Some weeks are better than others. The one ahead definitely seems like it should be above average — especially since it includes a slew of new albums from the impressive lineup below. And hey, a Shania Twain cameo doesn’t hurt either. Peep all the goodness:
All We Are
Providence
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Providence is All We Are’s most euphoric and propulsive work to date, underpinned with a warmth that runs through everything the Liverpool-based trio do. With Providence, All We Are have created an album celebrating the universal virtues of love, loss, sex, friendship and dance. “The celebration of the positive things was our focal point with this record”, they say. “We could never have known what sort of world we’d be releasing this record into but our goal was always to try to bring people joy amongst the sorrow.” Comprised of Ireland’s Richard O’Flynn (drums), Norway’s Guro Gikling (bass) and Brazil’s Luis Santos (guitar), All We Are have released two albums previously, their self-titled debut in 2015 that explored sublime late-night grooves and the psychedelia, krautrock and post-punk-informed Sunny Hills in 2017. On Providence, the band shapeshift once again. Having exorcised some of their collective demons about the world on Sunny Hills, All We Are took a different approach for their new record – for the first time they took time off from each other to work on other projects. They came back with a new joyful lease of life that wound itself into the music. Where its predecessor had been clouded by anxieties, manifesting in drone-indebted guitars and a dark heaviness, Providence lands with a lighter touch. Their goal whilst writing was to use it to soothe your worries and make you move. Offering respite from the gloom, the album’s driving force is the power of music to heal, no matter what your beliefs or worries.”
Biffy Clyro
A Celebration Of Endings
THE PRESS RELEASE: “A Celebration of Endings finds U.K. alt-rock giants Biffy Clyro pushing everything they do to the next level, with the help of Grammy-winning producer Rich Costey (Foo Fighters, Muse, The Killers). Frontman Simon Neil explains, “This is a very forward-looking album from a personal perspective and a societal perspective. The title is about seeing the joy in things changing, rather than the sadness. Change means progression and evolution. You can retain everything you loved before, but let’s lose the bad shit. It’s about trying to take back control.”
Tanya Donelly & The Parkington Sisters
Tanya Donelly & The Parkington Sisters
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Tanya Donelly covers some of her favorite songs by The Go Go’s, Leonard Cohen, Kirsty MacColl, Split Enz, Linda Ronstadt, The Pretenders, Wings, Echo & The Bunnymen and Mary Margaret O’Hara on this outstanding new album. “When American Laundromat asked if I’d be interested in doing a covers album, I was hesitant, mainly because most of the songs I truly love are already perfect in their original form. But then I had the idea to ask the brilliant Parkington Sisters to be the band for this project, to bring their gorgeous sound and spirit, and make it something cohesive and centered. Happily, they said yes. So I chose a handful of songs that have been on heavy rotation in my head and heart from the first time I heard them, and the Sisters took over. They charted and plotted and arranged, and I joined Rose and Sarah and Ariel recording at Jon Evans’ Brick Hill Studio in Orleans MA, with guest players Matthias Bossi and Jon Evans (who also engineered). Lydia P put down some cello later, and I recorded additional vocals at Q Division Studios in Somerville MA, with James Bridges engineering. These are some of the most honest, moving, beautiful, unfiltered, true and cool songs that have ever been written, in my opinion. And those same adjectives apply to the Parkington Sisters as well.”
Kathleen Edwards
Total Freedom
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Kathleen Edwards will make her long-anticipated return to music with Total Freedom, her fifth studio album. Written and recorded in Canada and Nashville with longtime collaborator and guitarist Jim Bryson and Grammy-winning songwriter and producer Fitchuk, Total Freedom is both a return to form and a “hard reset,” one that empowered Edwards to write and perform entirely on her terms. “I didn’t want to write songs that were going to keep me in a dark place on stage every night,” she says. “I didn’t have to carry a lot of the pressure of whatever course I was on previously … There’s a pressure sometimes to keep that ball rolling, and that’s what was so freeing about stopping altogether. I have this whole other experience now that grounded me and helped me rebuild my relationship with myself, and writing music. I’m entirely in control and deciding what my course of action is … I finally had this exhale from a year that was really hard,” she says of the forces shaping Total Freedom. “I went through a scary experience, extricating myself from someone, and it was this wonderful moment of resilience when I finished the album. I am super resilient. I’m always finding ways to adjust what’s not working. I’m not gonna let someone take me down in the process. I think that calling (the record) Total Freedom was a reminder that I am a really strong person.”
Fantastic Negrito
Have You Lost Your Mind Yet?
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? marks Fantastic Negrito’s most far-reaching work thus far, fusing elements of hip-hop, R&B, funk, soul, and rock ‘n roll into an incendiary synthesis all his own. Inspired by and reminiscent of the socio-political albums coming from black America in the late 1960s and into the ’70s, the album sees Negrito exploring the struggle and complexities of mental health issues while continuing his long running lyrical examination of America’s increasingly broken social and political state of affairs. “On the first two albums I wrote about broad topics,” he says. “The proliferations of gun violence, the evil NRA, gentrification and homelessness, pharmaceutical companies that prey upon the people. On this album I wanted to write about people I knew, people I grew up with, people whose lives I could personally affect, and whose lives have impacted me. It was the hardest album I’ve ever written. What do I want to say to these people, and to the world? If I had the chance, I would tell them the pain they are feeling, the darkness they are going through is temporary – especially if you consider the span of a human life. I would tell them we can’t fight these obstacles alone. We need each other. Get offline. Talk to people. I would tell them I am here for you. We can’t hide from the pain. We need to look right at it. To really look into someone’s eyes is to feel their power and their vulnerability, to feel humanity, and to feel love.”
Bruce Hornsby
Non-Secure Connection
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Bruce Hornsby’s forthcoming album, Non-Secure Connection, follows the release of 2019’s acclaimed album, Absolute Zero. Hornsby’s music changed when he started having the genesis of his songs be from film music. Through composing for writer and director Spike Lee, Hornsby would often feel that the certain atmospheric quality of a “cue” he’d written should be developed into a song. About this unique approach, Hornsby notes, “It takes my music to a place that I like that sets it apart from other things I’ve done. I’m often looking to make a sound that I haven’t heard before and find a place in what I guess is the context of popular song for some new information.” Hornsby’s continued growth as a musician enables him to build upon and explore new musical techniques. On Non-Secure Connection, he’s created something different that touches on a broad range of themes, from civil rights to computer hackers, mall salesmen and the Darwinian aspects of AAU basketball. “The new album’s chromaticism and dissonance quotient is exactly twice as high (three songs featuring that language compared to one and a half on the last record),” says Hornsby. “I feel like my music has never been a part of any trend that defined any era of music during my 34 years of doing this. I may be wrong, but that’s how it feels to me.”
King Buzzo
Gift Of Sacrifice
THE PRESS RELEASE: “The Melvins’ King Buzzo has a new solo acoustic record called Gift of Sacrifice. This is exciting news! What makes this news even more exciting is that King Buzzo has recorded this record with the fabulously talented bass player Trevor Dunn. Trevor was a founding member of Mr. Bungle and also plays bass in the psycho metal/spaghetti western band Fantômas, as well as recording and touring with The Melvins (as Melvins Lite). The addition of Trevor’s stand-up bass makes Gift of Sacrifice a step up from King Buzzo’s last acoustic record, This Machine Kills Artists. It gives this new record a haunted quality which drives the songs to a new level. Another new element is the addition of modular synth, which adds its own angular sounds to the acoustic guitar and bass. This is an odd combination of sounds not heard before on an all-acoustic record.”
Robby Krieger
The Ritual Begins At Sundown
THE PRESS RELEASE: “The legendary guitarist and songwriter of The Doors and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Robby Krieger releases his first solo album in 10 years, The Ritual Begins At Sundown. The Doors weren’t just one of the most iconic bands of their generation, but one of the most influential bands in rock history and Robby Krieger was responsible for writing some of their biggest hits in Light My Fire, Love Me Two Times, Touch Me and Love Her Madly. Krieger returns for his ninth solo album and his first since 2010’s Grammy-nominated Singularity, and once again with his longtime writing partner and co-producer Arthur Barrow. Barrow worked with Frank Zappa through the 1970s-’80s as well as Giorgio Moroder, Joe Cocker, Diana Ross and Janet Jackson, and worked on soundtracks for Top Gun and Scarface. The album also features other Zappa alumni: Jock Ellis (trombone), Sal Marquez (trumpet) and Tommy Mars (keys) as well as AeB Bryne (flute), Vince Denim (sax), Chuck Manning (sax), Joel Wackerman (drums) and Joel Taylor (drums).”
Orville Peck
Show Pony EP
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Orville Peck delayed the release of his EP Show Pony in support of the BLM movement. The 32-year-old masked singer announced two days ahead of the release of the EP, which was set to arrive on June 12, that he’s decided to hold off on dropping the collection because he wants to “put [his] focus” on using his voice and platform to support the fight for justice and equality after the death of George Floyd. Meanwhile, the country singer recently hailed working with Shania Twain a “dream come true.” Orville and the Still the One hitmaker teamed up on Legends Never Die, and he was delighted to get to collaborate with the star because she has always been a “huge influence” on him. He said: “Working with Shania was a dream come true. Her music made me feel empowered as a kid and was a huge influence on me.” Twain teased the collaboration in a cryptic tweet, which writing, “Baby we’ve been up all night.” Peck thinks the upcoming EP is a much more “confident” record than his debut album Pony, saying it has a “more confident perspective and allows me to share even more both lyrically and musically. Like all country albums, Show Pony is a little collection of stories — some sad, some happy — and I am excited for people to hear it.”
