News reached us as we were going to press of a seventh album from Ezra Furman. Coming hot on the heels of 2018’s Transangelic Exodus, Twelve Nudes is due on 23 August, released by Bella Union and mixed by John Congleton (St Vincent, John Grant, Sharon Van Etten). “his is our punk record”, says Furman. “We made it in Oakland, quickly. We drank and smoked. Then we made the loud parts louder. I hurt my voice screaming. This was back in 2018, when things were bad in the world. It’s the sound of me struggling to admit that I’m not OK with the current state of human civilisation, in which bad men crush us into submission. Once you admit how bad it feels to live in a broken society, you can start to resist it, and imagine a better one.”