Arlo Parks – Staff Pick
My Soft Machine
(Transgressive Records)
Arlo Parks has created a summer album for sensitive souls with her new LP. Throughout the 12 tracks, Parks blends genres seamlessly, exploring jazz, funk, and the indie pop we’ve come to know and love from the British singer/songwriter. Parks has proven to be one of the most unique and grounded artists out there, and her songwriting chops have earned her well-deserved praise, as well as the chance to open for some of the coolest artists in music right now, including Harry Styles and Clairo. My Soft Machine, the follow-up to her critically acclaimed 2021 debut, Collapsed in Sunbeams, explores the complexities of trying to learn and grow through your emotions. Interjections of spoken word throughout the album help showcase Parks’ ability to be vulnerable in her songwriting. “Pegasus (ft. Phoebe Bridgers)” sounds like a lullaby for a grown-up audience, and the harmonious blend of Parks’ and Bridgers’ voices makes this song one of the best collabs of the year. Tunes such as “Devotion” and “Dog Rose” offer a lightness that makes this the perfect soundtrack for driving down the Pacific Coast Highway. Overall, the album is honest in its portrayal of the roses and thorns of life without losing its “Weightlessness,” making My Soft Machine a thought-provoking album with a whole lotta heart. Fans of Norah Jones, Fiona Apple, and Billie Eilish will surely discover one of their new favorite artists in Arlo Parks. – Emily Lauletta
Palehound
Singer/songwriter and self-described journal-rock purveyor El Kempner is slated to release her fourth album, Eye on the Bat, in July.
Dream Wife
The fiery London-based punk trio’s third album, Social Lubrication, will come out in June on Lucky Number.
Noname
The Chicago poet/rapper revealed via Instagram that her highly anticipated next album (titled Sundial) will arrive in July.
Bully
Lucky For You
(Sub Pop)
Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Alicia Bognanno has blessed us with Bully’s fourth studio album—perhaps the best rock album of the year so far— Lucky For You. The album’s lead single “Lose You” features musicianship that will have you head-banging and screaming along to the lyrics; the album’s closer, “All This Noise,” is a short tune that perfectly encapsulates the uncertainty and anxiety that comes with being alive in the year 2023. Lucky For You confirms Bully’s ability to curate a unique sound within the rock genre, and is just what you need if you’ve ever gone through a breakup or have spent a little too much time contemplating your own existence (as it seems we all have). –emily lauletta
Feist
Multitudes
(Interscope)
It’s been six years since Feist gave us Pleasure, and she doesn’t disappoint with Multitudes. The sonic switches on the single/opener “In Lightning” are a clear indicator that Leslie Feist has once again put a great deal of care and detail into her sixth studio album. On Multitudes, Feist taps back into her folk-infused singer/songwriter world, with songs like the acoustically gorgeous “Forever Before” and “I Took All of My Rings Off”—the latter bringing another shift in production
at the song’s middle. The beauty is that from Broken Social Scene to “My Moon My Man” and right up here to Multitudes, Feist continues to evolve. And it’s gorgeous. – kathy iandoli
Alison Goldfrapp
The Love Invention
(Skint/BMG Music)
Alison Goldfrapp is back, minus Will Gregory (her musical partner in duo Goldfrapp, which formed in 1999), with 11 sizzling pop/disco/EDM tunes under her own name. Goldfrapp’s talent for combining opposing elements—human versus machine, ambient versus discordant, and pop versus electronic—are amply displayed here. Songs like “NeverStop” and “So Hard So Hot” cook with a high-energy house/disco fervor; there’s time to chill with “Subterfuge” and “SLoFLo” before it’s back for another whirl around the dance floor. Going at it solo hasn’t hindered Goldfrapp’s creative spark but instead has once again expanded her artistic vision. – michael levine
Jenny Lewis
Joy’All
(Blue Note Records)
Jenny Lewis’ relationship status on her fifth solo album? It’s complicated. The pedal-steel punctuated opener “Psychos” ruminates on unhinged lovers, while the blue-eyed soul ballad “Essence of Life” has Lewis wanting an old beau back only after realizing she can’t have him. She does offer some advice for anyone riding the toxic relationship merry-go-round: buy a puppy and a truck (on the country-fried live, laugh, must-love-dogs banger of the same name) and don’t forget to “follow your joy’all,” which works as the chorus on the syncopated freakout of a title track and is a dating mantra for a post-pandemic world. – shannon carlin
Joanna Sternberg
I’ve Got Me
(Fat Possum)
Joanna Sternberg’s singular voice, a beautiful warble, tugs at your heartstrings as they try to sew theirs back together. On the unguarded follow-up to their 2019 debut, the nonbinary singer and multi-instrumentalist, who plays every instrument on I’ve Got Me, sounds like the lovechild of Emmylou Harris and the Moldy Peaches. They try to make sense of their self-hatred by channeling Charles Bukowski on the poignant title track and relitigate a breakup on the no-holds-barred rocker “People Are Toys to You.” The self-reflective strummer and cockroach-referencing “Stockholm Syndrome” is a kiss-off to a problematic relationship that never sounded so good or so gross. – shannon carlin
Jessie Ware
That! Feels Good!
(PMR/EMI)
When Jessie Ware throws a party, you drop everything to attend—and That! Feels Good! might be her best bash yet. This follow-up to 2020’s What’s Your Pleasure? is the breezy Balearic sister to its disco-fueled predecessor: all silky FM synths, funky bass, and buttery-smooth vocals. Ware’s dance-all-night energy is still omnipresent—the hooky house piano on “Free Yourself” alone will keep you going until dawn—but she’s moving us into the after-party here, punctuating each dance anthem with slinky R&B (“Lightning”) or ’70s AM gold (“Hello Love”). The result? A kaleidoscope of sexy, summery jams that just feel…well, good. –mollie wells
Lael Neale – Staff Pick
Star Eaters Delight
(Sub Pop)
After leaving L.A. for an extended period of social and existential distance, Lael Neale reaches back out of isolation on Star Eaters Delight. Recorded on cassette in rural Virginia, her homemade record—there were no screens involved in its creation—is wistful, echoey smooth, and shady-grove cool. Fueled by inner and outer breathing room, the singer/songwriter’s pipes hauntingly float atop gospel dirges, wind chimes, slow burns, and drum machines. Hypnotically minimal, it’s an invitingly hilly ride through polarities and our coexisting shadows. Neale’s time-traveler’s twang leaves listeners with the aural equivalent of a fixed gaze on the softest, retina-burning halo. – rachel reed
Christine and the Queens
Paranoïa, Angels, True Love
(Because Music)
In the follow-up to Redcar les Adorables Étoiles (Prologue), French artist Chris continues his pop-operatic opus inspired by playwright Tony Kushner’s work Angels in America. Co-produced by Mike Dean, it features repeat guest appearances from Madonna and 070 Shake who each play roles throughout the 20-track theatrical concept. “Full Of Life” is symphonically anchored by Pachelbel’s “Canon in D” while Chris’ reverb-heavy vocals float above. With spoken-word interludes and momentum-building rhythm, “Lick the light out” continues the ongoing narrative of love, self-discovery, and transformation. The full artistic endeavor is an imaginative, immersive, and complex synth-driven soundscape. – cindy yogmas
Top photo by Arlo Parks, Fiest, and Bully
