Here are ten albums that have recently caught my attention.
Foot Ox – A Lighthouse With Silver Dog Eyes
Born out of the sun-bleached Arizona wilderness and now rooted in Portland, Oregon, Foot Ox delivers a dozen tracks of psychedelic desert folk on their new album A Lighthouse With Silver Dog Eyes. At its heart, a blend of dreamy folk and lo-fi psychedelia, the record is driven by founding member Teague Cullen’s songwriting. Still, this time around, the band is elevated by a host of guest contributors. The album features a who’s-who of indie talent, including members of AJJ, Pigeon Pit, Sad Park, La Luz, and LAKE, creating a rich, collaborative sound. The entire record floats by like a perfect breeze, filled with haunted, melodic whispers that are sure to stick with you long after the final note fades.
The Fishermen Three – Infinite Feeling
Crafted over years and continents, The Fishermen Three‘s new album, Infinite Feeling, is a testament to enduring collaboration and creative evolution. The project reunites singer-songwriter Simon Beins (a founding member of the underground NYC band The Wowz) with his longtime collaborator Raphi Gottesman, who has become a fixture in the Bay Area music scene. After Beins’s unrecorded songs began to pile up, the duo enlisted a team of friends and musical heavyweights, including members of Sonny and the Sunsets and Pacific Walker, to record the basic tracks live to two-inch tape. The resulting album is a rich tapestry of sound, splitting the difference between anti-folk, hypnagogic pop, and soulful Americana. It features a stunning list of guest contributions from artists like Jack Johnson, Zach Gill of ALO, and David Tattersall of The Wave Pictures. From the sun-faded retro-pop of lead single “Out of Style” to the dreamy, poetic “Electricity,” and a revived Wowz song, “Light in the Wake of Love,” featuring Heidi Alexander of Earth Girl Helen Brown, the album explores the full spectrum of human emotion. Set for release on August 29, 2025, via Royal Oakie Records, Infinite Feeling promises to be a deeply layered and heartfelt journey.
Tamar Korn and Kyle Morgan with Wyndham Baird – Darkening Green
Drawing from a well of American folk, country, and old-time music, the new album Darkening Green is a stunning collaboration between vocalist Tamar Korn and singer-songwriter Kyle Morgan. Featuring Wyndham Baird, the album showcases a collection of acoustic duets that feel both timeless and deeply personal. Korn’s voice, celebrated for its “sublime” and “transcendent” quality, blends seamlessly with Morgan’s grounded, evocative songwriting. The project reimagines classics from artists like Leonard Cohen, Gillian Welch, and the Carter Family, while also including two poignant original songs from Morgan. With their intertwined voices and tasteful arrangements, the duo creates a sound that is both a loving tribute to musical traditions and a fresh, modern exploration of harmony and emotion.
SQUANDERERS – Skantagio
The SQUANDERERS have returned with their new album, Skantagio, following their 2024 debut, If a Body Meet a Body. The title, as explained by musician David Grubbs, comes from an Ancient Greek word for a “sounding lead”—a simple tool used to measure water depth. This concept of taking a measurement and understanding one’s current depth with the most basic means possible is central to the album’s feel. Grubbs links this idea to a quote from artist Tony Conrad about dredging up the past and seeing time in its entirety within the present moment. This new record builds on the exploratory nature of their debut, showcasing a deeper sense of trust and comfort among the trio of Wendy Eisenberg, David Grubbs, and Kramer. The album, which was written, performed, and produced by the group, captures the continued unfolding of their first meeting as collaborators. Skantagio was mixed and mastered by Kramer and released on August 22, 2025.
Various – Mandatory Book Club Vol. 1
This is the only release in this list that isn’t a fresh album release; it came out in 2023. I only discovered following our recent interview with Brigid Mae Power, who appears on this compilation. Curated and mastered by David Allred, this seems to have slipped quietly into the world, simply described as: “A collection of phone demos envisioned and captured by sweet souls scattered around the world.” If you are familiar with Allred’s contemplative arrangements and enjoy ambient folk with experimental, neoclassical, and electronic elements, you’ll likely enjoy this.
Ivan The Tolerable & Hawksmoor – Atoms In The Void (LP/DL, Library Of The Occult, 2025)
Crafted in a swirl of hallucinatory bliss, Ivan The Tolerable & Hawksmoor’s new album, Atoms In The Void, is a collaboration that merges the distinct sound worlds of two experimental artists. Oli Heffernan, who performs as Ivan The Tolerable, and James McKeown of Hawksmoor, both known for their long-form, 70s-inspired jams, have come together to create bite-sized yet deeply atmospheric tracks. Released on vinyl by the esoteric label Library of the Occult, this record is a journey into cosmic jazz, experimental drone, and hazy delights. Tracks like “Anise” blend pastoral folk with an unsettling unease, while “Atom Dub” features Ivan The Tolerable’s signature drone alongside tasteful wah-wah guitar. “Machen” evokes the haunting soundscapes of Angelo Badalamenti, and “Interoception” offers a dizzying, blues-infused backbone. Atoms In The Void is an evocative and engaging trip into the unknown, a heady collaboration you didn’t know you needed.
Shrunken Elvis – Shrunken Elvis
Due out on September 5th, 2025, via Western Vinyl, the self-titled debut from Shrunken Elvis is an intuitive and exploratory journey from three of Nashville’s most seasoned musicians. Born from long drives across Europe and cold winter jam sessions, the trio—comprised of pedal steel guitarist Spencer Cullum, guitarist Sean Thompson, and synth and ambient artist Rich Ruth—prizes intuition over ambition. The result is an immersive soundscape that blends spiritual jazz, ambient textures, and psychedelic folk. Mixed by Jake Davis and featuring artwork by UK psych-folk artist Max Kinghorn-Mills, Shrunken Elvis is a project built on collaboration and curiosity, offering a fresh, genre-defying sound from a city known for its more traditional output.
Geckøs – Geckøs
Geckøs, the supergroup comprised of indie legends M. Ward and Howe Gelb (of Giant Sand), along with Irish multi-instrumentalist Mark McCausland (a.k.a. McKowski), was born out of a last-minute request to perform at a wedding. The song they wrote for the first dance, a dreamy, Spanish-sung ballad called “Wedding Waltz,” sparked a creative connection that transcended geography and led to a full-length album. Travelling between Tucson, Arizona; Portland, Oregon; and Omagh, Ireland, the three artists blended their distinct styles—from Gelb’s desert rock and Ward’s intricate indie folk to McCausland’s Irish mysticism—to forge a new, collective identity. The result is a record steeped in spontaneity and surreal charm, which channels the spirit of three musical masters who stumbled upon a new shared language. Drops September 26th on Org Music and PIAPTK Records.
Alice – Châteaux Faibles
A fresh release on Bongo Joe Records, Alice‘s new album Châteaux Faibles is a spirited, art-pop journey that delves into themes of fragility, resilience, and the power of community in tough times. The Genevan trio of Lisa Harder, Yvonne Harder, and Sarah André teamed up again with producer David Stampfli to craft a record that’s both deeply personal and universally resonant. The album’s handmade feel comes from a mix of bare-bones synths, polyphonic vocals, and a “musique concrète” twist—weaving in found sounds from everyday life and percussive body sounds like stomping feet.
Greg Jamie – Across a Violet Pasture
Singer, songwriter and guitarist Greg Jamie is to release his first album in over seven years. His last release, Crazy Time, was released in 2018 on Orindal Records. Out on October 10, 2025, his second solo album, Across a Violet Pasture, explores the eerie and enchanting space between sleeping and waking. The Maine-based musician’s experimental folk-pop is a unique blend of haunted textures and nostalgic sweetness, weaving together disparate influences from sea shanties and cowboy songs to the cavernous panic of Suicide and the cinematic lounge music of David Lynch. Intricately layered with analogue sounds, vintage drum machines, and spectral vocals, the album’s narratives are elusive, hinting at themes of escape, inner turmoil, and death while remaining deliberately incomplete. The result, which Jamie describes as sounding like a “dirty cassette tape, buried and unearthed,” is a record that is both raw and artfully composed, much like his uncanny watercolour paintings, which juxtapose dark backgrounds with shocks of vibrant colour.