Albums

On Junior Brother’s third album, The End, Ronan Kealy displays real genius in the way he links ancient themes, such as the album’s underlying central motif of fairy forts, to our contemporary plight. “we can do nothing other than hang on his every word, words that slip from calm to fervid to agonised. It’s a journey we are willing to take again and again.”

On Animal Poem, Anna Tivel’s latest album, she asks, “In the face of endless avarice and cruelty, how do we talk about the realness of love? How do we talk about destiny from the balcony of a nation in decline? How does our attention shape the way we touch the natural world?” It’s a masterclass in subtlety and emotional depth that doesn’t demand your attention but instead earns it.

Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin’s Ghosted I and II freewheeled across a matrix whose corners were marked by krautrock, ambient, jazz and freely improvised modernism, III adds even more dimensions. It’s the sound of a band who know each other well enough that they can begin to concentrate on the things they don’t yet know, the unexplored musical directions that open up when they play together.

Wao is living proof that Joseph Shabason & Nicholas Krgovich and Tenniscoats, two utterly distinctive musical acts, can collaborate successfully and create something new without losing any of their own potency in the process. This outwardly unassuming album is as wise and beautiful and unexpected as anything currently happening in the furthest-flung outposts of music.  

Pareidolia is a subtle and teasing record, beautiful and sometimes bewildering. It has an engrossing element that resembles the arc of a story, which is difficult to achieve in improvisational music but which gives you an insight into how closely and how well Eiko Ishibashi and Jim O’Rourke work together, and how much background work they put into this intuitive, cohesive album.

In his new album Só Ouço, German-Spanish artist Wolfgang Pérez chronicles a two-year journey through Rio de Janeiro that profoundly reshaped his musical perspective. The project, which started as a formal study, evolved into a full immersion in the city’s rhythms and culture. The result is a vibrant musical dialogue between his European roots and the complex soul of Brazil, born from unexpected collaborations.

Following a diagnosis of a degenerative nerve condition and told he would no longer be able to play guitar, Amit Dattani taught himself a new way of playing, and, several years on, defiantly returns with ‘Wrong Kind of One’, an album that’s as strong as his debut and deserving of further glowing accolades.

With Patterns, Katy Pinke & Will Graefe nail the perfect cover album, hitting an impeccable balance between variety of material and consistency of tone. While covering well-known songs by Bobbie Gentry, The Beach Boys, Elliott Smith, SZA, Frank Ocean, Paul Simon and Jeff Buckley, you could come to Patterns without knowing any of these songs, and it would still be an entrancing and rewarding listen.

Chicago Underground Duo’s Hyperglyph is a stunning return, a masterful fusion of free jazz and otherworldly exploration. Rob Mazurek’s trumpet and synthesizers blend with Chad Taylor’s percussion, creating a relentless, vibrant album that feels both familiar and entirely new. It’s an exhilarating, multi-layered work of pure invention.

A profound and meditative forty-minute journey, Nathan Salsburg’s solo acoustic guitar album, Ipsa Corpora, is a testament to his creative and technical prowess. This deeply personal work challenges genre norms as Salsburg’s masterful playing explores moods from the melancholic to bucolic joy, with every note meticulously crafted for a captivating listening experience.

Jake Winstrom’s third album, RAZZMATAZZ!, is a masterclass in musical restraint. The former frontman of Tenderhooks opts for a stripped-back sound, allowing ten tightly written songs to shine. From the fingerstyle guitar of “This Blue Note” to the Springsteen-esque rock of “One More for the Moon,” Winstrom confidently explores new sonic territory. This is a fresh, clean, and deliberate album that’s a pleasure to hear.

Radio Lusaka marks the first-ever vinyl compilation of Alick Nkhata’s work, a golden-voiced singer, freedom fighter, and a pivotal figure in Zambia’s freedom movement. The album is accompanied by a booklet featuring lyric translations by Zambian author Ellen Banda-Aaku and in-depth notes by scholar Jamal Khadar. The album reveals the legacy of a man whose music and voice were deeply connected to his country’s journey towards independence.