There’s something especially captivating about a record that begins with simplicity and gradually grows into something far stranger than originally intended. And on his latest album One Hundred Billion Points of Light, Bay Area artist Valley Taylor takes that journey in full, transforming the bare bones of intimate home demos intoContinue Reading
There’s something deeply affecting about hearing an artist turn personal collapse into creative momentum, and on Living in Dadeland, Michael Cohen does exactly that. What begins as a record about love and heartbreak gradually becomes a story about memory, persistence, reinvention and the strange ways we try to make sense ofContinue Reading
Sean MacLeod has never sounded particularly interested in separating thought from melody, and That’s When the Earth Becomes a Star pushes that instinct further than ever. Across his fifth solo album, the Irish singer-songwriter folds questions of identity, alienation and transformation into music that remains warm, melodic and remarkably approachable. His ownContinue Reading
There’s this great line running through This Monologue Conversation. For all its anxiety about conformity, fear and human contradiction, the record itself only exists because three friends refused to let it disappear. It’s an angle that gives I Plead Irony’s third album a satisfying sense of stubbornness. Rauf Jordan, Paul McDonaldContinue Reading
Nils Lassen’s Rain Steam Speed is an album in constant motion, but never in a hurry. Across eleven songs, the Danish composer follows the course of a single day, using shifting light, birdsong, rain and beautifully layered arrangements to explore love against the uncertainty of a changing world. The title takes itsContinue Reading
Low Clika’s debut album is most interesting when it allows tradition and contemporary production to sit alongside one another without forcing the contrast. Across its twelve tracks, El Primer Álbum de Low Clika draws from Mexican musical roots while opening up to a wider range of modern influences. It’s a progressive approachContinue Reading
James Bruner’s debut album Can’t Keep Wanting You is built around a broad idea of love, and the way desire can shape ambition, insecurity, confidence and self-preservation. Across twelve tracks, the Illinois-born, Nashville-based artist uses that theme to connect songs that move between rock, pop, grunge and more reflective territory. The title-trackContinue Reading
The Bitter Lemons’ debut album Peel A Little Deeper arrives with the kind of energy that only comes from a band that has spent serious time learning what works in a room full of people. Across twelve tracks, the Birmingham four-piece pull from rockabilly, garage-rock, rhythm & blues and punk, but theContinue Reading
Lone Till Payday’s debut album the People and the Places is built less around a single genre than a shared approach to songwriting. Across the record, the North Jersey collective move amongst a multitude of diverse alternative textures, but the most consistent element is the way the songs remain closely tied toContinue Reading
Liverpool outfit COMMUNIST SEX MAGIC arrive with a debut album that seems almost determined to reject the idea of easy listening. What a Charming Life is loud, murky and deliberately uncomfortable in places, but beneath all that distortion sits a surprisingly thoughtful record about disillusionment, identity and the difficulty of staying humanContinue Reading