Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 28 April 2023.
Over three decades ago, Peter One was a STAR – a country music star – in West Africa. With his singing partner Jess Sah Bi, Peter played in sold-out arenas. In 1985, Our Garden Needs Its Flowers, launched the two Ivory Coast musicians into regional stardom across greater West Africa. Now solo, Peter One ultimately decided to emigrate to the US to further his music career. His new album Come Back to Me features songs in English, French, and his native African language.
Garage rocker Olivia Jean has released her third solo album Raving Ghost via Third Man Records. Raving Ghost is an album populated by mysterious characters in various states of danger – cursed lovers, doomed souls, women deliriously haunted by unseen forces. Over the course of its 11 spellbinding tracks, Olivia Jean amplifies that drama with her wildly melodic take on garage rock, handling each riff with the power and precision she’s previously shown as a member of the Black Belles and as an in-demand session/touring musician. The album features backing from such top musicians as My Morning Jacket keyboardist Bo Koster, Jellyfish co-founder Roger Joseph Manning Jr, and drummers Carla Azar (T-Bone Burnett, Nikki Lane) and Patrick Keeler (The Raconteurs, The Afghan Whigs).
Three years after the superb and much acclaimed Dumky, the Trio Karénine revisit Dvořák. His epic Trio no.3, combining Brahmsian inspiration with strains of Mitteleuropa, is heard on their new album Suk – Dvořák, alongside two ‘little’ works by Suk: the early Trio op.2, polished under the guidance of Dvořák himself, and a poignant elegy in memory of the great Czech man of letters, Zeyer.
Five years after Susanne Sundfør redefined her career with the folk-inspired, emotionally-effervescent album Music for People In Trouble, the Norwegian musician, artist and producer delves even deeper into her personal mythology on the soul-bearing blómi. Meaning “to be in bloom” in Norse, blómi takes very unique aspects of Susanne’s life story, like the academic work of her grandfather who is a linguist specialising in Semitic languages, and her own life-changing experiences as a new mother, to weave together a colourful tapestry unlike anything she has released to date.
Three years after the release of Artemis’ critically acclaimed self-titled debut album, the ensemble returns with a marvelous follow-up that highlights the improvisational strength of its members as well as their respective gifts as composers. In Real Time showcases a new lineup of the collective with founding members pianist Renee Rosnes, drummer Allison Miller, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, and bassist Noriko Ueda joined by newcomers tenor saxophonist Nicole Grover and multi-reedist Alexa Tarantino. The 8-song set presents compelling new band member originals along with choice covers of pieces by Lyle Mays (“Slink”) and Wayne Shorter (“Penelope”).
John Andrews is something of an open secret in a certain corner of the music scene: a versatile musician & animator. A film school drop out whose work hat-tips tradition as much as outsider anti-aesthetics. He’s spent over a decade on the DIY circuit, playing early house shows alongside then up-and-coming peers Weyes Blood and Daniel Bachman. Today he is still out there projecting his sketchy hand drawn animations during his performances in coffee shops, small galleries and non-traditional venues. Andrews’ painterly approach now introduces us to his version of New York City, the place he was bound to end up after years of dwelling in Pennsylvania farm towns and New Hampshire barns. Love For The Underdog, his aptly titled fourth release with the Woodsist label, was tracked live to tape in various studios and apartments across the New York state with help from his bandmates in Cut Worms’ touring outfit, Max Clarke, Keven Lareau & Noah Bond. Buoyant melodies are supported by timeless string arrangements, translated from Andrews’ head to page with the help of friend Simon Hanes.
Tiny Ruins, the project of New Zealand based musician Hollie Fullbrook, have released their new album Ceremony, available now across all platforms via Milk! Records. The follow-up to 2019’s celebrated Olympic Girls, Ceremony goes deep into all the old and murky mysteries of what it means to be human – and sometimes it nearly goes under. Yet these songs also show how you can find the strength to swim from the shipwreck, push through the silt, and surface into another new morning. Another new chance.
Other reviews you might enjoy:
- New music round-up (for w/e 5 May 2023)
- New music round-up (for w/e 19 April 2024)
- New music round-up (for w/e 11 November 2022)
David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb and a contributor on film and television
