This week’s brew draws the lens onto some of the new releases that are brightening up the short days of winter. The listen links are further down the page…but first, a few accompanying videos:
Brew No 137 kicks off with south London four-piece Dry Cleaning, featuring a track from their new album, Secret Love, their third studio album, produced by Cate Le Bon. Out now on 4AD, who describe the band as taking their place in rock’s avant garde, catalysing the Reaganite paranoia of early 80s US punk and hardcore with the dry strut of Keith Richards, stoner rock, dystopian degradation, playful no wave and pastoral fingerpicking, while Florence’s delivery, meticulously calibrated to her bandmates’ soundscapes, asserts her in a lineage of spoken-word artists stretching from Laurie Anderson to Life Without Buildings’ Sue Tompkins.
Sam Beam, the visionary multi-instrumentalist behind Iron & Wine, has also officially announced his eighth full-length album, Hen’s Teeth. Scheduled for release on February 27, 2026, via Sub Pop, the album acts as a spiritual sibling to 2024’s Grammy-nominated Light Verse. Alongside the announcement, Beam recently shared the lead single and video, “In Your Ocean,” a sonically poignant track that explores the dissolution of boundaries between lovers. Directed by Spencer Kelly, the visual accompaniment underscores the song’s theme of physical and emotional merging, with Beam singing of drowning in a shared existence.
Will Oldham, the enigmatic force behind the Bonnie “Prince” Billy moniker, has announced his latest studio endeavour, We Are Together Again, set for release on March 6th via Domino/No Quarter.
Following the critical success of 2025’s The Purple Bird (reviewed here and also a KLOF Mag Album of the Year), Oldham returns to his home turf of Louisville, Kentucky. Interestingly, work on these ten tracks predates his Nashville sessions for the previous record. Last spring, Oldham brought the material to End of an Ear Studios, collaborating with a rich ensemble of local talent, including tourmates Jacob Duncan and Thomas Deakin, as well as Ryder McNair, Chris Bush, and Ned Oldham.
Oldham describes the record as a spiritual successor to his early work, noting:
“This record was made closer to the Ohio River than any I’ve been involved with since 1993’s Palace Brothers There Is No-One What Will Take Care of You. Louisville’s current-and-past vital musical community is highlighted on every song. Catherine Irwin, who sang on the BPB release Ease Down the Road, is back here on “Hey Little” and “Vietnam Sunshine”. Lacey Guthrie, Tory Fisher and Katie Peabody, the three front women of the band Duchess, sing together on the opening and closing songs, parallel odes to the beast that is fear.“
The lead single, “They Keep Trying To Find You,” is accompanied by a video directed and choreographed by Abi Elliott (watch below).
Listen Links
Listen via Spotify | Apple Music | Tidal | Qobuz* | YouTube
*Qobuz was missing quite a few tracks.