New music round-up (for w/e 24 February 2023)
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 24 February 2023.
ARIA award-winning musician Tim Rogers and his fiddle-and-squeezebox country-blues compadres The Twin Set have shared their new album Tines of Stars Unfurled, out now via Virgin Music Australia. Tines of Stars Unfurled is a bookend to Rogers’ classic solo debut of ‘99 What Rhymes With Cars and Girls with The Twin Set joining once again. The album includes singles ‘Been So Good, Been So Far’ and ‘Twenty Two’.
Following the release of The Pink Album last year, Unloved return with Polychrome – The Pink Album Postlude. Over the last few years, Unloved have developed their own uniquely cine literate sound that draws a straight line from the moody, doom obsessed girl group records of the early 1960s to the sonic experiments of electronic pioneers like Delia Derbyshire and Silver Apples via the darkest corners of David Lynch films and the crisp, mono beauty of the French New Wave. Polychrome sees the band take a deeper dive into their world, with eight new tracks recorded at the same time at the band’s recently released third long player, The Pink Album, along with a welcome reappearance of Far From Here, a glorious widescreen tower of sound originally recorded and released as part of the band’s first EP, 2015’s Guilty of Love.
It was a 2006 performance of the Beethoven concerto at the Salzburg Festival with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker which brought the German violinist Veronika Eberle to international attention. Her new album Beethoven: Violin Concerto captures her London performance of the same work last year (incorporating new cadenzas by Jörg Widmann), which prompted The Strad to remark that ‘when the LSO Live album of the concert appears, it should make for essential listening’. Also includes the incomplete Violin Concerto in C major WoO5 – a 259-bar fragment from the early 1790s.
In the tropical Caribbean forest a river runs, the streaming water drowning out the rustling of leaves, the pulse of insects and the birds’ cry. The song of a man, more powerful than that of the waters, rises to the tops of the ancient trees. Polobi, balanced on a rock, launches a melody towards the infinity of the sky. Drawing inspiration from the heart of the tropical forest, the mystical character of Polobi and his musicians collaborate with idiosyncratic producer Doctor L (Les Amazones d’Afrique, Mbongwana Star), forging a radical new take on the Gwo Ka musical tradition from the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. The album Abri Cyclonique offers an electro-acoustic palette and offbeat rhythms adorn these deeply rooted Creole songs with a unique sound universe.
Parisian quintet En Attendant Ana have dazzled since day one. From the muted strains of their 2016 EP “Songs From The Cave”, to the assured 2018 debut album Lost & Found, to the sparkling refrains of Juillet; released just before the world collapsed around us, and which stood as the band’s rebirth and purest statement of their music ambitions – until now. Principia is the band’s third album and is touted as their best yet. Bandleader & principal songwriter Margaux Bouchaudon’s voice anchors many of the songs on “Principia”, her crystalline delivery ringing out like a bell as the band swoons & sways beneath her. The songs on Principia were composed from a place of confusion about the state of the world and her place in it, looking outward and inward for answers. They question our perception of others, the one they have of us and finally the one we have of ourselves in a society where the individual is king and the group is forgotten.
Christian McBride’s New Jawn — trumpeter Josh Evans (Jackie McLean, Cedar Walton, Rasheid Ali), saxophonist and bass clarinetist Marcus Strickland (Roy Haynes, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Chris Dave, Bilal, Robert Glasper), and drummer Nasheet Waits (Jason Moran, Joe Lovano, John Medeski) — are back with their highly anticipated sophomore album, Prime, the follow-up from McBride’s GRAMMY® nominated group. Featuring original compositions from each band member as well as fresh takes on songs from Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman and Larry Young, this group offers an exhilarating space of exploration for the 8-time GRAMMY® Award-winning McBride to stretch his veteran wings.
Summer Flake’s fourth album One Less Thing is out now. Over several months, Summer Flake fans have been praising the release of four singles, two videoclips and live single launch, waiting with anticipation for this day. From the dreamy title track ‘One Less Thing’, the nostalgic pop hooks of ‘Stranger’, to the softer side of ‘Ordinary’ and the iconic overdriven guitars and chugging bass in ‘Barnacle Bill’; Summer Flake have sculpted an album that spans across a unique sonic spectrum, with each track fitting beautifully in its own world, hinting at what this new record could bring.
Other reviews you might enjoy:
- New music round-up (for w/e 2 September 2022)
- New music round-up (for w/e 3 December 2021)
- Brilliant Failures (The Black Watch) – music review
David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb and a contributor on film and television