This month…

P24 LISA O’NEILL

P25 AVEY TARE

P28 JOE HENRY

P30 RYUICHI SAKAMOTO

P33 THE WAEVE

P34 SUNNY WAR

P35 THE SMILE

P36 BRIX SMITH

AMBER ARCADES

Barefoot On Diamond Road FIRE 7/10

Panoramic third from alt.pop Netherlander

Having assessed the state of Europe on her second album, Annelotte de Graaf has now turned to more intimate matters – namely, personal relationships and her connection to music. “Big atmosphere” was her aim, and she’s hit that mark in a set full of dynamic nuance with a filmic scope. Again, she cuts sonic muzziness with muscularity: on the gorgeous “Contain” she softly gushes, “I love how you smile like a boy” over a blown-out bass crackle, while the wintry “Life Is Coming Home” suggests folk round singing with My Bloody Valentine. Churning, slow-build epic “I’m Not There” sees her adding a Phil Spector boom to Sharon Van Etten’s do-or-die intensity, and is a standout.

SHARON O’CONNELL

ACID ARAB

Trois CRAMMED DISCS 8/10

Pulsating electronica put through an Arabic folk filter

There are moments where this French-Algerian collective truly get deep into “acid house” – on the pulsating “Rachid Trip” (featuring a sample of the late, great Rachid Taha) and on the Frankie Knuckles-goes-schaffel gallop of the closing track, “Sayarat 303”. Elsewhere, three decades of Western club culture are put through the prism of North African music. “Acid Chawi” places a twitchy 303 bassline under a Saharan chaoui flute and vocal riff; “Gouloulou” is synth-heavy gangster hip-hop featuring the ululating vocals of Fella Soltana; best of all is the galloping afro-house of “Habaytak”, featuring the haunting voice of Ghizlane Melih.

JOHN LEWIS

THE ARCS

Electrophonic Chronic EASY EYE SOUND 8/10

All-star side-project gets a belated, freighted second volume

In 2021, The Arcs’ frontman Dan Auerbach and keyboardist Leon Michels assembled an LP from the scores of unreleased songs the band had tracked following the release of 2015’s Yours, Dreamily, in tribute to their late bandmate, musician/producer Richard Swift. The songs they selected eschew the lysergic and garage-y extremes Swift had brought to the group in favour of smouldering soul ballads including “Heaven Is A Place”, “Behind The Eyes”, “Love Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” and a cover of Helene Smith’s 1967 ballad “A Man Will Do Wrong”. Auerbach’s stoic, close-mic’d vocals and gnarled tendrils of distorted guitar bring a devastating immediacy to an album that contemplates the death of love and, by extension, mortality itself, seeking closure.

BUD SCOPPA

AVEY TARE

7s DOMINO 8/10

Animal Collective co-founder’s fourth solo outing may be his most effervescent

While Animal Collective’s Time Skiffs felt like a warm, bright light in the dark when it arrived early last year, the latest product of Avey Tare’s everbustling imagination may be even more lustrous. Recorded in the winter of 2021, the songs on Tare’s fourth solo effort brims with joy, wonder and the sheer pleasure to be found in making sounds, the latter being the explicit subject of “The Musical” and an implicit one throughout. Though there’s plenty of the psych-pop shimmer and wobble that have been omnipresent in just about all the music to emerge from the Collective collective over the last 23 years, there’s also more space and delicacy in songs like the delightful “Lips At Night” than Tare’s maximalist sensibility often allows.

JASON ANDERSON

TRINA BASU & ARUN RAMAMURTHY

Nakshatra SPINSTER 8/10

Two violins melding musical traditions

South Indian ragas, Western chamber music, jazz and folk are transformed into a singular sonic conversation on Nakshatra, the debut album from Brooklyn-based husband-and-wife violin duo Trina Basu and Arun Ramamurthy. Though it consists only of the two violins, this music is remarkably exuberant, a curious mix of vulnerable and universal that makes the album hum with the ambient expressiveness of a film score. “Alterity” is enigmatic and contemplative, while “Tempest” is a brilliantly moody cosmic journey, melancholy yet bursting with life. Nakshatra resonates with the power of an ancient drone, revivified by fearless contemporary spirit.

ANA GAVRILOVSKA

BELLE AND SEBASTIAN

Late Developers MATADOR 8/10

Glasgow misfits’ surprise package

Late Developers was recorded during the same pandemic sessions as last year’s A Bit Of Previous and – rather like Spiritualized’s recent back-to-back – it’s by far the stronger set, unencumbered by the pressure to impress on the first instalment and full of unexpected moments that bring out their best. There’s the Deacon Blue drivetime of “I Don’t Know What You See In Me” and yearning disco of “Do You Follow” – “I’m waiting like a coiled spring/ For the telephone to ring”, pines eternal teen Stuart Murdoch. Add the Stonesy blues of “When You’re Not With Me” and loutish opener “Juliet Naked” for one of their more purely enjoyable albums.

PIERS MARTIN

BLACK BELT EAGLE SCOUT

The Land, The Water, The Sky SADDLECREEK 7/10

Strong third by US indie songwriter

Katherine Paul aka KP aka Black Belt Eagle Scout continues to develop her take on indie dreampop, which is infused rather than overloaded with her unique perspective as a queer native American raised on the Swinomish reservation in Washington. “Treeline” is the best song here, with the suspense-filled percussion relentlessly underscoring her breathy vocals, while the slow-burn of “Blue” is a soaring mid-set ballad with anthemic qualities showcasing a strong sense of dynamics. That captures the defiant mood, something best heard in opener “My Blood Runs Through This Land” and the churning rage of “Understanding”.

PETER WATTS

BMX BANDITS

Music From The Film “Dreaded Light” TAPETE 7/10

Debut soundtrack from Scottish indie linchpins

Duglas Stewart’s fascination with soundtracks was sparked by the 1965 TV theme for Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe, with its lush romantic longing. Alongside current right-hand man Andrew Pattie, his music for Mark MacNicol’s debut film Dreaded Light favours daylight shadows as much as brightness. Among miniatures and cues, hard acoustic guitar plucks abrade flowing flute on “I Heard A Baby Crying”; a child’s music box and nightmare synthesiser swells contrast with themes sharing Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe’s beautifully bittersweet DNA. Stewart also offers a brace of songs, the bossa nova lilt of “Long Forgotten Summers” and “Spinning Through Time”, a waltzing, deeply romantic avowal.

NICK HASTED

ALYSSEGAFKJEN

DAVID BREWIS

The Soft Struggles DAYLIGHT SAVING 7/10

Field Music man channels Van Morrison

The younger Brewis brother is renowned for his meticulous approach, so for his first album under his own name he wanted to try something different. Citing Astral Weeks, he challenged his musicians to come up with their parts in the studio – and the bounding upright bass and fluttering woodwind of “Surface Noise” comes close to emulating the rapturous, acoustic swirl of Morrison’s off-the-cuff masterpiece. FM fans will recognise Brewis’s unique way with a melody and his ability to turn everyday conversations into something more profound. The songs about his children risk tipping over into twee, but it’s hard to disparage such a warm, consoling record.