Images from left: La Dispute, No One Was Driving The Car (Epitaph); King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, Phantom Island (p(doom) records); Iron & Wine, "Robin's Egg" (Sub Pop)
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?
Iron & Wine, the solo project of musician Sam Beam, is about to embark on a short co-headlining tour with Americana band I’m With Her next month, so this week was the perfect time to drop their new joint single. It’s a lovely, quiet ode to lost love that showcases the signature harmonies between I’m With Her members Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz, and Aoife O’Donovan, and their vocals pair beautifully with Beam’s. In a note on Bandcamp, Beam said, “I had the start of ‘Robin’s Egg’ kicking around and began finishing the tune earlier this year with I’m With Her in mind. We had already started to plan our summer tour together; I passed it to them with the hope they were up for adding their voices to it and lucky for me they were! I’m looking forward to performing it, and a few other surprises, with them this summer.”
“Environmental Catastrophe Film,” the latest single from post-hardcore band La Dispute’s upcoming fifth album, No One Was Driving The Car, is something special. Over the course of nearly nine minutes, vocalist Jordan Dreyer tells the story of a polluted river in Michigan, of a child who grew up nearby, of the furniture industry that keeps the town going. In the beginning, it sounds like he’s on the verge of tears; towards the middle, he’s screaming in anguish; at the end, there’s a man, speaking plainly, saying, “I knew I had done my best. I can live with it. Because I’ve lived in it all of my life.” Even for a band known for their emotional lyrics, “Environmental Catastrophe Film” really hits hard.
Field Medic, “MELANCHOLY”
Field Medic, the recording project of musician Kevin Patrick Sullivan, announced a new album this week (surrender instead, out August 8) along with its lead single, “MELANCHOLY.” It’s a smooth doo-wop throwback with brutally honest lyrics that almost slip by unnoticed, carried by the song’s soothing melody. Sullivan said in a press release, “After getting sober, years in therapy, and for the first time taking an antidepressant, I would still sometimes suffer from days or weeks of stifling depression. Experiencing that unique and dreadful feeling comes as quite a shock when you’ve been ‘doing the work’ and ‘healing’ in the ways that I had been, and still am. I had just read William Styron’s ‘darkness visible,’ which is his memoir about his time in the throes of a depressive episode. Having also recently written a doo-wop song for a pitch for sync, the ‘50s chord progression was fresh in my mind, as well as the examination of melancholy as a lifelong disease that waxes and wanes, but may never go away entirely.”
Murder By Death, Egg & Dart
Earlier this year, Murder By Death announced that their upcoming tenth album, Egg & Dart, would be their last. It’s never easy to say goodbye to a band that’s been around for nearly a quarter-century, and Murder By Death made it even harder by releasing a truly gorgeous final album. Frontman Adam Turla said in a press statement, “The album is basically an elegy. The songs are about goodbyes and the different ways we think about that concept.” He continued, “It’s certainly our most personal collection of songs. It’s probably our saddest and most beautiful album, but it also has moments of real triumph and joy in the darkness.”
The Cure, Mixes Of A Lost World
Songs Of A Lost World, The Cure’s first new album in 16 years, was our third-best album of the year in 2024. And while we’re still waiting for the companion album Robert Smith hinted at earlier this year, we’ll still happily take this 24-track collection that brings in some heavy-hitters to remix songs from Songs Of A Lost World. Artists like Orbital, Daniel Avery, and Mogwai offer their takes on The Cure’s latest.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Phantom Island
The absurdly prolific and ever-changing King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are back with a new album and a new style to go with it. Phantom Island is their orchestral record, incorporating full string arrangements and horns. Their psych-rock roots are still very much front-and-center, giving the album an overall trippy, lush sound. Somehow, it always works, even when it seems like it really shouldn’t.
