Change would come when Teitelbaum began writing songs just for herself and not with the expectation to release them, alongside a decision to go sober in early 2020. Radical honesty – and wit – would now prevail and shine in every song, alongside a rawer, more familiar sonic palette for Teitelbaum to pull from.
‘Veronica Mars’, which sports a chugging guitar riff alongside sly reflections on the Kristen Bell-starring 2004 TV drama and teenage media consumption, tells us that “Logan’s a dick, I’m learning that’s hot”. On ‘Joiner’, amidst substance misuse and self-harm, humour finds a place next to the sincerity: “I think you watched way too much HBO growing up”, she says with a wry grin. Even on ‘Sepsis’, Teitelbaum willingly puts herself at the butt of the joke: “I’m going back to him, I know my therapist’s pissed / We both know he’s a dick, at least it’s the obvious kind”. This is a record stuffed with barbed and memorable one-liners.
In accompanying liner notes, Teitelbaum likens the big riffs on ‘Blondshell’ as a “protective shell” for the fragile vulnerability in her writing. It does the textures something of a disservice – the production is perfectly attuned to what the song needs, not there to shield it from scrutiny. Indeed, ‘Olympus’ could have been a minimalist ballad, but the measured production encourages the song forward, its subtle solo leaving a lasting imprint. ‘Joiner’ has a radio-friendly pace that feeds the chaos within, while the ferocity of ‘Sepsis’s chorus is as frustrated and angst-ridden as the truths she spills about a doomed relationship: “It should take a whole lot less to turn me off”, she roars.
‘Blondshell’, then, is a complete triumph in several ways. Rarely do emerging artists receive the benefit of the doubt to change tack, recalibrate their sound and allow their lived experiences to develop and find their way into the music. Too often is that creator pigeonholed or, worse, written off – and such could have been the case for Teitelbaum. Instead, we have one of the alternative rock albums of the year, and one to treasure tightly for quite some time” – NME
Standout Track: Sepsis
Mitski – The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We
Release Date: 15th September
Label: Dead Oceans
Producer: Patrick Hyland
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/product/mitski/the-land-is-inhospitable-and-so-are-we-2
Key Cuts: Bug Like An Angel/I Don’t Like My Mind/I’m Your Man
Review:
“Noticed, collected, and created over the course of several years, The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We is a sweeping musical epic spanning essential facets of human experience; a meditation on self-witnessing, of owning one's estrangement.
The album alienates and reincorporates the self. In a somewhat less literal mode, Mitski focuses on herself through varied fictional voices. Each track is a chapter of an unfinished story. In the album's first act, Mitski offers up the devastatingly relatable experience of feeling to blame for our own loneliness. In I Don't Like My Mind, Mitski's literary voice and musical acumen combine into pure feeling. Vomiting up unwelcome memories, the track's narrator touches a nerve that only Mitski can: 'A whole cake, so please don't take / Take this job from me', is a knife to the heart; it's a staggeringly concrete plea from someone at rock-bottom, someone who would rather work than recover. Sometimes it feels like our only choice.
The album is far-reaching but never vague – true to form, Mitski's writing remains supremely evocative, mesmerising. Mitski writes and performs with singular conviction, reflecting the bargains we make with ourselves as we march determinedly towards self-destruction. The album is built by community – bolstered by a choir, Mitski's uninhibited voice envelops the listener. My Love Mine All Mine wraps itself around the self-effacing core of the album; it's a gentle anthem, a reminder of what we own and what we can let go. Here, Mitski offers up a balm for our open wounds in a gentle, honest cadence. Her commentary is always genuine, never cloying – it feels like talking to an old friend after a long separation. My Love Mine All Mine acts as a fulcrum for the album, teetering towards a more hopeful, reflective narrative voice.
While the album expresses plenty of Mitski's signature melancholia, it is undergirded not by regret, but by memory. The album is a personification of hope and self-love, told through the deep roots of compassion. In a media landscape saturated by sanitised, cloying depictions of self-love, The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We is a brutally honest chronicle of the eternal challenge of simply liking oneself. The album is truly extraordinary – it is a once-in-a-career masterpiece that synthesises difference through abstracted self-observation. It is a vehicle for making meaning, an invitation to try again” – The Skinny
Standout Track: My Love Mine all Mine
Margaret Glaspy - Echo the Diamond
Release Date: 18th August
Label: ATO
Producers: Margaret Glaspy/Julian Lage
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/product/margaret-glaspy/echo-the-diamond
Key Cuts: Act Natural/I Don’t Think So/My Eyes
Review:
“It won’t take long to hear New York City’s influence on Margaret Glaspy. The one-time Californian’s third album opens with “Act Natural”’s twisty, edgy guitar lick, somewhere between Lou Reed and Television, as the singer extolls the excitement of new love and a partner (in co-producer/guitarist Julian Lage) about whom she gushes You even sparkle in the dark/oh I can’t unsee it / Is this some kind of butterfly rebirth? / Are you from this earth? The crunching sound returns to the darker-hued, stripped-down guitar/bass/drums approach of her first album.
Although she’s in love, Glaspy’s far from timid about her thoughts, especially in the gripping “Female Brain” with the opening words of Don’t be a dick / I’m out here dodging stones and sticks as drums thump and her guitar chops and churns out shards of chords with a short, taut distorted solo. It reverberates with the tough, unapologetic, gritty urban groove New York infuses in many of its inhabitants. The music dials down a few notches for “Irish Goodbye.” The song is about a woman who sneaks out of a party after making an initial connection with a guy who thinks he might have a future with her. It causes him to question his intuitions with the beat slowly and methodically pumping as Glaspy sings, Was it something I said?/He wondered inside/All that I get are Irish goodbyes.
That sense of uncertainty in relationships imbues other tracks where the singer/songwriter keeps the music teetering on the precipice of rock and gloom, without tipping into either. Glaspy’s voice shifts from vulnerable to assertive, pushing the backing musicians to follow her instead of vice versa. Sometimes she radiates both as on the tense “Memories,” singing I’m alright of that I’m sure/Until I’m crying on the kitchen floor over a simmering, softly strummed melody that’s uneasy and a little menacing.
Lage’s jazzier impacts are felt in the intense “The Hammer and the Nail.” Here Glaspy sees herself jeopardizing her best interests for another person with It’s my wedding but you want the veil / Here I am the hammer and the nail to a powerful melody that feels just as ambiguous and lacerating as the words.
This moodier, more prickly attack suits Glaspy’s voice, concepts, and vision. She aligns with other New York City performers who push into shadier, more extreme territory with a similar snarl, mirroring the insecurity, brashness, and honesty the area seems to instill in its finest artists” – American Songwriter
Standout Track: Female Brain
Lana Del Rey - Did you know there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd
Release Date: 24th March
Labels: Interscope/Polydor
Producers: Jack Antonoff/Benj/iZach Dawes/Lana Del Rey/Drew Erickson/Mike Hermosa
Key Cuts: The Grants/A&W/Paris, Texas
Review:
“Blue Banisters, Lana’s album from 2021, introduced many of the ideas that stand out here: revisiting old material with new relish, releasing pop’s conventional structures and polish, writing about loved ones with tender specificity. Lana, née Elizabeth Grant, opens Ocean Blvd with a track that bears her family name, and she holds her father, brother, and sister close throughout, as if bracing for loss. On one song, she exhales a prayer amid jazzy squiggles, calling on her grandfather’s spirit to protect her father, a maritime enthusiast, while he’s deep-sea fishing. She entreats her brother Charlie to quit smoking. The matter of bearing children—her sister’s daughter and Lana’s own hypothetical offspring—comes up repeatedly, on “The Grants” and “Sweet,” a tradwife fantasy tucked in a mid-century movie-musical score. “Fingertips” broaches the topic of motherhood with a devastating admission of self-doubt: “Will the baby be all right/Will I have one of mine?/Can I handle it even if I do?”
Such a sentiment could easily be extrapolated into a comment on millennial unease, but this feels more personal. It’s Lana, a self-made emblem of vulnerable womanhood—in her own words, “a modern-day woman with a weak constitution”—at her most genuinely unguarded. She was nervous to send early sketches to producer Drew Erickson, she said, and even in finished form, the material sounds like it’s for her ears only. With its solemn hush, meticulously rendered but opaque details, and lack of organizing logic, “Fingertips” seems disinterested in holding our attention. There’s no rhythm, no structure, only the strings and the Wurlitzer picking up Lana’s breadcrumbs as she wanders the misty forest of her own memory.
Elsewhere, Lana throws stones into these still waters, most memorably on “A&W.” She writes from the perspective of the other woman, a familiar figure in her discography—sometimes, a sympathetic lonely heart; here, a symbol of the ire that unorthodox women unleash. “Did you know that a singer can still be looking like a side piece at 33?” asks Lana—unmarried and child-free at 37, a subject of constant physical scrutiny. The title is a fit-to-print stand-in for “American Whore,” and Lana cycles through her many avatars: an embattled attention-seeker, an illicit lover, an imperfect victim (“Do you really think that anybody would think I didn’t ask for it?”). Then, after a radical about-face that steers the song from voice-memo balladry into boom-bap playground rap, she is someone else entirely: a girlish brat tattling to someone’s mom. A critic, albeit a clumsy one, of empowerment feminism, Lana here embodies characters that point to just how little girlbossing has done to remedy societal malice toward women. They reflect an enduring taxonomy, reified in a post-Roe landscape: We are whores who deserve what we get, or else children to be saved from our own decisions.
Where do we go from here? To church, apparently. Lana follows “A&W” with a sermon on lust from Judah Smith, the Beverly Hills pastor and influencer who counts the Biebers (and Lana too) among his congregants. The four-and-a-half-minute homily, accompanied by melancholy piano, is presented with little comment beyond an occasional laugh or affirmation, possibly from Lana herself; given its placement, the track seems designed more to inflame than to enlighten. At the end, though, comes an interesting kernel: “I used to think my preaching was mostly about you,” Smith concedes, “...I’ve discovered that my preaching is mostly about me.”
Now more than ever, Lana’s preaching is mostly about her, reflecting a growing instinct to self-mythologize. On Ocean Blvd, she sings explicitly about being Lana Del Rey, with lyrics like “Some big man behind the scenes/Sewing Frankenstein black dreams into my song” pointing all the way back to the industry-plant allegations that surfaced around the time of her debut. That backward-looking gaze also settles on hip-hop, a longstanding presence in her work that was substantially dialed down after 2017’s Lust for Life. The trap beats are back, at least in the record’s final stretch, where they accompany some of Lana’s most willful provocations. Her lyrics flirt with transgressions that have previously landed her in hot water, within and beyond her music: casual Covid noncompliance, brownface. There’s a sense of doubling down, of insistence that her path is hers alone to forge. On “Taco Truck x VB,” the chimeric closer that is partially a trap remix of Norman Fucking Rockwell!’s “Venice Bitch,” Lana elbows her way in front of the criticism: “Before you talk let me stop what you say/I know, I know, I know that you hate me.” She is fresher yet out of fucks.
Lana is a postmodern collagist and a chronic cataloguer of her references: Take “Peppers,” which samples Tommy Genesis’ ribald 2015 track “Angelina,” name-checks the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and interpolates a surf-rock classic, all in the span of four minutes. At her best, Lana reinterprets others’ work with intention, percolating their meaning through a personal filter. The way that she now applies this same approach to her own past material—beyond the “Venice Bitch” remake, there’s a sliver of “Cinnamon Girl” in the Jon Batiste feature “Candy Necklace,” and chopped-up strings from “Norman Fucking Rockwell” on “A&W”—suggests an artist who is tracing her own evolution and also submitting her work, ripe for reimagining, for entry in the greater American songbook from which she so readily draws.
One of Ocean Blvd’s key takeaways is that perfection is not a requirement for inclusion in this canon. Part of the title track is spent extolling a sublime flaw—a specific beat in the 1974 Harry Nilsson song “Don’t Forget Me.” Lana cites, by timestamp (2:05), the moment when the singer-songwriter’s voice breaks, cracking open the track with raw emotion. As an indicator of Lana’s mindset, this embrace of imperfection may help explain some of Ocean Blvd’s excesses and experiments, which nobly pursue profundity and succeed only sometimes. Still, there are 2:05s to be found within the sprawl” – Pitchfork
Standout Track: Kintsugi
Rhiannon Giddens - You’re the One
Release Date: 19th August
Label: Nonesuch
Producer: Jack Splash
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/product/rhiannon-giddens/youre-the-one-2
Key Cuts: Wrong Kind of Right/You Louisiana Man/You Put the Sugar in My Bowl
Review:
“Rhiannon Giddens has a voracious musical appetite and a big talent that uses everything to fuel her many creative activities. With a MacArthur, a Pulitzer, and multiple Grammys on her shelf, this has not gone unnoticed. In a body of work that includes musicological projects along with different types of art, You're The One focuses on Giddens as a songwriter, in a variety of idioms. "I hope that people just hear American music," she says. "Blues, jazz, Cajun, country, gospel, and rock—it's all there. I like to be where it meets organically."
For her, where it all meets has a bullseye on the banjo. She often plays a beautiful mellow-toned replica of a mid-19th century fretless model, the kind used in blackface minstrelsy. In writing songs on this troubled vessel, her stated intent has been to create new music that reminds listeners of its original purpose, one that is "rooted in spiritual connection." She looks to "recast it in a modern light" without totally decontextualizing it, so that the music is not completely divorced from its history. This makes for a powerful aesthetic, which is at the core of the soulful title track, "You're The One," a ballad written for her newborn son. The sounds arranged around her banjo and voice appear as present day reverberations of an old bell, still ringing. One hears that resonance again in the zydeco-inflected "You Louisiana Man," which she seems to have sung live in the studio, banjo in hand. (See the YouTube at the bottom of the page.)
Giddens was looking to branch out with this project, which meant collaborating with new artists and dipping into other genres in order to reach "people who might dig [it] but don't know anything about, you know, what I do," she says. Her work fills in a history of American music that has omitted contributions of African Americans, particularly regarding country string bands and the banjo. She came to the job with solid tools and training. An Oberlin Conservatory graduate, she can sing in many timbres and tongues, research like an ethnomusicologist, and play fiddle and banjo like the old-time players she learned from in North Carolina; a well-rounded combination.
In creating You're The One, "I just wanted to expand my sound palette," Giddens explains. "Another Wasted Life" is a stunning example of this expansion. Inspired by the singular voice of the great Nina Simone, especially Simone's protest songs, Giddens' lyric responds to the horrific story of Kalief Browder, a young man incarcerated on Rikers Island for three years without trial ("given solitary time at institutional caprice"), who committed suicide after his release. The groove has a relentless chromatic ostinato at its center, and the performance culminates in a howling wordless improvisation, a unique jazz-blues moan that sends chills down the spine.
You're The One is yet another extraordinary offering from a great American musician whose work is consistently and superbly "beyond category," to quote Duke Ellington. One looks forward to the next” – All About Jazz
Standout Track: Another Wasted Life
RAYE - My 21st Century Blues
Release Date: 3rd February
Label: Human Re Sources
Producers: Rachel Keen (RAYE)/Mike Sabath/Punctual/BloodPop/Di Genius
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/product/raye/my-21st-century-blues
Key Cuts: Black Mascara./The Thrill Is Gone./Ice Cream Man.
Review:
“It’s taken the best part of a decade for RAYE to reach this point. Signing to Polydor in 2014 aged just 17, the relationship ended in 2021 in a thunderous mix of contradictory statements. RAYE, frustrated at making repeated attempts to get the label to allow her to record an album in vain, called them out with a poignant attack on industry misogyny. High-profile collaborations and songwriting credits for some of the world’s biggest artists were set aside; “ALL I CARE ABOUT is the music,” the London born singer tweeted. “I’m sick of being slept on and I’m sick of being in pain about it.”
Stepping out on her own has undoubtedly worked: starting 2023 with her affirmative 070 Shake-featuring trip hop-infused ‘Escapism.’ sitting at the top of the UK singles chart, the sweet irony of the track’s fan-led viral success isn’t lost. For RAYE at least, major label prioritising can’t compete with the power of a truly great song and a dedicated audience.
With confidence, ‘My 21st Century Blues’ pushes against the boundaries previously placed on her music. There’s an empowered defiance on display, the record’s opening tracks cementing this moment as all her own. “I’m a very fucking brave strong woman,” she demands on powerful midpoint ‘Ice Cream Man’, a fact that underpins the record’s blend of soul, hip hop, blues and a multitude of other styles. Even its occasional musical inconsistency makes complete sense, mirroring RAYE’s desire to explore all facets of herself, and it is autobiographical to its core, whether touching on heartbreak, discrimination, or distorted self-image. Fundamentally, this is her through and through.
“I’ve waited seven years for this moment,” she exhales on outro ‘Fin.’. The pain and frustration of that time bleeds throughout the record, ultimately underpinned by her eventual cathartic freedom. With the emotionally charged beats of ‘Black Mascara’, the candour of ‘Body Dysmorphia’ and the unfiltered soul of ‘Buss It Down’, it would be impossible for anyone to sleep on RAYE anymore” – DIY
Standout Track: Escapism.
Corinne Bailey Rae - Black Rainbows
Release Date: 15th September
Label: Black Rainbows/Thirty Tigers
Producers: S. J. Brown/Corinne Bailey Rae/Paris Strother
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/product/corinne-bailey-rae/black-rainbows-2
Key Cuts: Black Rainbows/New York Transit Queen/Put It Down
Review:
“Corinne Bailey Rae dynamites her own musical past and embraces a larger historical one on her new album, “Black Rainbows.”
With her self-titled 2006 debut, Bailey Rae established herself as an agile, airy-voiced pop songwriter; it reached No. 1 in her home country, Britain. Her big hit single, “Put Your Records On,” cheerfully but unmistakably called for celebrating a Black heritage.
Bailey Rae hasn’t rushed her albums. Her second one, “The Sea” in 2010, dealt with her grief — at 29 — at the sudden death of her first husband, the saxophonist Jason Rae; the songs reflected on time, love and sorrow. For her 2016 album, “The Heart Speaks in Whispers,” she followed record-company advice to return to polished pop-soul love songs. By then she had married S.J. Brown, who has co-produced “Black Rainbows” with her.
On “Black Rainbows,” Bailey Rae boldly jettisons both pop structures and R&B smoothness to consider the scars and triumphs of Black culture. “We long to arc our arm through history,” she sings in “A Spell, a Prayer,” the album’s opening song. “To unpick every thread of pain.”
The songs on “Black Rainbows” flaunt extremes: noise and delicacy, longing and rage. In some, Bailey Rae reclaims her distant punk-rock past, when she was in a band called Helen. Others summon retro elegance, toy with electronics and move through multiple transformations. In the album’s genre-bending title song, Bailey Rae repeats the words “black rainbows” over a mechanical beat; her voice gets multiplied into a choir as a labyrinthine, jazz-fusion chord progression gradually unfurls, brimming with saxophone squeals.
The album has a conceptual framework. Most of its songs are inspired by artifacts Bailey Rae saw at the Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicago, a former bank building that now holds a huge repository of African and African-diaspora materials gathered by the artist Theaster Gates: art, books, magazines, music and what the arts bank calls “negrobilia,” everyday objects that perpetuated Black stereotypes. For Bailey Rae, the collection summoned thoughts about slavery, spirituality, beauty, survival, hope and freedom.
An ashtray in the shape of a Black child with an open mouth was a touchstone for “Erasure,” a pounding, screeching, distorted rocker about the exploitation of enslaved children; Bailey Rae blurts, “They took credit for your labor!” and “They put out lit cigarettes down your sweet throat!” Another, more ebullient rock stomp, “New York City Transit Queen” — with Bailey Rae overdubbed into a hand-clapping cheerleading squad — commemorates a cheesecake photograph of Audrey Smaltz, the Black teenager who was named Miss New York Transit in 1954.
That song is followed by a different take on Black beauty: “He Will Follow You With His Eyes.” Bailey recites what sounds like old advertising copy — “Soft hair that invites his caress/Attract! Arouse! Tantalize!” — over a nostalgic bolero. But partway through the track, she casts off the cosmetics, with an electronic warp to the production and a scornful bite in her voice, as she sings about flaunting, “My black hair kinking/My black skin gleaming.”
While Bailey Rae allows herself to shout on “Black Rainbows,” she doesn’t abandon the graceful nuance of her pop past. In the shimmering, billowing “Red Horse,” she envisions romance, marriage and family with a man who “came riding in/in the thunderstorm,” cooing, “You’re the one that I, I’ve been waiting for.”
Bailey Rae shared a Grammy Award — album of the year — as a vocalist on Herbie Hancock’s 2007 Joni Mitchell tribute, “River: The Joni Letters,” and she welcomes Mitchell’s influence with the leaping, asymmetrical melody lines and enigmatic imagery of “Peach Velvet Sky,” which has Brown on piano accompanying Bailey Rae in an unadorned duet.
“Black Rainbows” is one songwriter’s leap into artistic freedom, unconcerned with genre expectations or radio formats. It’s also one more sign that songwriters are strongest when they heed instincts rather than expectations” – The New York Times
Standout Track: Peach Velvet Sky
Billie Marten – Drop Cherries
Release Date: 7th April
Label: Fiction Records
Producers: Dom Monks/Billie Marten
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/product/billie-marten/drop-cherries
Key Cuts: God Above/Devil Swim/Drop Cherries
Review:
“Yorkshire-born Billie Marten is no stranger to our ears, having released three studio albums already at the tender age of 23. Her latest record, ‘Drop Cherries’, rings true to the Billie Marten we all know and love while introducing a more mature musical style as she takes her fans on a sonic journey. On this record, Marten has truly gathered some of her best work to date.
If this record had to be summed up briefly, it would be as an ode to relationships, from the good to the bad and everything in between. ‘Drop Cherries’ is a reference to the album’s titular closing track, which is simple in its structure and lyricism to end the record on a note of how the mundane things may be what truly makes love.
Elsewhere in the record, Marten uses music to explore the complexities of love and companionship, resulting in some beautiful tracks, namely ‘Willow’ which is beautiful in its imagery-led structure, with lyrics depicting “two weeping willows throwing an arm to one another.” ‘Arrows’ is another moment which is stunning in its lyricism, this time letting the listener into the tougher side of relationships, where Marten sings ‘’I am at war with my shadow, roads dark and narrow.’’
The lyric-lacking album opener ‘New Idea’ set a tone for Marten’s new instrumental approach on her fourth record as it let the music do the talking, introducing her controlled and soothing harmonies along with strings – something I did not expect on a Billie Marten album.
The increased instrumentation on this record is a welcome addition, as the orchestral-type strings in ‘Devil Swim’, woodwind solo in ‘Willow’, and plucked strings with cymbals in ‘God Above’ make Billie Marten stand out in a crowded singer-songwriter market. Though there are moments – for example, on ‘Just Us’ – where the vocals seem drowned out by the instrumentation, the record as a whole benefits from these sonic layers, with band-led track ‘I Can’t Get My Head Around You’ being one of my favourites for its cohesive sound. After taking a more electronic synth route on previous record ‘Flora Fauna’, this is just another indicator of Marten’s growth.
A conceptual album which feels honest and authentic, ‘Drop Cherries’ showcases the best of her musical ability while being lyrically complex – it’s another strong record for Billie Marten to add to her repertoire - 8/10” - CLASH
Standout Track: Willow
Olivia Rodrigo – GUTS
Release Date: 8th September
Label: Geffen
Producer: Dan Nigro
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/product/olivia-rodrigo/guts-3
Key Cuts: ballad of a homeschooled girl/get him back!/teenage dream
Review:
“On ‘Guts’, Olivia Rodrigo goes to war for every young woman who has been unable to articulate why it is so belittling not to be taken seriously. In the orbit of her urgent and riotous second album, the 20-year-old turns her own vulnerabilities into a rallying cry: here, she’s a songwriter of control, diving headfirst into the collective female experience while also pursuing adventure, desire and relief. “I’m grateful all the time,” Rodrigo repeats on opener ‘All-American Bitch”, “I’m pretty when I cry.” She adopts a coo-like vocal as she continues to sing of how, in general, women are expected to moderate their emotions in the public eye. This record throws a sparkling firebomb at that grim, shared reality.
These 12 songs dissect embattled loves and revenge fantasies and highlight the near-impossibility of maintaining relationships when you’re at battle with the watchful eye of social media. There’s a feeling of being overburdened, too. Rodrigo shot to fame in 2021 with her record-breaking debut ‘Sour’, an album that spawned stratospheric hits (‘Drivers License’, ‘Good 4 U’) and put the former Disney star on a life-altering ascent, closing the year as the best-selling singles artist worldwide. This dominance not only coincided with the intensity of lockdown but gave her the reach to become one of the most influential pop writers of her generation; her sound – a mix of bratty, Avril-indebted pop and swooping balladry – can already be heard in a number of newer artists, including Lauren Spencer-Smith and Dylan.
This new chapter feels like an opportunity for Rodrigo to shake off that level of pressure or at least reshape it on her own terms. Lead single ‘Vampire’ bristles with fury towards a leeching older figure that took advantage of Rodrigo and her influence, exuding the same raw emotion that fuels Billie Eilish’s ‘Your Power’. “Six months of torture you sold as some forbidden paradise,” she sings, her voice building with urgency before letting rip into a red-hot screech. ‘The Grudge’ and ‘Making The Bed’ are more subdued, wistful songs of regret and burn-out.
Moments of elegant production are balanced with some compellingly unflattering lyrics about failed romantic pursuits – Rodrigo is equally capable of asserting her agency with humour. Backed by a cheerleader chant, she is needy, sly and covetous on the frenzied ‘Bad Idea Right’, while ‘Get Him Back!’ is uninhibited in the way it takes down an ex over a choppy melody. The barbs grow sharper and funnier – he lied about being 6ft tall! – before Rodrigo, the child of a family therapist, breaks into a knowing admission: “But I am my father’s daughter / So maybe I could fix him!”
‘Guts’ doesn’t just feel transitional in a musical sense. It marks the end of Rodrigo’s teenage years, a moment that has gravity given that she recently said in a statement that she felt like she grew “10 years” between the ages of 18 and 20. Here, she offers blunt self-analysis while reflecting on wider cultural ideas of performance and swallowing anger in order to comply with the wants and needs of others. It works as a display of real power, range and versatility – all of which Rodrigo possesses in abundance” – NME
Standout Track: bad idea right?
Yazmin Lacey - Voice Notes
Release Date: 3rd March
Label: Own Your Own Records
Executive Producer: Dave Okumu
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/product/yazmin-lacey/voice-notes
Key Cuts: Flylo Tweet/From a Lover/Tomorrow’s Child
Review:
“Yazmin Lacey is a truly special vocalist, someone we’ve long held close to our hearts. Yet in her slim but endlessly fascinating catalogue, there’s been a gap – namely, a full length album. ‘Voice Notes’ closes that hole, a work of remarkable unity that hinges on her emphatic creativity. Soulful in a pan-genre fashion, she’s able to craft an aesthetic memoir that crosses jazz, system culture, and more, all while finessed to remarkable degree.
A self-declared “sound collage”, this mosaic approach is set out from the off. Opener ‘Flylo Tweet’ was born from an improvisatory spoken word piece, edited down into something more succinct. It’s emblematic of her magpie-like approach, and epitomises the sense of editing as an instrument in itself on this project.
Boasting a full hour of music, ‘Voice Notes’ is packed with inspiration. ‘Bad Company’ and ‘Late Night People’ are impeccable neo-soul bumpers, dipping into those twilight hours in the process. ‘From A Lover’ takes on a more vintage feel, it’s soulful vision rooted more in Aretha, say, than Erykah. It’s far from an R&B record, though – Yazmin touches on jazz, while ‘Tomorrow’s Child’ feels like a love letter to system culture.
‘Pass It Back’ hinges on a low slung beat and a stellar bassline, but even at her most direct ‘Voice Notes’ utilises a sense of the transcendent. Closer ‘Sea Glass’ ripples with spiritual jazz harp, a song that finds Yasmin Lacey making incredible use of space. Casting an ethereal glaze, it’s the perfect summation of an often-personal project.
Dubbed “a collection of my life” at times ‘Voice Notes’ takes on the feeling of visiting an art gallery – you pause for a moment at one work, absorbing it fully, before moving to the next. Yazmin Lacey’s curatorial skill sits alongside her painterly-like vocals, resulting in a bold, and emphatic album project - 8/10” – CLASH
Standout Track: Pass It Back
Chappell Roan - The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
Release Date: 22nd September
Label: Island
Producer: Dan Nigro
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/product/chappell-roan/the-rise-and-fall-of-a-midwest-princess-2
Key Cuts: Femininomenon/Naked in Manhattan/Guilty Pleasure
Review:
“It’s a little cliché at this point: listening to a musician who seemingly ‘knows exactly how you feel,’ whose lyrics seem ‘ripped out of your diary.’ Usually, these are reserved for more depressing artists, whose admissions of personal shortcomings we can see in ourselves as well (Mitski, Self Esteem, Taylor Swift to some extent). But with Chappell Roan, the feeling is different. It’s usually one of joy, silliness, exhilarating nature and the bursting energy that music can bring out.
Likely due to her age (25), the glittery pop newcomer writes in a way so in sync with the minds of young people, memes and inside jokes included. This could veer on the side of trite, heard-before or cringy, like a tweet that relies on humour from years ago, but Roan is always in control of the narrative. She writes about sex and relationships earnestly with humour, whether on a ballad like “Casual” (“Knee deep in the passenger seat and you’re eating me out, is it casual now?”, a horny hook-up anthem such as “Red Wine Supernova” (“Back in my house, I got a California King / Okay, maybe it’s a twin bed, and some roommates”) or even on “My Kink Is Karma,” a revenge-tinged breakup track. “It’s hot when you have a meltdown in the front of your house and you’re getting kicked out,” she admits of a former partner: “People say I’m jealous but my kink is karma.” A predecessor of Taylor Swift, if only she were this transgressive.
The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess is distinctly queer in two ways – the first being an honest admission of her own journey as a woman in the LGBTQ+ community, performing to fans in the same boat. Exuberant debut single “Pink Pony Club” takes place in a gay bar in West Hollywood, lamenting her Tennessee mother’s disapproval of where her life has taken. “Oh mama, I’m just having fun / On the stage in my heels,” she says, and elsewhere, has noted that the stage essence of Chappell Roan is basically just a drag persona. On “After Midnight”, too, she says, “I kinda wanna kiss your girlfriend if you don’t mind,” but there’s no straight girl acting it up here – like with MUNA, there’s no faking it with Roan.
The second queer influence is the notion of complete self-autonomy and reliance that comes with shrugging off men, demonstrated on the opener, “Femininomenon”. She complains that men aren’t able to give her the satisfaction she requires, whether it be through a good beat or good sex. “Ladies, you know what I mean, and you know what you need!” goes the call to action on the spoken-word bridge. On what has to be one of the top three best pop songs of the year, “Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl” compares a boyfriend’s averageness to his girl’s star quality, much like the marketing for the recent Barbie movie: “She’s everything, he’s just Ken”: “I’m through with all these hyper mega bummer boys like you,” she decides, and in a lyric that’s simple but which perfectly encapsulates how we’re punished for our desire and standards, she sings, “Not over dramatic / I know what I want.” Over a stomping beat that will have people looking up Roan’s tour dates to hear this song live, she sings, “I need a super graphic ultra modern girl like me.” Doesn’t everyone?
Mirroring the experience of one’s twenties, this album is also very horny. If the lyrics cited above aren’t enough to convince you, look no further than “HOTTOGO!” where Roan serves herself up on a platter, happy to be feasted upon and even relishing the opportunity to be lusted after. “What’s it gonna take to get your number!?” she asks in a crazed voice on the chorus, perfectly simulating the mind-bending obsession one can submit to in the presence of a hot person. “Naked In Manhattan” presents a situation that can be gleaned from the title, “After Midnight” is a sensual disco track about being a “freak in the club,” and “Guilty Pleasure” basks in the satisfaction about finding someone just as sexually oriented as Roan. “Oh my God, you are heaven sent,” she admits, “With your dirty mind, you’re perverted.”
Roan is a blazing tour-de-force on her debut album. She tackles every corner of human sexuality, psychology, desire, and lust, all on some of the hookiest choruses of this year. During some tracks she takes the time to slow it down, which sometimes hinders the album’s flow – as in the case with “Coffee” and another song whose odd analogy comparing love to a kaleidoscope seems offhand – but it shows she has the range. With some of its songs released as late as three years ago, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess is a little lacking in vision and coherence, but this first glittery collection of pop songs from Chappell Roan drips in charisma and hedonistic pleasure. Let’s drop the ‘star in the making’ label – she’s already here” – The Line of Best Fit
Standout Track: Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl
Julie Byrne - The Greater Wings
Release Date: 7th July
Label: Ghostly International
Producers: Jake Falby/Eric Littmann/Alex Somers
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/product/julie-byrne/the-greater-wings
Key Cuts: Portrait of a Clear Day/Flare/Death Is the Diamond
Review:
“A while back, I was fortunate enough to finally get a chance to see Grouper live. It was during her tour for her last LP, Shade, and although it featured very few recognizable Grouper songs, it was beautiful and transportive all the same. Opening for her, though, was ambient composer Jefre Cantu-Ledesma. While he played one continuous, enveloping drone piece, a female singer sang — mostly wordlessly, I think — at his side. It was the perfect accompaniment to his eerie but placid piece, her voice weaving in and out and around it like water.
I didn’t know until after the show that it was Julie Byrne sitting on that stool, half-shrouded in moonlight-like stage lights and shadows. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t pinned her voice: a signature smoky smooth instrument, unfurling like a silken quilt. It made such perfect sense with Cantu-Ledesma’s work that I must have not been able to transpose the voice I had listened to so many times singing over the delicate acoustic watercolors of her sophomore LP, Not Even Happiness, into this synthetic and droning atmosphere. But it was a harmonious marriage, and, in retrospect, reified everything I already believed and loved about Byrne and her ability to relocate you elsewhere when she sings, whether that’s a glade beneath a cerulean blue sky, or a dark and humid wetland.
On her third record, The Greater Wings, she mostly returns to her own personal milieu — that of the ground and sky, of guitars and harp and strings. Coming after a long six year gap that saw Byrne engage with rigorous touring, collaborations with other artists, and the tragic loss of close collaborator Eric Littman in 2021 — who produced part of this record before his death with Byrne, who then enlisted Alex Somers to finish the project with her — The Greater Wings is a document of love, loss, connection, and the natural world. Although elements of grief and sadness are stitched into these songs, much of it was written before Littman’s passing, lending the album an eternal, cyclical feeling. As she said in a recent Guardian interview, there is so much longing and yearning in grief, in addition to the sadness. That longing is rife on The Greater Wings — a longing for learning, for renewal, for people, for life itself.
If you were a fan of Not Even Happiness, the odds are high you’ll find much to enjoy here. It might not be a huge reinvention, but it does cement Byrne’s status as a forerunner in her field. The opening title track is classic Byrne: thick guitar fingerpicking, pleasant strings, a healthy dose of reverb, and a gently ascending melody sung in her velveteen voice. It feels a little clearer and sharper than her past work, with finer and more robust production giving her songs more breathing room. The song finds Byrne in a moment of reflection, taking in everything around her and looking outward for more and for welcome, but there’s also an undeniable linkage to her sense of loss, as when she sings the lovely and heartbreaking “You’re always in the band / Forever underground / Name my grief to let it sing”. In creating music out of this emotional excavation and unnaturally hard times, Byrne has found a pinhole up to the sun.
Nature has been a massive inspiration to Byrne’s past work, and that’s unchanged here. Natural imagery is conjured again and again throughout these songs — in the lyrics and even in many of the song titles — imbuing the world around us with a sensitive, divine weight. “Moonless” gives us a sky with no moon above a dark ocean. “Summer Glass” shows us our singer at the water’s edge, contemplating the nature of desire, as the sun comes up on her own piece of the shoreline. The sun rises on her again on “Flare”, further deepening her solar and lunar symbolism. But in between all this imagery, which might feel slightly familiar to longtime fans, are enough variations on her usual mode to keep it feeling fresh.
After the first two rather expected cuts, “Moonless” gives us a slowly crawling piano ballad, a deeply moving ode to discovering love (“I found it there in the room with you / Whatever eternity is”) that feels as timeless as an old painting. Harp trickles in, covering her voice in dewy crystal drops. Closer “Death is the Diamond” is another piano ballad, and while it may not have quite the magnetic pull of “Moonless”, it does have one of the album’s most emotive, plaintive melodies, as she sings lines like “You make me feel like the prom queen I never was.” “Hope’s Return” (a rework of a collaborative piece she did with Cantu-Ledesma a couple years back) finds Byrne strumming with a slightly unusual vigor, almost like a The Man Who Died In His Boat-era Grouper song, and then the strings and percussion joins in, alongside ghostly backing vocals, and the song is ushered into a higher stratosphere than a Byrne song usually shoots for.
Perhaps most unexpected is early single “Summer Glass”, which rests almost entirely upon Littman’s fluttering, arpeggiated synth. It’s not the first time Byrne has sung over electronic flourishes — for one, her last album ended with “I Live Now As a Singer”, which also hinged on a Littman-produced bed of synths — but it feels nearly out of character for her to be singing over such a flashy, nimble instrumental. And yet, it’s perfect: a memory piece about human connection and a moment of intimacy, supported with a blooming synth texture, harp, and heavenly strings and bass. It’s a short story unto itself, sung by an artist with a very firm grasp on her strengths.
Releasing a record after such an extended wait, and having that wait be suffused with grief and loss, is a tough gig. Many will rush to find hints of Byrne’s grieving process within the lyrics, even though it was largely written prior to it, and yet you can’t really outrun it either. Even songs that are so much about joy and love and excitement and vitality become engraved with melancholy when released in the wake of something like that. But The Greater Wings, for all its inevitable connotations, is not a downer. It’s a beautiful testament to life and to the people we love and that keep us going, physically and spiritually. It’s also a testament to moving forward with grace and strength, and rediscovering that longing to live. As Byrne sings at the end of “Summer Glass”: “I want to be whole enough to risk again.” It sounds like she’s made it there, or like she’s at least firmly toeing the warm waters of that renewal. Like she’s ready” – Beats Per Minute
Standout Track: Summer Glass
Noname – Sundial
Release Date: 11th August
Label: Noname, Inc
Producers: Saba/Yussef Dayes/Wesley Singerman/Berg/BMC/Daoudemil/Gaetan Judd/Kevin Efofo/Ben Nartey/Nascent/R-Kay/Slimwav
Key Cuts: black mirror/toxic/gospel?
Review:
“As Sundial progresses, there seems to be no limit to what knowledge Noname possesses, and this isn’t due to the Chicago rapper being the little girl with her hand always raised in class poised to answer the next question like her detractors characterize her as; there is such a gift as intuition. Live with empathy and intuition for any amount of time in the last five years and it may all run together as part of some great injustice or call to worship. Each individual point between 2018's Room 25 and Sundial was both a watershed moment in American political history and also now pristinely in the rearview. Within an excruciating blink, we’re back again.
And Sundial feels like not a moment was lost in the gap with her already polished stream of consciousness sumptuously evolving into free word association, moving speedily from one vignette to another philosophically intriguing vignette. The album pacing reflects this shift; instead of ample room for rumination, world peace and self-worth are achieved in spare moments on the fly. This does not gut them for their power, it simply maximizes the time and breadth of her subject matter. The tempo increases in time with the stakes.
Noname’s discography has become an ever-evolving list of ways to reach auditory bliss, and Sundial is a big band ensemble speeding past on a highway like the forum for social issues is Mad Max Fury Road. Part of this band is an impressive list of collaborators including the equally as relentless Billy Woods, capturing a striking moment of clarity near the end of the record; Ayoni’s sung hooks on “boomboom” and “oblivion” are indulgently gorgeous and make for some of the catchiest refrains of 2023. However, the controversial inclusion of Jay Electronica induces a frightened stare when he begins rapping about numerous conspiracy theories ranging from the Rothschilds to the war in Ukraine being a Jewish hoax. Needless to say, the soapbox provided for this on such a project can sour the message for many in a time of increasing antisemitic violence.
Her striking lyrical flow has become more relentless but comes off more like a constant drip of honey than an imposing assault, at least sonically. On the other hand, the subject matter of the lyrics is rife with Socratic lines of moral questioning and political comedy. Every track excels in a topical focus that will not be spoiled or summarized by the deadline-watching eyes of a critic. They are to be found and grappled with individually, or communally, if that’s your thing.
The gift of intuition lays the whole world bare, all can be felt and observed in the most personalized ways. After “oblivion” and its message of “When the world blow up that’s it/motherfucker I don’t care, I’m gonna talk my shit” resonates into the dark, a clear picture of an artist is left, if ever there was one: we are five years closer to doomsday than we were, and there is dignity in the descent” – The Line of Best Fit
Standout Track: Namesake
Say She She – Silver
Release Date: 29th September
Labels: Karma Chief Records/Colemine Records
Producer: Sergio Rios
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/product/say-she-she/silver-4
Key Cuts: C’est Si Bon/Forget Me Not/Bleeding Heart
Review:
“The female-led discodelic soul band Say She She, named as a silent nod to Nile Rodgers (C’est chi-chi!: It's Chic!”), release their sophomore album Silver on the heels of an epic break-out year that grows brighter by the day.
The three strong voices of Piya Malik (El Michels Affair staple feature, and former backing singer for Chicano Batman), Sabrina Mileo Cunningham and Nya Gazelle Brown front the band. This harmonizing trio was formed in a classic New York tale of friends that met by following the music: the downtown dancefloors, through the Lower East Side floorboards and up to the rooftops of Harlem.
Silver was entirely written and recorded live to tape at Killion Sound studio in North Hollywood earlier this year and produced by Sergio Rios (of Orgone). While these analog recording techniques help root Say She She’s sound in a bedrock of tonal warmth that only tape can achieve, it is also their process of cutting the track in the moment and capturing the magic of communal creativity that has seen their sound described as “a glorious overload of joyful elation and spiritual elevation” (MOJO) and “infused with the wonky post-disco spirit of early '80s NYC” (The Guardian).
Silver, the element, is known as the metal of self-confidence and the mirror of the soul. With that, the 16-song double-LP projects not only their growth in writing with confidence, but also reflects a deeper exploration into their punk-chic, femmeforward sensibility.
Ultimately, Silver oozes with quirk and adventure and embraces the multifaceted nature of what it means to be a modern femme. The She She's fully embrace their role as beauticians, actively reminding people of the inherent beauty in the world. They skillfully employ double entendres and humor to encourage open dialogue and fearlessly address important matters that demand attention” – Rough Trade
Standout Track: Astral Plane
Róisín Murphy – Hit Parade
Release Date: 8th September
Label: Ninja Tune
Producer: DJ Koze
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/product/roisin-murphy/hit-parade-2
Key Cuts: CooCool/The Universe/Crazy Ants Reprise
Review:
“Róisín Murphy has been a pioneer when it comes to electronic music and with ‘Hit Parade’, she has solidified her icon status. Pairing up with DJ Koze, the two have created a record which does exactly what it says on the tin; delivering hit after hit that sail by you in a haze of awe. Predecessor ‘Roisin Machine’ brought the Moloko artist back to the forefront of critic’s and music lovers’ minds alike. Combining aspects of house, pop and modern electronic was a winning mix. ‘Hit Parade’ continues this but injects another type of energy into every track. Whether it’s humour, a dance sensibility or graceful gentleness, Murphy has captured the essence of the ups and downs of life.
The record has crests and waves, not a trough to be found. The seamless transitions from light to dark are expertly done.‘CooCool’ is so groovy, so danceable with sumptuous bass and crazy mini guitar riffs. ‘Hurtz so Bad’ has a darker tone to it. “Did I get it wrong?/ All along” leaves behind the upbeat atmosphere but replaces it with an emotional purging. These charged tracks make ‘Hit Parade’ more than a record stacked with bangers, ready for the dancefloor. The likes of ‘You Knew’ with its deep house melody and melancholic tender vocals add a complexity to the album.
The soundbytes which are scattered throughout the record are downright hilarious particularly on sunny ‘The Universe’ and ‘Crazy Ants Reprise’. Murphy puts on a Californian accent, highlighting the many times that things have been blown out of proportion because of a certain American outlook. “This guy, this captain was right out in the ocean, rowing away, rowing away from the boat,” interrupts the American voice and Murphy responds right back singing “Row, row, row and row” (potentially being a dig at those who chat during performances). Even Irish comedian Tommy Tiernan gets a small feature on ‘The House’.
Passionate ‘Fader’ is accompanied with a music video filmed in Róisín Murphy’s childhood home Arklow in Ireland. Irish dancers and girls in communion dresses, boy scouts and baton twirlers capture the true parade that Murphy is a part of and is a beautiful gesture to her Irish roots. Experimental ‘Two Ways’ is a trap inspired track that is the definition of a musical slam dunk. Melding Murphy’s sensuous vocals, a vocoder and pounding 808, she pushes the genre boundaries and delivers a contemporary track that blows the current names in music out of the water.
‘Hit Parade’ is as colourful and playful as Róisín Murphy herself. Truly a contender for album of the year, Murphy has created an album of true musical depth that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Mashing genres, both new and well-loved together means that Murphy is doing what any artist should be doing which is responding to what is happening around them. Marching to the beat of her own drum, Róisín is setting a precedent to be followed for decades to come - 9/10” – CLASH
Standout Track: Fader
Jorja Smith - falling or flying
Release Date: 29th September
Label: FAMM
Producer: DameDame
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/product/jorja-smith/falling-or-flying-2
Key Cuts: Little Things/Falling or flying/Crazy Make sense
Review:
”There’s always been something special about Jorja Smith. Since the Walsall-raised artist’s arrival in 2016 with her breakout hit ‘Blue Lights’, there’s been a certain magnetism about her: the voice is technically sensational, and there’s truth to every word sung. Early comparisons to Amy Winehouse, her idol, were not unwarranted, and her ability to resonate with listeners across the spectrum only blossomed.
Her 2018 debut ‘Lost & Found’ showcased that personality, if only in subtle ways: with the tasteful R&B and pop stylings, it felt like a safe first step to satiate the hype rather than a defining musical portrait. Musical collaborations with Drake, Burna Boy, and rising star Enny continued to build the star and myth around her.
It was 2021’s ‘Be Right Back’, a mid-pandemic mixtape, that simmered with Smith’s most intriguing material yet, like someone realising where their path was headed and how to harness it. She hasn’t looked back: ‘Falling or Flying’, her second studio album, is a triumph because of that conviction. Having decided that London was not conducive to her life and music-making, she moved back home to the Midlands, keen to rekindle the pre-fame Jorja that the industry didn’t want you to see but that existed every time the mic was off. In an accompanying statement, she says that formative years growing up in the industry had made her a “people pleaser” and that moving home helped her be “better at trusting myself, not doubting myself as much, and not being so affected and worried by other peoples’ opinions.”
On ‘Falling or Flying’, she teams up with DAMEDAME*, an emerging production duo who also happen to be Smith’s pals from back home; their presence is keenly felt, the trio coursing with ideas and freedom. From the mesmerising opener ‘Try Me’ to ‘Little Things’, a nod to UK funky that has potential to rival ‘On My Mind’ for her biggest dancefloor heater, ‘Falling or Flying’ reveals itself much like Solange’s 2019 album ‘When I Get Home’: an uncompromising and arresting treasure of a record. Even ‘Go Go Go’, a fairly formulaic, indie-indebted number, is the type of song that could only spring from febrile recording sessions with close confidantes: it’s not hard to picture the three thrashing along hard and laughing at each other above the din.
Scarcely any songs on ‘Falling or Flying’ sound the same, but the throughline of Smith trusting her gut remains and reconnecting with herself remains a guiding constant. ‘Greatest Gift’, a song about Smith reconnecting with her younger self, is as touching as she’s ever sounded as a pertinent message rings true: I promise to make sure you’ll never fall far from your grace / I hope that you know you are never too far from your purpose” she reminds herself. ‘Falling or Flying’ was the record she was destined to make, she just had to allow herself to get there” - NME
Standout Track: Try Me
CHAI - CHAI
Release Date: 22nd September
Labels: Sub Pop/Otemayon
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/product/chai/chai
Key Cuts: MATCHA/We the Female!/KARAOKE
Review:
“GO!
MATCHA CHA
MATCHA CHA, MECHA
CHO MATCHA!
So begins CHAI’s fourth album in a chant of technicolor enthusiasm. For the initiated, it’s a familiarly infectious vibe that’s led to the quartet securing Sub Pop record deals and collaborating with the likes of Gorillaz. For the newbie, it’s as good a place as any to enter the world of CHAI.
Formed in 2012 by twin sisters Mana and Kana alongside high school/college buds Yuuki and Yana, the band has spent the past decade marrying homegrown influences with experimental pop, punk, and hip-hop rhythms. It’s proved a winning formula, the group reclaiming Japan’s ‘Kawaii’ (cute) aesthetics to create ‘Neo-kawaii,’ a more inclusive and feminist slant that embraces imperfections. Imagine candy-colored riot girl over some seriously groovy synths, and you’re halfway there.
The band’s latest self-titled offering follows 2021’s fabulous ‘WINK,’ an album that rightfully ended on a few ‘best of’ lists. While this last full-length leaned more into foreright dance territory and contemporary collabs, this latest ten-track sees the outfit embrace and update 80s city pop. While this Japanized version of lounge music is truly of their parents’ era, the once-maligned genre has had an unexpected revival thanks to boutique labels, Youtube, and TikTok. The soundtrack of Japan’s tech boom, this once-disposable genre always had a knack for creating the kind of bass lines Daft Punk would happily build worlds from. By merging this effortlessly smooth blueprint with their own punk lyrics and ethos, CHAI has created an album that’s warmly inviting yet still exciting.
An excellent example of this blend is ‘GAME,’ which marries Prince’s ‘Controversy’ with the vibe of a Yuzo Koshiro Mega Drive soundtrack to great effect. It’s part pop jam, part house number, and 100% addictive. Elsewhere, ‘1992’ has the band breezily embrace aging over chaotic drum loops and vintage synth sounds. It proves a highlight and captures the spirit of 90s console culture for anyone lucky enough to have lived it. Still, this being a CHAI record, there are more immediate moments, namely the rallying ‘We The Female!,’ a nu-rave sounding track led by Yuna’s tight machine gun drumming.
Another highlight is ‘LIKE, I NEED,’ a sultry pop-banger that discusses the dangers of social media reliance despite the track’s catchiness. The chorus’ punchy multitracked vocals over Yuuki’s dreamy basslines are glorious and showcase the great synergy between the band and producer Ryu Takahashi. Teaming up with Takahashi once more was a wise choice, the whole album sounding perfectly balanced while including more subtleties than seen in their previous work on ‘WINK.’
This sense of contained chaos is far from the straight indie dance production featured on their first two albums. These two opposing forces are perfectly captured on the album’s brilliant artwork – the girls are captured in black and white, grimacing with backcombed hair and smeared lipstick as a blast of pink rays and stars is doing its best to blow them away. It’s both subdued and retro while ready to explode at any moment – just like the record. If you’re looking for an album to brighten your day, come enter the world of CHAI - 8/10” - CLASH
Standout Track: GAME