FEATURE:
One for the Record Collection!
IN THIS PHOTO: NAO/PHOTO CREDIT: Lillie Eiger
Essential February Releases
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I normally do this a bit earlier…
IN THIS PHOTO: Sam Fender
and look ahead to the following month when it comes to spotlighting albums. However, as we are in February, I want to look at the great albums upcoming. We do not have to wait long. On 7th February, there are some wonderful albums that you will want to get. I am going to select some choice albums. However, you can see a fuller list here. There are three from 7th February that you will want to add to your collection. The first album to investigate is Biig Piig’s 11:11. Go and pre-order this album from an incredible artist. Before moving on, here is an interview from Ticketmaster with Biig Piig. She talks about her incredible upcoming album:
“Since bursting onto the scene with her hypnotic, sensual mixture of alt-pop, R&B and dance, tracks like 2019’s ‘Sunny’ and 2020’s ‘Feels Right’ helped ensure her breakthrough translated into sustained success. With infectious basslines to her name alongside her calming, heaven-sent vocals – which are sung in both English and Spanish – she’s crafted a distinct sound, developed over the course of various EPs and mixtapes.
Her recent project was 2023’s Bubblegum, which weaved between hip-hop and liquid drum ‘n’ bass to capture the emotions of her move to LA. Now, eight years on from her first single, Smyth’s debut album has finally arrived, converging on her long-standing affection for dance music – which remains a constant in amongst the turbulence of young adulthood.
We spoke to Smyth about the pace of being an artist in 2025, the road to 11:11 and why she now feels at home in London, after plenty of globetrotting.
Why did the time 11:11 resonate with you as the title of your debut album?
Whenever I catch it on my phone, it’s the only time that I really stop and take a minute to be really present, and reflect on things that I wish were different. It’s also just a really peaceful moment. I was stuck for an album title for so long… I just thought about it one day, and the time came up [on my phone]. Actually, the album is about reflection. It’s about points in the last two years, looking back on relationships with myself, family, friends and my partner. 11:11 represents the moment – looking back through all of that.
Do you find yourself catching it in the morning or the evening?
Morning – always morning! By the evening, I’m not looking at my phone.
When did you realise you were regularly noticing that time, and using it to reflect?
Honestly, it’s been like that for years. It’s something that I’ve been doing since teenhood. Not every day, but when it does happen, I love it. It feels like a moment of getting in touch.
Life can seem to move so fast in 2025 – especially for young creatives. Is it rather telling that you can only take one minute to reflect and be present?
I hadn’t really looked at it like that, but it’s very true. The way the world moves right now is so fast, and it’s quite demanding. There’s a lot of anxious feelings in stopping, because you feel like if you stop, you’ll implode. We’re so onto ‘the next thing’ that it keeps us out of our heads a little bit… sometimes it becomes default to keep going. It’s a bit of a generational thing, as well.
Do you thrive, creatively, in the chaos?
100 per cent. I’ve always been like that since growing up. That’s not to say that I don’t want more quiet moments. As I’m understanding more about the healing process of different things – and also maturing – you need to be content with just being present, and not running to the next thing all the time.
Did that approach underpin how 11:11 came together?
It was definitely a bit untethered. I started writing it a couple of years ago, and I didn’t know I was writing it at the time. I was just writing music, found a track, and I was like, ‘I want to start making a record.’ There was a lot of stopping and starting. For the best part of a year, I was still confused as to what I was making. You keep writing, and then it starts to make sense… it’s almost like one day, you stop, and you’re like, ‘Oh, my God, it’s done.’
I never thought I would get to a point where I’m content with putting out an album, because I’m so indecisive sometimes. Maybe it’s not even that – I’ve [previously] only wanted to say the story in four or five tracks. This one, I wanted to get a bit deeper with.
Sonically, you’ve already explored a wide range of sound palettes – what were you going for on 11:11?
It shifted and changed. When I wrote ‘4AM’, I knew that was going to be the opening track from the get-go… I would love to start the album with that first line – “You should have hit me with the bad news first” – and then reflect through how you got there. After that track, I realised I [wanted] to make a hard-hitting club record, but there’s also a softer side that I also want to display. ‘One Way Ticket’, an acoustic track, sitting alongside [the other tracks] was important, also because there’s just different levels of space. I love creating space in songs”.
The next album I want to get to is Heartworms’ Glutton For Punishment. One of the most original and captivating young artists around, I would recommend everyone pre-order the album, as it is going to sit alongside the best of the year. There is not a lot of information available about the album. Instead, I am going to bring in a recent interview from NME. We get a bit of background around the South London artist and her new album:
“Even if it isn’t immediately clear what Heartworms sings about, an undeniable darkness seeps into every song. “I feel comfortable in it,” she admits. “I mean, happiness is not even a real emotion to me. There’s joy in a moment, or content. Most of the time, I’m not content – I’m in a dark place and trying to figure things out. That’s just the way I am, and I’m always going to be this way.”
Sometimes, you don’t know whether to be charmed or concerned by Heartworms’ matter-of-fact nature. We arrive at the colossal Avro Lancaster R5868, the steely crown jewel of Hangar Five. She points out its “tattoos”, or the small yellow bombs painted on its side denoting every mission it’s embarked on. The average Avro Lancaster might have been deployed 21 times; tot up the “tattoos” on this one, and you’ll get 137.
“I once met a guy who had a family tie to this,” Orme says casually. “He was crying because he felt the emotions connected to it. It’s such a grand connection because it’s so big. He just came up to me and was like, ‘Can you take a photo?’ with tears streaming… it was such a strange situation.”
That discomfort arises again when we talk about her fascination with military history. It permeates many of the songs on ‘Glutton For Punishment’; lead single ‘Warplane’ documents the tragic death of Spitfire pilot William Gibson Gordon at just 20. A chugging, fizzing bass and grand, operatic chorus see the singer proclaim: “Oh, look up theeeere / We’ll be freeeee!” Meanwhile, follow-up single ‘Extraordinary Wings’ is a sleek, simmering and very definitive anti-war statement: “I don’t wish murder, ‘cause I got no right.” Heartworms’ military obsession can make one feel queasy – but evidently, there’s something deeper in it for her.
PHOTO CREDIT: Jamie Waters for NME
Standing in a hangar filled with bombers, NME notes that there’s a lot of destruction in this room. Heartworms concurs, running through a spiel she’s seemingly prepared beforehand: the planes are machines built by humans and only turned into weapons by humans. What she’s appreciating are simply innocent contraptions, art detached from their artists.
But then she says something more interesting. “It’s easy to make [war] a reality when you’re around these things because you’re not hiding from it,” she says plainly. “You become more aware of it every day.”
“I want people to understand that it’s fine to just be honest about how you feel”
Perhaps Heartworms’ unflinching attitude to conflict can also be explained by her childhood. While ‘Glutton For Punishment’ gives an overview of the general human lust for suffering, the record partially alludes to her difficult relationship with her mother.
She unintentionally kick-started Heartworms’ career by grounding the then-14-year-old for the grave offence of having a boyfriend. Stuck at home for her sins, Orme picked up the guitar, and a beautiful new relationship was born. But the “constant conflicts” forced her to escape, where she bounced between foster homes, couches and the YMCA. As the track ‘Smuggler’s Adventure’ makes clear, Heartworms always had to return to her family’s house”.
The penultimate album from 7th February that you will want to get is Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory’s eponymous album. A new group fronted by an established and legendary artist, this will be a slightly new direction. I would urge people to pre-order the incredible Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory. This is going to be an album already getting a lot of buzz and love. You will want to add this to your collection for sure:
“From the off, Sharon Van Etten and The Attachment Theory is sonically different from Van Etten’s previous work. Writing and recording in total collaboration with her band for the first time, Van Etten finds the freedom that comes by letting go. The result of that liberation is an exhilarating new dimension of sound and songwriting. The themes are timeless, classic Sharon – life and living, love and being loved – but the sounds are new, wholly realized and sharp as glass. Reflecting on this new artistic frame of mind, Van Etten muses,
“Sometimes it's exciting, sometimes it's scary, sometimes you feel stuck. It's like every day feels a little different – just being at peace with whatever you're feeling and whoever you are and how you relate to people in that moment. If I can just keep a sense of openness while knowing that my feelings change every day, that is all I can do right now. That and try to be the best person I can be while letting other people be who they are and not taking it personally and just being. I'm not there, but I'm trying to be there every day.”
Sharon Van Etten and The Attachment Theory is a quantum leap in that direction - Lol Tolhurst”.
I will move to 14th February soon. Go and pre-order the phenomenal Cowards from Squid. One of the country’s best bands, their latest album is really intriguing. Even if you have not heard of the band, you will want to check it out. I am fairly new to their brilliance but can recommend them highly. A wonderful group that may be about to release their strongest work yet:
“Squid’s new album Cowards is about evil. Nine stories whose protagonists reckon with cults, charisma and apathy. Real and imagined characters wading into the dark ocean between right and wrong.
Cowards is Squid’s most courageous album: simultaneously growing in scope and returning to basics. The band recorded Cowards at Church Studios in Crouch End with Mercury prize winning producers Marta Salogni and Grace Banks. On additional production is longtime shifu and collaborator Dan Carey, who recorded the band’s first two albums. The record was mixed in Seattle by John McEntire, before being compressed by the rich analogue chain of Heba Kadry’s mastering in Brooklyn, New York.
Squid have come a long way since forming in 2016 as an instrumental jazz band for a monthly night in Brighton. Their debut album Bright Green Field (2021) arrived as the world was starting to open up after the pandemic and they broke into the top 5 in the UK chart. In 2023 they released their sophomore album, the brooding O Monolith, which took the band all over the world and broke new ground that hardly seemed possible years prior”.
There are two albums from 14th February that I want to mention. First, a bit of a shift. Doves’ Constellations for the Lonely initially was announced for 14th February but has been moved back to 28th February. Go and pre-order the album. I will bring in an interview now from The Guardian from December. This is a big and very personal album from Doves. Fans and new discoverers of their music alike will want to purchaser it. Constellations for the Lonely sounds like it is going to be amazing:
“Just over four years ago, Doves were on the crest of a wave. Their first album in more than a decade – The Universal Want – had been rapturously received, helping them notch up their third UK No 1. All set to perform it live, the tour was suddenly cancelled due to frontman Jimi Goodwin’s mental health – he has since said he is in recovery from substance abuse.
The cancellation “was heartbreaking for us because this is all we’ve ever wanted to do,” explains guitarist Jez Williams, who formed Doves with drummer brother Andy and schoolfriend Goodwin in Wilmslow, Cheshire in 1998. Sat alongside him in a Manchester eaterie, Andy explains: “You can get away with that once, but if we had to pull a tour again it would be curtains.” Thus, in late 2023, with a new album on the way, and Goodwin telling them he still wasn’t up to touring, they made the momentous decision to go on the road without him.
“With Jimi’s blessing,” insists Jez. Fans, too, have been overwhelmingly supportive. In November, with the brothers sharing vocals, a rejigged Doves performed in Hanley, Birkenhead and Hebden Bridge to rapturous receptions. Some fans even flew in from the US and audiences applauded the supportive onstage mentions of the absent frontman. “It felt like Jimi was there in spirit,” says Andy. “He isn’t here at the moment, but is very much a part of us.”
The singer is very much a presence on Constellations for the Lonely, the forthcoming album which ranks with their best work despite – perhaps even because of – the difficult circumstances of its creation. Recording had to take place when Goodwin was well and up for working. The brothers reveal that the singer’s vocal to first single Renegade was laid down as a guide, and not intended for the finished record, but it’s beautifully melancholy. “It’s not a perfect vocal,” admits Andy, “but there’s real emotion. Jimi brings authenticity.”
The trio have been close since school, and are so accustomed to setbacks that Jez jokes about a “curse of Doves”. After they emerged as dance act Sub Sub – reaching No 3 in 1993 with Ain’t No Love (Ain’t No Use) – their studio burned down. “But that gave us the opportunity to start afresh,” he explains. “We’d played instruments as kids and picked them up again. We’d seen how the Beasties Boys transformed themselves from brat-rap and thought: if they can do that, why don’t we have a go?”
Their 2000 debut Lost Souls and follow-up The Last Broadcast in 2002 were both Mercury-nominated, the latter and 2005’s Some Cities reaching No 1. “We’d grown up watching Top of the Pops and suddenly we were on it,” says JezThey toured the US with the Strokes as their support band. “It was party time on the bus like it was someone’s birthday every night. You’ve never done it before, so you get carried away.” Gradually, though, the lifestyle and heavy touring took a toll. “Two day drives and sleeping in a bed moving at 70mph are not natural environments for a human being,” considers Jez. His brother adds: “Throw in drink and drugs and something’s bound to go wrong, isn’t it?”.
The first album from 14th February I want to spotlight is Richard Dawson’s End of the Middle. A truly brilliant songwriter who many people might not know. I hope that people buy his album. You can pre-order it now. Do make sure that you give this album some love. From what we have heard from it so far, it is shaping up to be one of this year’s best albums:
“The title of Richard Dawson's new album End of the Middle is a suitably slippery contradiction, one that invites multiple interpretations: Middle-aging? Middle-class? The middle-point of Dawson's career? The centre of a record? Centrism in general? Polarisation? The possibility of having a balanced discussion about anything? Stuck in the middle with you? Middle England? Middling songwriting?
End of the Middle is a wonkily beautiful peer into the workings of the family unit, perhaps several generations of the same family: "I wanted this record to be small-scale and very domestic", Dawson explains, "to be stripped back, stark and naked, and let the lyrics and melodies speak for themselves and for the people in the songs". By paring things right back what is revealed is a suite of remarkably poised, oddly elegant, beautiful music”.
Prior to moving on to albums out on 21st February, I want to highlight The Velveteers’ A Million Knives. This is a band I am recently switched onto. I am really interested to hear what they deliver on their upcoming album. If you want to pre-order it, then you can do so here:
“The Velveteers bring a visceral energy to their explosive sophomore album, A Million Knives.
The album is a blistering rock anthem infused with melodic indie songwriting. With Grammy Award-winning producer Dan Auerbach at the helm, the Boulder, CO trio encapsulates the raw, forceful, and profoundly heavy energy of their live performances and laser-focuses a spotlight on tightly crafted songs as they carve out their own distinctive niche.
Driving The Velveteers is the commanding presence of frontwoman Demi Demitro, a no-bullshit, five-foot-something spitfire with thunderous guitar riffs and soaring vocals, backed by the incendiary duo of Baby Pottersmith and Johnny Fig on drums. The band's signature dual drum setup creates a thunderous foundation that propels their gritty, dynamic garage rock sound. On A Million Knives, this setup melds seamlessly with a more modern indie rock influence-the attitude of Wolf Alice, the colossal sound of Queens of the Stone Age, and the singular lyrical voice of Hole.
The Velveteers have built a dedicated following through relentless touring and electrifying performances, sharing stages with renowned acts such as Smashing Pumpkins, The Black Keys, Greta Van Fleet, Guns N' Roses, and Des Rocs. With A Million Knives, The Velveteers offer a compelling testament to their rising stardom, a rock 'n' roll album as beautiful as it is terrifying”.
An album that you will not want to miss out on, IDER prepare to release Late to the World on 21st February. You can pre-order the album here. A duo I have been a fan of for a few years now, I am really excited to hear their new album. Before moving along, I want to drop in this article from CLASH that provides us some useful insight and information about an album that is going to make a big impact:
“IDER will release new album ‘Late To The World’ on February 21st.
The alt-pop duo continually twist and turn, with each album representing its own world. Recent sessions with Dann Hume have been exceptionally productive, with IDER commenting that the result album is one they have “always wanted to make.”
Out on February 21st, new album ‘Late To The World’ finds IDER zeroing in on their core values. Megan Markwick explains…
“We had high ambitions for the sound of this record. We talked a lot early on about how we wanted the production to be super intentional. Sometimes when you’re unsure, you shove everything in – you fill it up with every synth sound, every beat, every layer. But actually what feels more mature for us right now, and what mirrors the [album’s] messages, is stripping things back to the essentials. Everything has its purpose.”
The incoming album is available to pre-order, and features previous singles ‘Unlearn’, ‘Girl’, and ‘You Don’t Know How To Drive”.
The next album I want to spotlight is the fourth from NAO. Jupiter is one you will want to pre-order. There is a lot to recommend about this artist and album. She is a tremendous talent. I am going to bring in this interview from The Guardian where NAO talks about Jupiter and living with ME:
“Nao is trying to articulate how it feels to be on the verge of releasing a new album. When this thing that’s been yours and yours alone has to be launched into the world. “It feels really similar to being pregnant,” the 37-year-old mum of two decides. Her answer feels apt; we’re currently sitting in an east London cinema cafe hemmed in by buggies while a mum-and-baby screening of erotic thriller Babygirl plays next door. “It’s really exciting in the beginning, then it gets a bit tedious,” she continues. “And you’re stuck in the process because you need to finish it. Get it out.” Sometimes, she says, it can also be just as painful.
Not that you’d know it from listening to this month’s fourth album, Jupiter, a typically featherlight concoction of pillow-soft soul, experimental R&B and airy acoustic ruminations all anchored by her angelic, otherworldly voice. It also carries just a dash of the electronic-leaning “wonky funk” that saw Nao (born Neo Joshua) hailed as one to watch when she emerged in 2015. But Jupiter’s overarching sense of contentment has been hard won after years spent battling an illness that prevented her from touring.
Jupiter is a sequel of sorts to 2018’s Grammy and Mercury prize-nominated second album Saturn, an emotionally tumultuous opus named after the astrological concept of Saturn return, a sort of crossroads a person reaches roughly every 27 to 29 years, before entering the next stage of their life. While that album dealt with the ups and downs of her 20s, 2021’s And Then Life Was Beautiful, released into post-pandemic’s upside-down world, searched desperately for joy. Shortly before it came out, Nao revealed she’d been diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), a disabling condition that left her profoundly fatigued and darkened by what she calls a low-grade depression. “You can only do a small percentage of what you were capable of,” she says, nursing a coffee, a rare treat while following a low-carb diet that helps her recovery (she will return to touring later this year). “For example, walking to meet you here, I’d probably have to take a taxi home. And then I’d be in bed for the rest of the day.”
Jupiter’s title was very specifically chosen because it’s “the planet of joy”, she says. “It’s a planet of good fortune and good luck. And I really wanted to bring that into my life.” She singles out the balm-like Happy People, which glides around a sun-kissed Afrobeat lilt, as a key song. “It came from realising who was important to me in my life,” she says. “I think when you’re in your 20s you’re trying to make as many friends as possible. Then you get into your 30s, you have big transitions in life, and actually the fewer people the better.”
Her candour is refreshing. When I say that she is underrated and that collaborations with the likes of Stormzy, Mura Masa, Chic, Lianne La Havas, Disclosure and Ezra Collective should have made her a household name, she doesn’t see it as a compliment. “It’s like saying you’re good enough to succeed but you haven’t quite yet. I get a lot of comments saying I’m underrated, which is fine, but I’ve had to work a lot on what my idea of success is.” While she’d love to “stream in the billions”, she’s also happy with where she’s at. “I just have to become present and think actually you’re doing all right. You’re all the things you wanted to be; you’re, I hope, still credible; you make the music that you want; you still sell out your tours, but also you’re a mum and you get to pick up your kids from school and drop them off.”
She thinks doing things at her own pace – she didn’t sign a record deal until she was 27 – has helped with her outlook. Born in Nottingham and raised mainly in London, Nao saw her early music career take place behind the scenes. At 18 her voice won her a place at London’s Guildhall School , but she struggled to believe in herself. “I’m not really sure how I got in,,” she says. She compares it to the 2014 film Whiplash, in which a jazz drummer is pushed to the brink by his instructor. “I was working at 5am in the morning to basically not be embarrassed and not be humiliated by the teachers. That definitely stayed with me for a long time.” She felt she had to “work and overwork and overwork to be on top of it”.
Before moving onto three albums from 28th February, there are two more from 21st that I want to discuss. The next is Sam Fender’s People Watching. You can pre-order it here. There is precious little written about this album, so I have to go back last year when the album was announced. This article from CLASH tells us a little bit at least:
“Sam Fender will release his third studio album ‘People Watching’ on February 21st.
The North East songwriter goes back out on the road this winter, completing an instantly sold out arena tour in December. Set to play a no doubt emotional hometown show in Newcastle, highlights include London’s huge the O2 Arena.
2019 album ‘Hypersonic Missiles’ took Sam Fender to the next level, backed by some titanic live shows. Work on his third LP has been progressing behind the scenes, with sessions spread across two years alongside bandmates Dean Thompson and Joe Atkinson.
The musicians worked firstly in London in 2023 with producer Markus Dravs, and then earlier this year in Los Angeles with The War on Drugs’ Adam Granduciel – Sam is a long-time fan of his work”.
The final album from 21st February you will want to own is The Murder Capital’s Blindness. Another tremendous album from a band that are going from strength to strength, you can pre-order Blindness here. They are a force to be reckoned with. One of the very best bands in this country right now:
“Blindness is the vividly realised, clear-sightedly ambitious new album from Irish band The Murder Capital. The sound of a band firing on all cylinders that bristles with energy yet intimate and simultaneously expansive. Eleven songs that don’t hang about in terms of grabbing the listener.
There’s a wider, richer perspective animating the Murder Capital’s new set of songs, brought on from the diverse insights the five members were bringing to the creative process, differing worldviews arising from their literal new positions in the world. Drummer Diarmuid Brennan was living in Berlin, bass player Gabriel “g” Paschal Blake was in Letterkenny, guitarist Cathal “pump“ Roper was in Donegal, and guitarist Damien “irv” Tuit and Mcgovern were in London. The album prioritizes urgency, energy, freshness – all baked into the songs from their earliest incarnations, recorded in la with the help of grammy-winning producer John Congleton”.
One of the biggest albums of this year arrives on 28th February. BANKS’ Off with Her Head is one you will want to pre-order. If you do not know about BANKS or have not listened to her music then I would suggest you to. She is a phenomenal artist. Off with Her Head is one you will not want to miss out on:
“California-bred singer-songwriter, Jillian Rose Banks, aka Banks, crafts moody, alternative pop with shades of contemporary R&B. Emerging in the early 2010s with a handful of downtempo, alt-R&B tracks, Banks created a signature sound that helped build a cross-genre audience. Her critically acclaimed and gold-certified debut album, Goddess, featured songs like “Before I Ever Met You,” “Warm Water,” and “Fall Over,” as well as collaborations with producers Justin Parker, Shlomo, and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. The album peaked just outside the Top Ten on the Billboard 200. In 2016, Banks released her highly anticipated sophomore album, The Altar, which featured singles “Fuck with Myself,” “Gemini Feeed,” and “Mind Games,” and peaked at number 17 on the Billboard 200.
Banks returned in July 2019 with her third studio album, III, which featured her synth-heavy single “Gimme.” Additional contributors 2 included Francis and the Lights on “Look What You’re Doing To Me” and producer Paul Epworth (Adele, Rihanna) on “Hawaiian Mazes.” She released a short EP entitled Live and Stripped in 2020, followed by her 2022 album Serpentina, which Banks recorded amid the pandemic during months of isolation and is tied to themes of shedding old skin and embracing the new. Banks’s artistry stands out through the rawness and vulnerability that shines earnestly through her music. With so much success under her belt already, Banks is looking forward to an exciting future ahead”.
The penultimate album that you will want to pre-order is Everything Is Recorded’s Temporary. You can pre-order it here. I am really interested to see what the album delivers. Another artist I am quite new to, I am going to listen closely. The list of collaborators on Temporary is really impressive and eclectic:
“The third studio album from Everything Is Recorded, the collaborative music project centred around producer Richard Russell.
Temporary features an incredible roll call of collaborators including Sampha, Bill Callahan, Noah Cyrus, Florence Welch, Maddy Prior, Berwyn, Alabaster Deplume, Jah Wobble, Yazz Ahmed, Laura Groves, Kamasi Washington, Rickey Washington, Roses Gabor, Jack Peňate, Samantha Morton, Clari Freeman-Taylor and Nourished By Time. Created over four years from 2020 to 2024, Temporary was recorded at Russell’s own west London Copper House studio, alongside sessions in Tottenham, Cumbria, Dorset, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and is set to build on previous acclaimed releases including 2018’s eponymous, Mercury Prize-nominated debut album.
On Temporary, Russell reboots his musical DNA: while his music had previously been about rhythm, words and melody in that order, on Temporary he swaps rhythm and melody, the rhythm taking up less space and the melody coming to the fore. Musically some songs are inspired by the sonic thought experiment “what if folk music had ‘gone digital’ in the 80s, just as reggae had?”, while spiritually and lyrically the themes encompass grief and loss. The results – elevated by an intriguing and diverse set of collaborators who sound like the best and freshest versions of themselves – are the most luminous and relaxed compositions of Russell’s career. Every song sounds washed in sunshine and graced by tenderness. More fragile and quieter than previous Everything Is Recorded output, it might be one of the gentlest records ever made about death. In Russell’s own words “making the album was joyous, a way of hallowing life”.
The final February album you will want to pre-order is Sports Team’s Boys These Days. In a month that offers some really strong albums, Sports Team are going to give us an album that will get a lot of critical praise. You can pre-order it here:
“Hand-break off, Sports Team are back. With musical pedals to the metal and saxophones at full throttle, the Mercury-nominated six-piece bring us their third studio album, Boys These Days. After their first two, Top 3 records – the Mercury Prize-nominated Deep Down Happy (2020) and Gulp! (2022).
Think Prefab Sprout meets Roxy Music the band ally a seer-like lyrical insight with their most dynamic musical performances to date, Sports Team are piercing the content abyss. A “carousel of 21st-century sins”, this witty and insightful examination of modern life is both a critique and a celebration of its times. Yes, ‘Boys These Days’ takes aim at everything from advertising hype to relationship dysfunction, stationed at the point where the digital tide crashes onto IRL shores, but their perspective is fuelled by immersion in that landscape as Sports Team are scrolling along with the rest of us.
Though recorded in Bergen, the birthplace of black metal, the sessions at the start of 2024 saw Sports Team create their brightest and most beguiling record yet”.
This is a selection of albums out this month that are going to be worth your time and money. Such a packed and exciting one for new music, I hope my recommendations have been useful. The artists and albums listed above prove that February is…
A really strong month.