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Lily Allen: West End Girl
New album: Depression, insecurity, distrust and infidelity are horribly exposed in this darkly candid, visceral first LP in seven years by the outspoken London artist, inspired by the painful evisceration of an open marriage in aftermath of her divorce from her second husband, US actor David Harbour
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Suede: Antidepressants
New album: Their tenth album over all and fifth since the 2013 reformation, is classic Suede with a post-punk feel by the British rock band, with searing, strong, raw Magazine- and Cure-style guitar riffs by Richard Oakes and dark yet energised and emotive, declamatory lyrics by Brett Anderson
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Lord Huron: The Cosmic Selector Vol. 1
New album: Wistful, vivid country-folk and Americana by the Los Angeles band fronted by Ben Schneider in this strong fifth LP, coloured by images of huge skies and stars, California deserts, love, loss, with catchy tunes, tender anguish, haunting melodies and memories
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Africa Express Presents ... Bahidorà
New album: The collective that brought Blur’s Damon Albarn together with Malian musicians 20 years ago now assembles artists from four continents, though particularly plants the roots of this superb 21-track double album in Mexico, with a feast of numbers spanning cumbia, hip-hop, kuduro, soul, salsa, pop, reggaeton and more
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Garbage: Let All That We Imagine Be The Light
New album: Written in a painful period when Shirley Manson had shattered her hip and was in recovery, this is a powerful, defiant, feisty, punchy eighth LP, but also with some vulnerability, by the Scottish/American rockers
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Soft Play: Heavy Jelly
New album: A welcome return from the witty and raucously noisy Kent garage punk duo of Isaac Holman and Laurie Vincent, formerly known as Slaves, with blistering guitar, drums and shouting, a storm of sharp irony and fabulously thumping riffs
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Richard Hawley: In This City They Call You Love
New album: The veteran Sheffield singer-songwriter returns his ninth solo LP, a touching, gentle love letter to his home city, referencing that South Yorkshire universal term of address, local characters and perspectives, with a set of heartwarming, heartfelt indie, blues, and Americana-style numbers
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Part 1 selection of 2023 favourite albums
Welcome once again to the annual tradition of Song Bar’s favourite album releases of 2023. This is Part 1, and Part 2 is also out here. There’s no such thing as a chart rundown or ‘best of’ here, and these come in no particular order. This is all about quality and innovation …
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Sigur Rós: ÁTTA is their first album for 10 years
New album: With climate change ever on on the horizon, a beautiful, moving, melancholy, ethereal and dynamic LP by the elemental Icelandic experimental band, their first for a decade, with Kjartan Sveinsson rejoining since he left 2012, to complete the trio with frontman Jónsi and bassist Georg Holm
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Alison Goldfrapp: The Love Invention
New album: Working without Will Gregory for the first time in her 25-year career, Alison strikes out with catchy breathy bangers of synth disco and electro-pop with help from producers Richard X and James Greenwood (aka Ghost Culture)
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Pixies’s eighth album
New album: Meaty, strong new LP by the legendary Black Francis and co, a mischievous, punchy ode to absurdism, with a sound that harks to earlier material than the more polished more recent LPs, with some tracks sitting more in line with their classic 1987-91 era
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Suede return with their ninth studio LP
New album: The veteran London indie-rockers return with their ninth LP, one that seeks to recapture the live rawness of their early days, with songs about youth and Richard Oakes’s guitar style comes to fore with a starker, more post-punk flavour
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Cheat Codes by Danger Mouse and Black Thought
New album: A superb collaboration between two hugely influential innovators – producer Brian Burton and rapper and co-founder of The Roots, Tarik Luqmaan Trotter – packed with fabulously sharp hip hop, soul and funk samples and guests, including a lost verse from the much missed MF DOOM
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Hercules & Love Affair: In Amber
New album: Andy Butler and friends return with a dark, powerful new LP that in comparison to previously is less dance music, more contemplation of serious issues, featuring again the distinctive countertenor of Anohni, but also percussion by Budgie of Siouxsie & The Banshees
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Soft Cell with their first album in 21 years
New album: Fabulous and rather surprising return for the British duo, their first for 20 years, and 41 since their debut, with a wry, witty, catchy electro-pop album about how the sci-fi future dream has not quite turned out how it promised
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Johnny Marr: four in one
New album: The favourite of all former Smiths releases a double album made up of four gradually released 4-song EPs written in isolated lockdown, showing his dynamic range of musicianship and a common theme seeking empathy and unity
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Anaïs Mitchell’s self-titled latest album
New album: Beautiful, classic singer-songwriter sixth LP from the Vermont folk artist, best known for Broadway success with the 2010 album and musical Hadestown, these finely crafted low-key piano and guitar-led numbers compare favourably with 1970s Joni Mitchell or Aimee Mann
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Shungudzo
New album: An impassioned, political debut album by the Zimbabwean-American artist, activist former gymnast and soul singer touching on climate change to race issues to women’s rights, typified in first singe It’s a Good Day (To Fight The System)
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U-Roy - the king of Jamaican toasting
New album: This final album by Ewart Beckford, the veteran pioneer of reggae toasting who died in February this year is fitting collection of classic tracks joined by a variety of guests including Ziggy Marley, Santigold, Shaggy and Mick Jones
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Consequences is Joan Armatrading’s 20th studio album
New album: Now 70, her voice is as strong as ever, and this 20th studio album in a five-decade career is filled with strong songwriting, more in the style of her 80s pop than 70s folk, but with impressive moments of emotional power
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