Welcome to our weekly music post, where we spotlight our favorite new songs and albums. Hop in the comments and tell us: What new music are you listening to?
Spelling’s music is generally lush and dramatic, while Weyes Blood tends to live in the more subdued sounds of 1970s Laurel Canyon and Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins-style melodies. On paper, they may not be the most intuitive collaboration, but in practice, it pays off handsomely. “Destiny Arrives,” a reimagining of a track previously released from Spelling’s album Portrait Of My Heart earlier this year, maintains the artist’s bombast before Weyes Blood joins midway through. The latter contribution gives the song the feeling of going underwater, before they gloriously break through the surface together. [Drew Gillis]
Allie X’s fourth album, Happiness Is Going To Get You, is out today, and with it comes one more single. While other pre-release tracks have dabbled in baroque and disco, “7th Floor” feels decidedly 2000s indie pop-rock. But being Allie X, of course there’s an element of goth to “7th Floor,” along with some secret agent guitars, bells, and a whistled refrain that would catch the ear of Peter, Bjorn, and John. [DG]
“Hard Drive, Ontario,” Kiwi Jr.
Toronto-based indie outfit Kiwi Jr. has been dormant since 2022’s Chopper, but the band returned this week with a propulsive, earworm of a single called “Hard Drive, Ontario.” Lead singer Jeremy Gaudet channels Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus (whom the band opened for in 2023) as he delivers the track’s central double entendré, “It’s hard to leave home with your heart on a hard drive.” (Get it? Like computer storage or a challenging road trip?) “The idea for the lyric came when I saw a wifi password on the side of a barn off a dirt road somewhere,” Gaudet said in a statement. “It’s about how you can’t quit and restart somewhere else anymore, and how locked in we all are by the internet, even way out in the country.” At least this song is something you may want to take with you. [Emma Keates]
Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan, The Mountain Goats
After months of anticipation (we covered the album’s first single for this column back in September), The Mountain Goats’ Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan finally sweeps into port today. The band has described the record—their 23rd—as a “full-on musical,” a fitting characterization considering it features Lin-Manuel Miranda on multiple songs. Despite its special guest, the story of the album is more pirates than politics. It follows “a small crew shipwrecked on a desert island, where three surviving members—an unnamed narrator, Captain Peter Balkan, and Adam—are plagued by diminishing resources and apocalyptic visions,” a press statement reads. Now, we’ll finally get to see if any of them make it home. [EK]
Lux, Rosalía
The first listen of Lux, the fourth album from Spanish star Rosalía, is overwhelming in a good way. As suggested with its lead single “Berghain,” shared early last week, the musician wholly embraces operatic, orchestral instrumentation on Lux, blending it with the flamenco rhythms that have been part and parcel of her work since day one. The result is pretty staggering, sounding not only unlike anything else in Rosalía’s discography, but unlike anything else in popular music, at least in recent memory. It’s immediately clear that Lux is an album that will benefit from repeated listens, and we can’t wait to dig into it. [DG]
Love And Fortune, Stella Donnelly
Stella Donnelly has always probed her own happiness and heartbreak for her intimate, introspective art, but Love And Fortune may be her most personal album yet. The Australian singer-songwriter wrote her third LP during a “journey back to herself after a period of profound change,” as she shared on her Bandcamp page. The album opens with “Standing Ovation,” a wistful ballad about losing one’s identity in a failed relationship, before transitioning into fellow lead singles “Feel It Change,” “Baths,” and “Year Of Trouble.” “Baths” is a particular standout, as Donnelly sings mostly a cappella about the simultaneous beauty and tragedy of letting go of the past. Love And Fortune looks to be a real tearjerker, but it’s a cathartic sort of pain. [EK]
