Album round-up: 30/05/2025

Hello friends and followers! Welcome to a shiny new feature, and something I've been meaning to pull together for a while now. It is, as it says right there, a round-up of some albums released today.

I don't expect it to be a weekly feature but when we get a very silly day of new releases like we have today, I thought it might be helpful and handy to collate a few choice picks for you. Hopefully it leads you to discovering something new but it also might just remind you that the one you've been waiting for exists in the world now. And that's ok too.

Thanks for reading, listening and supporting as always.

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Kathryn Joseph rekindles her otherworldly spark with Lomond Campbell for her fourth LP WE WERE MADE PREY. Recorded at Black Bay Studios on the Isle of Lewis in the far Outer Hebrides, it makes for a gripping cacophony of emotional outpouring – all scorched electronics and scorned sentiments poured out into the enveloping dark. Kathryn's voice remains a thing of true depth and wonder, and it's never sounded more true, more fascinating than it does here.

Back in post #153, we shared the collaborative single from caroline and Caroline Polachek, and the full album from the the eight-piece collective is released today. Bold, brash and beautiful caroline 2 makes good on the promise of the band's debut to produce the incredible sound they always hinted they were capable of. Pulling in inspiration from so many places, they've managed to hone the whole wild swirl of sound to create something oddly moving, gently skewed, and truly unique. A masterpiece? It seems so.

It's so so nice to be listening to Shura once again, via the release of I Get Too Sad For My Friends, her first album since 2019. Some time between then and now, Shura and I had a wee chat about writer's block as we were both suffering a hefty dose of it at the time, so it's so lovely to see she fought her way through it to turn out a beautifully melodic pop record that is more than worth the wait. In a week of strong guest appearances, Too Sad is right up there with the best of them, featuring collabs with Cassandra Jenkins, Helado Negro and Becca Mancari.

Speaking of long-awaited comebacks, today is the day that Andy Shauf's other project, Foxwarren, finally release a new album following up 2018's self-titled debut. Simply titled '2', you can expect breezy, scuzzy alt-country loveliness, led by Shauf's always wholesome, ever-honeyed voice. Magic.

Yesterday's Talkhouse podcast featured indie rock luminaries Matt Berninger (The National) and Alan Sparhawk (Low) in conversation with each other - and both of them release new solo albums today. Following last year's wildly unique and adventurous solo debut, Sparhawk shares With Trampled by Turtles a return to his Low roots, subtle and gently crushing. Berninger's Get Sunk LP doesn't stray too far from his and his band's signature sound but the approach does indeed feel different here and there's a woozy sense of swagger that holds - and deserves - your full attention. Yeah, it's great.

Another highlight this week is the new album from Ben Kweller. In another world Ben sits alongside the aforementioned Alan and Matt in the upper echelons of indie rock, but in this version of life he remains something of a cult figure. His new LP is the first he's released since the death of his teenage son, and while the shadow of that experience hovers over the whole thing it manifests itself in many different ways; sentimental, sure, but also jubilant and full of hope. Guests include Waxahatchee, MJ Lenderman, and The Flaming Lips and while it's not on Bandcamp you can find it anywhere else you listen to your music. And listen to it you should.

But we're not done yet...

Other highlights from today include the latest release on the ever-excellent Night School label (Molly Nilsson, Karl D'Silva) who are sharing Troth's 'An Unfinished Rose', a skewed, hypnotic collection of warped synth-pop-ish soundscapes. Existing in similar worlds, Claire Rousay and Gretchen Korsmo's collaborative album quilted lament, is a gorgeous blend of ambient and field recordings "rooted in memory and abstracted from reality", while Other Nothing - dusty side-project of German Error Message, release a darkly weaving new collection of experimental ambient recordings.

Elsewhere, Labrador return with their excellent new record, the Philly-based guitar band channelling a love for Elvis Costello and The Replacements and packing that all into 9 songs and 30 minutes of invigoration. And there's also Creepy Crawly, the project of Bristol-born and Manchester-based musician Rachel Cawley, who release their debut collection Like A Real Thing. Intriguingly citing Scott Walker, Big Thief, Laura Marling, and Heatmiser among its inspirations it does a neat job of drifting through all of those varied textures; a compelling blend of torch-lit ballads and occasional moments of scrappy, noisy catharsis.

And if none of that resonates then there's always the 10th Anniversary Edition of Carrie & Lowell, which boasts a handful of bonus tracks including a fourteen (14) minute version of Fourth of July to sink your entire soul into.

What a silly day!

Tell me what I've missed/what you're listening to and loving (please)...

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