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Meric Long: Kablooey
New album: Pulsating, highly percussive, catchy, thrumming DIY indie rock by one half of the San Francisco Bay Area duo The Dodos, in an album mostly created on his own along with some vocal contributions from Spacemoth’s Maryam Qudus, and saxophonist Forrest Day
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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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Home Counties: Humdrum
New album: The east London band fronted by dual vocalists Will Harrison and Lois Kelly return with a sophomore album of striking, catchy, witty, synth-heavy postpunk-indie-pop, themed about the messiness of communication other modern absurdities, produced by Al Doyle of Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem
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Mozart Estate: Tower Block in a Jam Jar
New album: The prolific and eccentric Birmingham-born Lawrence, known also for cult indie-pop bands Felt, Denim and this iteration (previously called Go-Kart Mozart) continues his small, later-career bloom with brilliantly catchy, quirky synth-pop with echoes of 70s glam and a touch of Sparks, and lyrics fun, clever, throwaway, droll, dark, trippy and melancholy.
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The Last Dinner Party: From The Pyre
New album: This fairly speedy follow-up to the London quintet’s Mercury-nominated debut album Prelude to Ecstasy of flamboyant, theatrical, baroque and art-rock-pop, continues in a similar rich, elaborate vein, with another strong set of swaggering numbers with influences from Abba to Kate Bush, Sparks, Lee Hazlewood to Leonard Cohen, with a sprinkling of darker undercurrents and deathly themes
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Sudan Archives: The BPM
New album: Following 2022’s Natural Brown Prom Queen, the American violinist and innovative singer-songwriter Brittney Denise Parks returns with a more electronica-based and hip-hop LP with eclectic beats and beeps, RnB and soul, presenting here the alter-ego of Gadget Girl, a sexualised tech-augmented avatar
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Tame Impala: Deadbeat
New album: This fifth LP and first in five years by the Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker sees him go down a more a more dance-electronica route, mixing psych, techno, reggaeton, and the heavy drum kicks of the western Australia’s “bush doof” rave scene, but as ever with the distinctive yearning of his falsetto voice
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Princess Nokia: GIRLS
New album: A provocative, feisty, self-described bad-girl, dark-femme feminist fifth LP by the New York rapper Destiny Frasqueri, with a punchy celebration of her gender, sexuality, blood and high fashion, filled with whip sharp, slick, braggadocio delivery, and referential inspiration to the films of the late David Lynch
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Jay Som: Belong
New album: Los Angeles artist Melina Duterte returns with a first LP for six years, an absorbing fusion of indie, electronica, shoegaze and multi-textured dream pop, all about self-healing and truth-facing, expanding from a past DIY methodology to collaboration with various with guests including Jimmy Eat World's Jim Adkins and Paramore’s Hayley Williams
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Ash: Ad Astra
New album: Punchy, hooky, catchy indie-power-pop and rock by the Northern Ireland veteran trio, following 2023’s Race The Night, returning for their ninth album with Blur’s Graham Coxon joining them on a couple of tracks in an album rich in rock guitar licks and big choruses
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Doja Cat: Vie
New album: With a strong flavour of Prince, and no short of saucy, sexy, funk, hip-hop and pop bite, the American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer’s fifth album is polished and packed with catchy, clever bangers, and oodles of wit and cheeky sugar and bitchy spice across the politics and intimacy of relationships
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Patrick Watson: Uh Oh
New album: The Canadian singer-songwriter, pianist and film-score composer’s latest LP presents 11 new, delicate, beautiful collaboratively performed songs about life’s various anxious moments, big or small, joined by guest vocalists including Martha Wainwright and stars, but particularly inspired by the one of any musician’s most stressful ‘uh ohs’ – a time when he lost his voice
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Neko Case: Neon Grey Midnight Green
New album: Reflecting on whole lifetime, as well as a career spanning more than three decades, a vivid, poetic, uplifting and profound autobiographical release by the American singer-songwriter and member of the Canadian indie rockers the New Pornographers, this beautiful LP’s title is inspired by the slate-coloured clouds and conifer forests on the Pacific Northwest skyline
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Olivia Dean: The Art of Loving
New album: Mainstream but perfectly composed and polished pop and soul with a 70s retro style by the London singer-songwriter, this new LP is an unquestionably classy affair with her smooth, golden voice, gliding effortlessly through a series of songs about love, friendship, change and heartbreak
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Nation of Language: Dance Called Memory
New album: Harking back to the early 80s synth-pop and new wave era of the likes of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, the American trio return with their third album of smooth, wistful, simple three- and four-chord arpeggiated sounds and gliding, melancholy melodies and lyrics
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Jordan Patterson: The Hermit
New album: A gorgeous, wonderfully warm, passionate, genuine, fresh, unusually voiced, tender and intimate debut of folk- and acoustic pop by the hugely talented 20-year-old North Carolina-born and LA-raised singer-songwriter
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Joy Crookes: Juniper
New album: With a style that’s sometimes stripped back, but always silky and smoky, the hugely talented, golden-voiced artist from Lambeth of a Bangladeshi and Irish heritage returns with her first LP since the acclaimed 2021 debut Skin, with smart, emotional, classy, beautiful soulful songs about heartbreak and other life struggles
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Stealing Sheep: GLO (GIrl Life Online)
New album: Always bringing effervescently quirky, original and experimental work, this is an especially vibrant, fizzing, percussive, witty and superb LP – and surely the very best yet by the excellent Liverpool electro-pop trio of Emily Lansley, Luciana Mercer, and Rebecca Hawley
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The Divine Comedy: Rainy Sunday Afternoon
New album: Sumptuously charming, filled with melancholy, wit, gorgeous melodies and songwriting, Neil Hannon and co bring a 13th LP of particularly tender, moving and humorous chamber pop with a vaudevillian feel, and running theme of time passing and mutability, all performed with classic panache
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Titanic: HAGEN
New album: Following their 2023 debut Vidrio, the Mexico City-based partners Guatemalan cellist Mabe Fratti and guitarist Hector Tosta return with another mesmeric, exciting and highly eclectic experimental album, moving here from jazz into more pop and classic rock in combinations yet unheard
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