Last Updated on 05/12/2020
After missing the boat with our August roundup, this serves as a double billing – here are the best music releases to come out in the last two months.
5. Zeroes, Declan Mckenna.
Embracing tightly the more progressive and glamourous aspects of his debut record, Zeroes really is Mckenna’s own 2020 space oddity. While maintaining his ear for an electrifying melody, Mckenna’s lyricism is refined and the song structures fleshed out to form lush, theatrical indie rock extravaganza.
And it serves up some stellar highlights in “Beautiful Faces” and “The Key to Life on Earth”; they really uplift with the explosive glitz of their choruses.
4. Marlowe 2, Marlowe.
This project wears its debt to cult abstract hip-hop album Madvillainy (2004) proudly – this doesn’t take away from the quality and individuality of the record though. Producer-Rapper duo Marlowe pair the soulful, nostalgia-soaked grooves of L’Orange’s instrumental compositions and Solemn Brigham’s irresistibly gleeful bars to great effect.
It may not be a flawless project, but it is just so so much fun. They are perhaps too generous with its use of old film samples, but the rich, jazzy beats are beautifully textured and idiosyncratic. The canon of flows Solemn holds may not be the most extensive, but his consistently quality lyricism, his penchant for catchy hooks (absolutely everywhere on this album!!) and his unstiflable energy means I am eagerly awaiting the next moves this underground duo will make.
3. Big Dreaming Ants, Nana Adjoa.
Dutch-Ghanaian singer-songwriter Nana Adjoa has released a debut record that not only demonstrates vast talent but delicately prods powerful feelings from the listener.
Displaying influence from indie-pop, jazz, soul, as well as Ghanaian highlife music (on cover “Love and Death”), the sound of this record is distinctive, propagating a hazy atmosphere. And Adjoa manipulates the rise and fall of this thick fog of emotion with a set of tracks full of powerful instrumental progressions – like a seasoned lock-keeper effortlessly cranking a heavy wheel to keep your canal-boat journey running smoothly.
This is all complimented with fantastically thought-provoking lyricism. Using her gorgeous vocals, she tackles issues far larger than any one of us, from national identity on “National Song” to the false (and stifling) security of small talk on “No Room”. And doing so she skillfully avoids any hint of the condescension that can often accompany such ambitious topics; instead her messages are executed with an insight and humility that effortlessly endears her perspective to the listener.
2. Shore, Fleet Foxes.
Indie Folk icons Fleet Foxes surprise-dropped their fourth record this month. It feels like a true amalgam of their output to this point.
The progressive quality of their last album, Crack Up, remains, utilising winding, organic structures to build quiet power through the core of the album. While the beach boys-esqe harmonic tendencies of their more accessible self-titled debut emerge again here – the honeyed hooks of “Young man’s Game” and “Can I Believe You” exemplify this best. It is all as brightly atmospheric as a long morning walk on the beach.
Robin Pecknold’s mastery of confessional lyricism is the real highlight though. Acting as an antithesis to the choppy waters of Crack Up, thematically this record shows a more hopeful Pecknold exploring ideas of anchoring to steady and positive influences in life – trying to find ‘Shore’ in a stormy time.
1. Inner Song, Kelly Lee Owens.
With her sophomore release, Welsh music artist Kelly Lee Owens provides one of the most cerebral listening experiences of the year.
The sounds of tech-house are used to fashion its polar terrain. Taking cues most obviously from recent collaborator Jon Hopkins, Owens carves an expansive world of glacial synth progressions and warm glassy basslines. It acts as a slow moving but dynamic backdrop, evolving, flowing and even grooving (listen to instrumental single “Melt!”) – stimulating imagery of sunlight burrowing and refracting fluidly through smooth, thick ice. The production is gorgeous.
But this is only really half of the picture. Owens garnishes around half of the tracks on this record with pensive art-pop balladry. She pieces together several songs informed by themes of self-restoration and acceptance, lifted to heights of euphoric empowerment by winding melodies that wrap gently around Owens’ heavenly vocals.
An honourable mention goes to Zella Day’s EP, Where does the Devil Hide? Which features some fantastic retro-pop songs.
Listen to some taster tracks from our best new album releases in the playlist below or read about last month’s highlights.
