I’m hardly privy to all the information I would need to definitely determine why Billie Eilish’s debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, became an outright sensation. It’s sold more than four million copies to date, … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Happier Than Ever
Eleven years is a long stretch between solo albums, but sometimes the world conspires to make working alone, more or less, the most prudent course. In the time since the generally well-regarded debut released under her first name, Anika Henderson … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Change
Lucy Dacus writes songs as if her heart depends on it. On the new album Home Video, her third full-length studio effort, Dacus excavates her past. By her own reckoning, the lyrics across the album are almost entirely preoccupied with … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Home Video
It’s reasonable to surmise that no modern musician with an already well-stocked discography was better prepared to persist in their creativity through an extended lockdown than John Darnielle. The frontman of the Mountain Goats started his now-lengthy tenure as a … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Dark in Here
For at least a little while longer, every new album is going to feel like it carries the woozy hangover of the lockdown times. I don’t know anything about the genesis of Faye Webster’s new album, I Know I’m Funny … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — I Know I’m Funny haha
Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land, the new album from Marina, opens with its title cut. An electrified drum beat and burbling synths are soon joined by Marina’s rich, low-tone vocals declaring “Our ancestors had to fight to survive/ Just … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land
Sleater-Kinney began as a partnership between Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker, an outlet for their intertwined expression and furious voices. On Path to Wellness, the band’s tenth studio album and third since a surprise revival in 2015, it is back … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Path of Wellness
If the world is shutting down around you, might as well try to make some music. The English band Wolf Alice were ensconced in a Brussels studio when COVID-19 made European borders close as decisively as heavy steel doors. They … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Blue Weekend
After a set of years that have been marked by misery — not only the global pandemic, but also the rampant corruption and malfeasance of the interlopers in the White House during the latter portion of the twenty-teens — I … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Jubilee
Sour isn’t an album for me, and I’m fine with that. Scratch that. Try again. I’m great with that. Olivia Rodrigo made her young fame bounding along the Disney treadmill, including a turn as one of the leads in the … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Sour
