New music round-up (for w/e 12 July 2024)

Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 12 July 2024.

Composer Helen Leach, known for her enchanting compositions that evoke rich landscapes and deep emotions, releases her album titled Diary of the Bee. This new collection features a series of rich, tonally traditional compositions. With all tracks being world premiere recordings, the album showcases Leach’s remarkable ability to blend lyrical melodies with profound storytelling.
“Diary of the Bee” marks a significant addition to the classical repertoire, offering listeners an absorbing journey through Leach’s musical landscapes. Each piece on the album unveils a unique narrative, beautifully performed by leading instrumental soloists alongside the esteemed Victoria String Quartet.

These days, every artist’s album needs to have a story. The music can’t speak for itself. But after 22 records, why can’t Ani DiFranco’s work speak for itself? Yes, her new album Unprecedented Sh!t is shaped by stories — ones about reproductive freedom, the double-edged sword of the pandemic, identity and ever-evolving belief systems that have shaped each of its 11 songs. There are songs that were written in 2011 and in 2022; some for musicals, others for children’s books. The album isn’t linear, but it is inherently teeming with DiFranco’s spirit. But it was paramount to the folk-feminist hero that listeners not be saddled with preconceived notions while diving into her 23rd album.

Thom Yorke’s original soundtrack Daniele Luchetti’s film Confidenza is out now. Confidenza follows Yorke’s previous full-length score and original soundtrack for Luca Guadagnino’s 2018 Suspiria remake, receiving a GRAMMY-nomination for Best Song Written for Visual Media. Produced by Sam Petts-Davies (Suspiria, The Smile Wall Of Eyes), Confidenza sees Petts-Davies and Yorke working again with the London Contemporary Orchestra alongside a jazz ensemble which included Robert Stillman and fellow The Smile bandmate Tom Skinner. In 2019 Yorke contributed music to Edward Norton’s Motherless Brooklyn and in 2022 he wrote two original tracks for the series finale of Peaky Blinders.

Since their debut as Brijean, the project of percussionist/singer-songwriter Brijean Murphy (the percussive heartbeat for live bands like Mitski, Poolside, and Toro y Moi) and multi-instrumentalist/producer Doug Stuart has moved with ingenuity, fusing psych-pop abstraction with dancefloor sensibilities. Through the body and mind, rhythm and lyricism, they make sense of the worlds around and within; 2021’s Feelings celebrated self-reflection; 2022’s Angelo processed loss, coinciding with the duo’s first headlining tour, which doubled down on the material’s desire to move. Now, across the playful expanse of Macro, Brijean engages different sides of themselves, the paradox of being alive.

South African saxophonist Linda Sikhakhane has released his new album Iladi via Blue Note/Universal Music Africa. The album was produced by Sikhakhane’s frequent collaborator Nduduzo Makhathini who is also featured on piano with Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere on bass and Kweku Sumbry on drums. Iladi presents eight evocative original compositions by Sikhakhane including the stunning lead single “Inkehli”. His music epitomizes the vibrant evolution of South Africa’s jazz landscape with inspiration drawn from such greats such as John Coltrane and Winston Mankunku Ngozi. His exceptional skill on the saxophone, honed through formal education and collaborations with renowned artists both locally and internationally, has positioned him as a rising star on the global jazz stage. Sikhakhane was honored as the 2022 Standard Bank Young Jazz Artist.

Like the night sky itself, the world of My Light, My Destroyer is always expanding. Cassandra Jenkins’ third full-length cracks open the promise of reaching the edge of the new, with a wider sonic palette than ever before—encompassing guitar-driven indie rock, new age, sophistipop, and jazz. At the center of it all is Jenkins’ curiosity towards the quarks and quasars that make up her universe, as she blends field recordings with poetic lyricism that is at turns allusive, humorous, devastating and confessional—an alchemical gesture that further deepens the richness of My Light, My Destroyer’s 13 songs.

Caracoles ushers (GRAMMY-award nominated) Orquesta Akokán’s unique brand of mambo into the 21st century, imbuing it with the group’s signature sense of akokán – a Cuban Yoruba word meaning “from the heart”. Back at the helm are producer and multi instrumentalist, Jacob Plasse and virtuosic pianist, composer and arranger Michael Eckroth – a collaboration that continues to lead Orquesta’s exploration of the sublime mambo in all its depth and breadth. On this, their third album, they combine talents with Cuban lyricist, singer and composer Kiko Ruiz, who has toured and recorded with Pancho Amat’s illustrious Estrellas del Buena Vista Social Club as well as having a longstanding history as a singer, composer and arranger with Orquesta Maria Alejandra y Cubanía.

Other reviews you might enjoy:

• New music round-up (for w/e 26 July 2024)
• New music round-up (for w/e 25 August 2023)
• New music round-up (for w/e 17 November 2023)