FEATURE:
One for the Record Collection!
IN THIS PHOTO: Maya Hawke
Essential May Releases
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WE are barely into April…
and yet there are some terrific albums out next month I want to encourage people to pre-order. Some of the year’s potential best arrive. I am going to start with the very best out on 3rd May. It is a busy month. Five wonderful albums are out on 3rd May alone. You will want to investigate these. The first is Charlotte Day Wilson’s Cyan Blue. An artist one might think of or know as a collaborator (she has sung with the likes of BADBADNOTGOOD), she is a tremendous and established solo artist. Her new album looks sensational. You can pre-order it:
“Toronto-born-and-raised singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Charlotte Day Wilson announces her highly-anticipated sophomore album Cyan Blue via Stone Woman Music / XL Recordings. First single, “I Don’t Love You” is a stark and devastatingly beautiful confessional, highlighting Wilson’s immaculate production skills and chill inducing vocals laid atop smooth groove piano chords and soft drums.
Cyan Blue finds Wilson crafting a smoothly woven cyan tapestry of her eternal influences; thumping gospel piano, warm soul basslines, atmospheric electronics, and penetrating R&B melodies. Yet, it possesses a sense of vastness that rings in a new era for Wilson, one in which she’s embracing collaboration and newfound creative openness tinged with wistfulness and yearning and a reflection on youthful innocence. “I want to look through the unjaded eyes of my younger self again,” Wilson explains of making Cyan Blue. “Before there wasn’t as much baggage, before so much life was lived. But I also wish that my younger self could see where I am now. It would be nice to be able to impart some of the wisdom and clarity that I have now onto her.”
Working with producers like Leon Thomas (SZA, Ariana Grande, Post Malone), and Jack Rochon (H.E.R, Daniel Caesar), Cyan Blue demonstrates Wilson’s sonic expertise while also showcasing the next evolution of her time-bending songwriting. Through 13 hypnotizing tracks, she continues to use music as a vessel for unpacking relationships, which in turn allows her to meet and understand herself in life-spanning, panoramic focus. But, on Cyan Blue, she challenged herself to kick her perfectionist tendencies. “Before, I was extremely intentional about creating music with a strong foundation, a bed of artistic integrity,” Wilson reflects. “But that was a bit stifling, like, ‘Let me just make a great piece of art that will stand the test of time, no pressure.’ Now, I think I'm getting out of this frozen state of needing everything to be perfect. I'm more interested in capturing feelings in the moment as they happen and leaving them in that moment.”
While this is only her second album, Wilson’s influence in music has made a major mainstream impact. Wilson broke out in 2016 with her critically acclaimed EP, CDW, followed by 2018’s Stone Woman and made her debut studio album an official coming out moment in 2021 with the critically acclaimed, self-released Alpha. Over the past decade, she’s been sampled by Drake, John Mayer, and James Blake, while Patti Smith has recently praised and covered Wilson’s 2016 breakout single “Work.” Additionally, she’s collaborated with artists like Kaytranada, BADBADNOTGOOD, and SG Lewis, demonstrating that there’s no sound Wilson can’t adapt to and sprinkle her cyan-colored magic over”.
The second album from 3rd May I want to point people in the direction of is Jessica Pratt’s Here in the Pitch. What I have noticed about so many albums that have come out in the past few months is how striking and memorable their album covers are. I don’t feel this has always been the case. I do really love an album where the cover beckons you. It gives an impression of what to expect. That is the case when it comes to Jessica Pratt’s new album. One that you need to pre-order:
“On her fourth album, west coast artist Jessica Pratt expands the scope of her artistry, placing her sharpest songs to date within an ever-broadening pool of influences including spectral '60s pop, Hollywood psychedelia and bossa nova. Whereas Pratt's 2019 record, Quiet Signs, floated elegantly in the ether, Here in the Pitch is entrenched in more earthen characteristics, as the title suggests, and her craft is emboldened with a newfound gravitas”.
I really love Kamasi Washington. I was not aware that he has a new album coming out. He does. On 3rd May, Fearless Movement is released. I am really excited about this. Reading details about the album adds to this excitement and anticipation. If you have not heard Kamasi Washington before, have a listen to his past work. He is well worth investigation:
“Kamasi Washington releases his new album, Fearless Movement, via Young. Washington calls Fearless Movement his dance album. “It’s not literal,” Washington says. “Dance is movement and expression, and in a way it’s the same thing as music—expressing your spirit through your body. That’s what this album is pushing.” Dance as an embodied form of expression signals a shift in focus for Washington. Where previous albums dealt with cosmic ideas and existential concepts, Fearless Movement focuses in on the everyday, an exploration of life on earth. This change in scope is due in large part to the birth of Washington’s first child a few years ago.
“Being a father means the horizon of your life all of a sudden shows up,” says Washington. “My mortality became more apparent to me, but also my immortality—realizing that my daughter is going to live on and see things that I’m never going to see. I had to become comfortable with this, and that affected the music that I was making.”
The album features Washington’s daughter—who wrote the melody to “Asha The First” during some of her first experimentations on the piano—as well as a host of collaborators new and old. André 3000 appears on flute, George Clinton lends his voice, as do BJ The Chicago Kid, Inglewood rapper D-Smoke and Taj and Ras Austin of Coast Contra, the twin sons of West Coast legend Ras Kass. Washington further enlisted lifelong friends and collaborators Thundercat, Terrace Martin, Patrice Quinn, Brandon Coleman, DJ Battlecat and more”.
You can see which other albums are due out next month, as I am aware I am omitting some pretty good ones that you might want to pre-order. I will continue with 3rd May. Sia’s Reasonable Woman is an album that I am really looking forward to. Here are some more details about an release that you will want to check out and add to your collection:
“Nine-time Grammy nominee and multi-platinum global superstar Sia has cemented her role as one of today’s biggest stars, sought after songwriters, and captivating live performers. She has partnered with Diplo and Labrinth to form the group LSD. Sia has written global smashes for today’s biggest acts including Beyonce, BTS, David Guetta, Rihanna, Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Ozuna, and many more, cementing her role as one of today’s biggest stars. Reasonable Woman is her tenth studio album”.
Before moving onto 10th May – a day after my birthday -, there is one more from 3rd May that you should know about. An album that is going to be hugely received and applauded. The Lemon Twigs’ A Dream Is All We Know is going to be another wonderful work from the U.S. duo. You can pre-order it now:
“Following the release of Everything Harmony, which garnered acclaim from Questlove, Iggy Pop, Anthony Fantano, The Guardian, and countless others, The Lemon Twigs—the New York City rock band fronted by brothers Brian and Michael D’Addario—have once again captured the attention of the music listening public. Set for release less than a year after their last album, A Dream Is All We Know is a joyous affair. As the title suggests, it’s less of a sober look at the darker side of life, and more a hopeful sojourn into the realm of dreams.
Michael’s line in lead single and album opener “My Golden Years” – “In time I hope that I can show all the world the love in my mind” – serves as a statement of intent for the whole collection of songs, as the brothers race against time to create as much quality pop material as possible. On track two, The Lemon Twigs invite listeners into a bubblegum paradise with euphoric harmonies and biting clavinet (“They Don’t Know How To Fall In Place”), followed by an existential space age epic (“A Dream Is All I Know”), and, elsewhere on the album, a baroque pocket-prog tune (“Sweet Vibration”), a two-part nightmare-comedy that doesn’t let up (“Peppermint Roses”), and more.
Equipped with the songwriting chops of a lost era (somewhere between The Brill Building and 10452 Bellagio Road) the new record was carefully arranged and produced entirely analog in the brothers’ Brooklyn recording studio. Most of the tracks were constructed with the two brothers swapping instruments and layering all the parts themselves, but one exception to that rule was “In The Eyes Of The Girl,” which was co-produced by Sean Ono Lennon in his upstate New York studio.
While the album is chock full of progressive pop ideas, it closes appropriately with an ode to early rock and roll on “Rock On (Over and Over),” contextualizing the band as part of a lineage of rock and roll that’s never really stopped. For The Lemon Twigs, it took almost a decade for critics and audiences alike to present them with the major accolades they’ve earned this past year. While their initial records were appreciated for the musical proficiency they displayed, the brothers’ past few records have communicated their ideas with more clarity and emotional resonance. In other words, “It took too long to say ‘rock on”.
Let’s move to 10th May. A packed week with some really interesting albums out. There are two particular ones that I want to highlight. The first is Jordan Rakei’s The Loop. A tremendous artist who needs to be on your radar, here are some details if you are interested in pre-ordering the album:
“Grammy-award nominated Jordan Rakei is a renowned multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, producer, and songwriter who, over soon-to-be-five studio albums, has been on a wide-ranging journey that explores the outer reaches of his inner psyche, traversing themes of emotional evolution, personal growth and family with unwavering sincerity. Always positioning himself in and amongst the bigger questions in life, he has navigated his musical journey with passion and precision, unveiling something new about himself through his songwriting at every turn. The Loop is by far Rakei’s most cohesive and evolutionary work to date following an impressive career of previous releases, each of which have demonstrated his natural curiosity and capabilities in exploring new sounds”.
One more 10th May album you need to consider is Keeley Forsyth’s The Hollow. This may be an artist you are not aware of. If you are curious and want to pre-order The Hollow, then here is some information that might make your decision easier:
“The wilds of Keeley Forsyth’s adopted home in the North of England seem to inhabit this, her third record. An often bleak and foreboding landscape surrounds the Yorkshire town in which Forsyth resides. The moors, on clear days, visible from her home studio window, impact upon a music that often feels made of these places. Windswept, rain soaked and blinking through the low-lit landscape. It is here through the gloaming mist that the storm breaks and the fox tears at the throat as the Red Kites circle to scavenge whatever’s left. “There was a sound I had in my head. One to reach, that hovers above and is slightly less grounded. But a sound and feeling that nonetheless is inevitably tethered to the soil”.
The title for the new collection derives from happening upon a long-abandoned mining shaft whilst out walking. At once alluring and hazardous, forced into a hillside, “there appeared a room and ever darkening hallway carved out of the ground. A place to be swallowed by, but also to emerge from”. It’s this push and pull that is reflected in the tone, craft, and preoccupations of The Hollow. The past lurking within and haunting the present we now occupy. A connection to time that places us within it, facing what is gone and what may come. But also, perhaps the harsh notion that time has no concern as to whether we are here or not. “There is a bleak dust that hides on the cracks”.
The unique elemental voice with which we are now familiar from her critically acclaimed previous recordings sits centrally confident in a world that is of Forsyth’s making. Drawing upon personal experience without being overly literal or illustrative, Forsyth’s cathartic reflections are exorcisms in song. Songs peopled by a legion of empathetic characters and voices all of whom share something of herself. We hear an artist making sense of her life, willing to expose vulnerability without ever appearing or sounding weak but also as she states, “not wanting to dictate or control the meaning of these songs to those who may listen”.
There are experiments with an expanding field of collaborators and approaches. Forsyth’s good friend Matthew Bourne returns to end the record with the delicately paired down ‘Creature’. Colin Stetson was invited after Forsyth attended his solo live show, admiring his singular approach, at once technically brilliant and emotionally captivating. “We decided to try something together. I could hear the marriage of these sounds, both very human expressions, coming from the control of breath and breathing”. The resulting track, ‘Turning’, is a feverish cyclical dervish with Stetson utilising a range of saxophones to create a Glass-like arpeggiated stampede for Forsyth to ride alongside”.
There are six big albums that are out between 24th and 31st May. I want to get to those soon. First, there are a couple from 17th May that I need to point you towards. Portishead’s Beth Gibbons releases her debut solo album on 17th May. One of the most distinct voices in all of music, Lives Outgrown is going to be among this year’s very best releases. If you are thinking of pre-ordering it, then here is a bit of background and detail:
“Beth Gibbons releases her debut solo album Lives Outgrown. Featuring 10 beautiful new songs recorded over a period of 10 years, the album was produced by James Ford and Beth Gibbons with additional production by Lee Harris (Talk Talk).
Lives Outgrown is, by some measure, Beth’s most personal work to date, the result of a period of sustained reflection and change — “lots of goodbyes,” in Beth’s words. Farewells to family, to friends, even to her former self. These are songs from the mid-course of life, when looking ahead no longer yields what it used to, and looking back has a sudden, sharper focus”.
One more album from 17th May worth getting hold of is girli’s Matriarchy. One of this country’s finest and most important artists, I am really looking forward to the new album. It sounds like it is going to be unmissable. Here is where you can pre-order the superb Matriarchy:
“Sophomore studio album from alt-pop icon girli. Matriarchy is a rebirth for the celebrated, multi-faceted artist, as girli further explores her sound and takes the reins with full creative control, truly cementing her place as a cult figure and ambassador for the next gen of LGBTQIA+ music.
girli's passions have always migrated beyond music and she continues to use her platform to ignite conversations around feminism, sexuality, identity and mental health, opening up topics that most have always shied away from. Representation matters more so now than ever, and girli is ready to rewrite the rules.
Milly Toomey (AKA girli) has been on an explorative journey of self-discovery, only to conclude that she can't be boxed in. Her power is her vulnerability. Her courage is deep-rooted in years of self-reflection, feeling misshapen and not feeling as though she belongs. The North London native will forever use her platform to forge a new femininity, one that is bold and unrestrained. The new music comes fresh off the back of girli's 2023 EP why am I like this?, which includes previously released singles, 'Cheap Love', 'Imposter Syndrome' and 'I Really F**ked It Up”.
I shall come to the final selection of albums out next month worth pre-ordering. Moving to 24th May, there are three particular albums that I am highlighting. The brilliant Bess Atwell releases Light Sleeper. I am a fan of Bess Atwell, so I am interesting in hearing what Light Sleeper has to offer. For anyone pre-ordering the album, here is some more information about a wonderful artist whose new album is sure to win some passionate reviews:
"You called yourself broken, but that's just what people are, that's how the light gets in," sings Bess Atwell in the opening moments of Light Sleeper, before gentle hums of strings and shuffling snares make way for the Brighton singer's voice at full pelt, singing with a newfound rawness
"Light Sleeper is about the willingness to feel," the Brighton singer- songwriter explains. "Somewhere along the line I had become very afraid of feeling."
A huge part of this exploratory new era was Aaron Dessner, who produced Light Sleeper. His isolated cabin studio Long Pond, in Hudson Valley, was once Bess' desktop background, but she never thought she would end up star-gazing on its veranda and noodling away on the same instruments used by her heroes, not to mention a certain pop star...
The immediate trust between the pair clicked the moment Atwell walked through the doors of the iconic recording space; Dessner showed her around and then promptly left her alone to play on the many instruments at the heart of her favourite The National songs. As Atwell puts it, they seemed to speak the same musical language. "I trust his ear and I knew we had the same vision" she says.
Since the release of 'Already, Always' Atwell has been through a number of personal transformations including tapering off antidepressants, after "years of avoiding it". Reflections on her upbringing and re- evaluations of some of her experiences led to a autism diagnosis in May 2023, which has helped her to make sense of many different moments.
Motifs of sleeping and waking run throughout Light Sleeper, which constantly stirs and settles, Atwell embracing the full range and rawness of her voice like never before. By the title- track, which closes the album, twinkling, starry synthesisers lead her to a place of quiet realisation: "I'm ready to be a light sleeper again/To wake up and feel everything/I can carry the weight of it".
Another rising artist you might not be aware of (but should) is La Luz. The U.S. band will release News of the Universe on 24th May. I am interested in pre-ordering it, so if you are of a similar mindset, then Rough Trade offer up these words about La Luz and News of the Universe. An album I think should be in people’s collections for sure:
“I was in a dream, but now I can see that change is the only law.”
With a credo adapted from science fiction author Octavia E. Butler, an album title from a collection of metaphysical poetry, and an expansion in consciousness brought on by personal crisis, guitarist and songwriter Shana Cleveland learns to embrace a changing world with unconditional love on News of the Universe, the new full-length from California rock band La Luz.
News of the Universe is a record born of calamity, a work of dark, beautiful psychedelia reflecting Cleveland’s experience of having her world blown apart by a breast cancer diagnosis just two years after the birth of her son. It’s also a portrait of a band in flux, marking the first appearance for drummer Audrey Johnson and the final ones from longtime members bassist Lena Simon and keyboardist Alice Sandahl, whose contributions add a bittersweet edge to a record that is both elegy for an old world and cosmic road map to a strange new one.
But is there any band in the world more suited to capturing the chaos of change in all its messy beauty than La Luz? Formed by Cleveland in 2012, La Luz is beloved for their ability to balance bedlam and bliss, each new record another fine-tuning of the band’s mix of swaggering riffs with angelic vocals borrowed from doo-wop and folk; a band so reliably great that it makes the huge step forward in confidence and sheer musicality that is News of the Universe all the more formidable. Cleveland, also a writer and painter, has developed into a truly original songwriter with her own canon of haunted psychedelia. Yet if Cleveland has spent years writing songs about ghosts, what lurks in the shadows of News of the Universe is nothing less than death itself. “There are moments on this album that sound to me like the last frantic confession before an asteroid destroys the earth,” says Cleveland.
The powerful sense of openness that permeates News of the Universe is at least partially due to the fact that it is a record made entirely by women—from the performing, writing, and producing all the way through to the recording, engineering, and mastering. Working with producer Maryam Qudos (Spacemoth), the all-female environment allowed Cleveland to feel safe tapping into difficult places and expressing hard emotions women are socialized to suppress.
Unashamedly vulnerable, unabashedly feminine, and undeniably triumphant, News of the Universe is another knockout record from a band so reliably great that it has perhaps led people to overlook how pioneering La Luz really are: women of color in indie music forging their own path by following their own artistic star into galaxies beyond current musical trends, always led by an earnest belief in the cosmic power of love and a great riff. Never is that more true than on News of the Universe, which might be La Luz’s most brutal record to date but also their most blissful”.
Prior to moving to 31st May and albums from that week you will need to check out, there is one more from 24th May I feel you’ll want to pre-order that comes in the form of Lenny Kravitz’s Blue Electric Light. A musical master and legend, I have been following his music since the 1990s. It does seem that his new album is going to be among his very best. Here is where you can pre-order Blue Electric Light:
“Timeless. Explosive. Romantic. Inspiring. How else to characterize Blue Electric Light, Lenny Kravitz’s 12th studio album? Kravitz’s mastery of deep-soul rock ‘n roll is a long-established fact. As a relentless creative force—musician, writer, producer, actor, author, designer—he continues to be a global dynamic presence throughout music, art and culture.
Blue Electric Light is an impassioned suite of songs, that broadens this distinction and is the latest contribution of a man whose music—not to mention his singular style—continues to inspire millions all over the world. On the album, Kravitz's talents as a writer, producer and multi-instrumentalist resonate as he wrote and played most of the instruments himself, with longtime guitarist Craig Ross”.
31st May has a selection of strong albums that are worth further focus. I am going to spotlight three that are particularly strong. Bat for Lashes’ The Dream of Delphi is going to be another year-best contender. From the awesome Natasha Khan, you can pre-order The Dream of Delphi here:
“The Dream Of Delphi is an ode to motherhood created in LA, Natasha’s second home, during the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s a sonic archive of a time when Natasha birthed her daughter Delphi earth side. The record weaves together ten song poems, documenting the polarity of navigating both an exterior world that was seemingly turning upside down, whilst also experiencing theprofoundly personal and transformational early moments of mothering Delphi, named after the Greek Oracle, the ancient future teller. The music became Natasha’s sanctuary, born out of stolen trips to the studio, where each track was improvised and completed in a few hours and chronologises her diary like offerings over a period of two years; from “The Midwives Have Left”; to writing a “Letter To My Daughter”; and all the way through to “Waking up”, as well as a cover of her daughter’s favourite song, “Home”.While the storytelling behind Bat For Lashes’ previous albums have traditionally used otherworldly narratives and female lead characters (e.g. ‘Laura’, ‘Daniel’ and ‘The Bride’), for the first ti me, The Dream Of Delphi is about Natasha’s personal experience of the magical and sometimes melancholy intimacy of early motherhood. This record creates a more private form of mythology around the music than her previous work. The Dream Of Delphi touches on more of an instrumental “Bat For Lashes” world, and shows Natasha to be both a confident composer and craftswoman of intimate landscapes. While the music creates a more womb-like, ambient space for the listener, it still leaves ample room for her signature dream pop songwriting to vibrate through. Natasha has worked with Brad Oberhofer, Mary Lattimore and Jack Falby on this record”.
Two more to go. The first – or penultimate – is Maya Hawke’s Chaos Angel. The musician-actor is a sensational and unique songwriter who people need to hear. She is amazing. If you are a fan or someone who is new to her work but wants to get a copy of Chaos Angel, then here is where you can pre-order it:
“Maya Hawke is a musician, songwriter, actor and producer - She has released two lauded albums of music to date, Moss (2022) and Blush (2020), both of which showcase her natural gift for songwriting and storytelling, as well as a knack for striking visual presentation with sleeve designs of her own creation - "Therese," the lead single from Moss, garnered global attention with its mesmerizing Brady Corbet-directed video - and tens of millions of streams - and saw Maya make an impressive network TV performance debut on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
Now 25 years old, Maya's third album, Chaos Angel, takes the spare, viscerally honest songwriting she has made her name on and goes deeper and bolder. Both her most sonically sophisticated and thematically nuanced collection to date, it feels like a culmination. Across these 10 songs, Hawke catalogues upheavals, revelations, foibles, and broken promises, all while navigating the patterns we repeat while reaching towards growth, wandering astray, and finding our way back to some core understanding of ourselves.
Chaos Angel is also a document of Hawke coming more fully into her own as a musician. More adventurous in the studio after her previous two albums, Hawke leaned into her ambition. Many of these tracks are still anchored by acoustic guitar and Hawke's graceful yet conversational vocals, but their surroundings are more intricate and lush than ever before. She reconvened with longtime collaborators Benjamin Lazar Davis and Will Graefe, with Christian Lee Hutson serving as producer”.
There is one more album from May that I had to highlight and could not pass by. It is Richard Hawley’s In This City They Call You Love. One of the world’s very best songwriters, Hawley’s albums are always truly movable and filled with beauty. His upcoming album will be no exception. Here is where you can pre-order a copy:
“The new album by Richard Hawley, In This City They Call You Love and sees Richard ditch the distortion pedals and go back into making voice most prominent. Following the universal acclaim for Standing At The Sky's Edge, the award-winning musical based on his songs, Richard Hawley returns with In This City They Call You Love, his ninth studio album and his first since 2019's Further.
In This City They Call You Love features 12 outstanding songs, many of which can be described as 'vintage Hawley' and are amongst some of the finest ballads he's ever written. Gorgeous melodies and arrangements are accompanied by his emotive and sonorous voice, which sounds better than ever, and will make this a crowning moment in a hugely successful recording career of almost 25 years”.
May is a very strong month for albums. Lots of variation and some standouts! If you are already looking ahead and thinking about which ones are worth pre-ordering, then I do hope that the above has given you some useful guidance. From Richard Hawley to Bat for Lashes through to girli and The Lemon Twigs, we are treated to a bounty of stunning music. I am sure at least a few of the album above are ones that you will want to…
ADD to your collection.