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?
This week, Deerhoof premiered “Immigrant Songs,” the lead single from their upcoming album, Noble And Godlike In Ruin (out April 25), on what drummer Greg Saunier describes as “the nice and non-nazi tech platform of Craigslist.” It’s a seven-minute opus that uses a house party as a metaphor for immigration. The song starts out bright and poppy before devolving into several minutes of grinding, animalistic noise. As an artistic statement, it’s gorgeous. As a song, it rules.
Andy Bell (of Erasure fame) brings us a feel-good synth-pop bop this week with “Dance For Mercy.” In a press release, Bell said of the track, “Sometimes I wonder how many lives (God, or whatever you wanna call it) has given me: from heart attacks, to HIV, to being run over as a kid, nearly drowning in the sea and smashing over the handlebars of my bicycle into a brick wall! I have no idea why any of us are here, so it’s best just to have a bloody good dance!” “Dance For Mercy” is the third single from Bell’s upcoming solo album, Ten Crowns (out May 2).
Beirut, “Tuanaki Atoll”
Beirut is back with another single from their upcoming Swedish circus soundtrackA Study Of Losses (out April 18). “Tuanaki Atoll” sounds both peaceful and expansive; it feels longer than its 3:22 runtime in a good way. Founding member Zach Condon said of the song in a press release, “The Tuanaki Atoll is said to have been an Eden-like island somewhere in the South Pacific that mysteriously disappeared under the sea during an earthquake in the 1840s. Its inhabitants were described as a people so peaceful and generous that they had no word in their language for such things as war or murder. It might be almost too obvious of a choice but nothing could fit the island vibes better than a sweet and breezy ukulele which became the foundation that I built this song around. Contrastingly yet somewhat fittingly, the lyrics took on a darker edge and ended up reflecting that side of the story. Maybe because personally I doubt that such an Eden-like place could ever exist on Earth.”
Japanese Breakfast, For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)
Japanese Breakfast frontwoman Michelle Zauner’s breakout 2021 memoir Crying In H Mart brought the band more mainstream attention than they’d ever had before, so it would have been hard to blame the band if they wanted to play it safe on their next album. Instead, they maintained their unique point of view and just upped the production value. For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) is the first Japanese Breakfast album recorded in a proper studio, and it shows in the lush-sounding—but never too slick—tracks. It’s a remarkably uncompromised, thoughtful pop album that’s an early contender for album of the year.
Tamino, Every Dawn’s A Mountain
Tamino has been on the cusp of superstardom for a minute now, and Every Dawn’s A Mountain might just be the album that takes him to the top. The Belgian-Egyptian musician’s frankly ridiculous talent as a vocalist is on full display here as he enters a new chapter of his career. The album is a reflection on all the feelings that came up after uprooting his life to move to New York; it’s emotional, meditative, quiet, and loud all at the same time.
My Morning Jacket, is
The title of My Morning Jacket’s new album practically begs you to fill in the blank: My Morning Jacket is what? With their tenth album, the band is more self-assured than ever, delivering a rollicking set of songs that frontman Jim James hopes will bring listeners some degree of comfort. He said in a press release, “All these songs came into existence out of an attempt to connect with something beyond the human experiment, which for me is one of the most beautiful things about music—that connection with something larger than us, yet something we are all equally a part of.”
