My favorite album of the year so far
ft. Indigo De Souza, Dominic Fike, Christine and the Queens, Nicholas Britell
Two years ago, I couldn’t stop listening to Indigo De Souza’s Any Shape You Take, which became my favorite album of 2021. Remarkably, her new follow-up All Of This Will End rises to the same level.
De Souza’s sound is a unique mix of indie rock, grungy punk, and dance-pop aiming for “stadium-sized feelings” according to Pitchfork’s Arielle Gordon.
But two things really set the album apart: First, a sense of sequence and scale — it just feels cinematic and expansive, worthy of a front-to-back listen. Second, an element of surprise. Amid the dark lyrics and punk aesthetic, a few whimsical moments emerge out of nowhere: earnest whistling, keys, and horn sections that would feel right at home on an early-2000s twee album from The Shins or Belle & Sebastian.
As Gordon writes, “the trumpet on ‘Parking Lot’ adds triumphant warmth to a song about having a panic attack, and a chorus of whistles function like backup singers on ‘You Can Be Mean,’ sharpening the daggers in her lyrics.” I’m a sucker for that stuff — give the album a listen and see if it works its charm on you too.
Follow the Hear Hear playlist to listen along with all the music featured in this issue.
Songs to stream
“True Love,” Christine and the Queens ft. 070 Shake. A hypnotic new track from the French pop singer-songwriter. “This is some truly gorgeous arena-sized art music,” writes Tom Breihan in Stereogum.
“Dancing in the Courthouse” and “Ant Pile,” Dominic Fike. Two new singles from Fike carry over the vibe of his wonderful 2021 Paul McCartney cover, “The Kiss of Venus” — leaning into the melody-driven, guitar-heavy side of his rock-rap sound.
“NYE,” Local Natives. An impressive new tune from the steady SoCal rockers, ahead of their new album produced by John Congleton.
Concert corner
Quick dispatches and recommendations from two shows I caught in May…
Peter Cat Recording Co: This is their first North American tour, but based on the passionate sold-out crowd at Boston’s Brighton Music Hall, the New Delhi-based band has clearly built a cult following in the states. When you listen to their 2018 album Bismillah, you’ll understand why. Opening track “Where The Money Flows” is an instant winner with its inviting, slow-building, chill summer-day groove.
As Pranav Trewn writes in an excellent profile of the band on Stereogum, the band touches “on everything from big band and jazz-hop to synthesizer-bleeding indie pop.” The piece rightfully mentions Arctic Monkeys, Deerhunter, The Strokes, Velvet Underground, and Neutral Milk Hotel as influences.
The New Pornographers: The powerhouse team of A.C. Newman, Neko Case, and company continue to take their glorious harmonies on the road. The career-spanning setlist they played at Boston’s Royale nightclub is a helpful gateway if you want to try getting into their catalog. It also helped me fall in love with a couple of tracks from their new album, “Marie and the Undersea” and “Cat and Mouse With the Light.”
Succession’s secret weapon: Nicholas Britell’s music
One of my favorite parts of Succession’s final season was letting the end credits play through to hear the full extent of Nicholas Britell’s compositions. (Britell is also the mastermind behind scores for Moonlight and Andor, among others.)
The NYT’s Joshua Barone wrote a great piece celebrating Britell’s work:
Over the four seasons of Succession, he has written something unusual in television: a sprawling yet conceptually focused score that has developed, episode by episode, into a classic theme-and-variations work that would be just as fit for the concert hall as for the small screen.
The S4 score was released on Spotify shortly after its clanging keys perfectly punctuated the show.
RIP Tina Turner
The legendary Tina Turner died last Wednesday at age 83. In the NYT’s Amplifier newsletter, Lindsay Zoladz helped contextualize her legacy, linking to an appraisal from Wesley Morris and sharing two excellent playlists:
Tina Turner’s Greatest Rock Covers, highlighting “her many blistering and visionary interpretations of rock hits from the 1960s and ’70s.”
Tina Turner’s 11 Essential Songs, with “some of Tina Turner’s greatest musical moments, on record and on film.”
"Cat and Mouse With The Light" is a standout on a record that (for me) is already a frontrunner for AOTY.