New music round-up (for w/e 5 May 2023)
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 5 May 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).
Mercy of the Crane Folk is the beautifully accomplished second album from Immaterial Possession. A theatrical soundscape littered with subconscious flashbacks, retro keyboard flurries, wandering Morricone-esque guitar and dreamy Sumac-like harmonies. Featuring the ethereal eerie dream pop of former artist commune residents Cooper Holmes and Madeline Polites, with drummer John Spiegel and Elephant 6 descendant Kiran Fernandes (keyboards, clarinets, flutes). Additional contributions come from drummer Jon Vogt who can be heard on ‘Mercy Of The Crane Folk’ and ‘Birth Of Queen Croaker’.
Stephen Cummings of course needs no introduction to Australian music fans – the Countdown Award and ARIA Award-winning singer and songwriter has had a long, productive, creative and distinguished career since his days up front of Sports in the late ’70s and ’80s. What does need an introduction however is the fact that in March 2020, Stephen suffered a life changing stroke and this new album is the product of that and the enthusiastic support he received creating it from the Melbourne music community. His new album, 100 Years From Now, is a record of beauty, of humanity, and of unflinching honesty. And gorgeous musicality. Recorded and mixed with longtime collaborators guitarist and producer Robert Goodge (Essendon Airport and I’m Talking) and producer and engineer Simon Polinksi (Steve Kilbey, Ollie Olsen), the album is a collection of co-writes that put Cummings’ post-stroke physical condition to the fore, both musically and lyrically. The effect of Stephen’s stroke on his singing adds a layer of bittersweet heartbreak to his already emotive style.
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”).
On Everything Harmony, the fourth full-length studio release from New York’s The Lemon Twigs, the prodigiously talented brothers Brian and Michael D’Addario offer 13 original servings of beauty that showcase an emotional depth and musical sophistication far beyond their years as a band, let alone as young men. While they eagerly devour musical influences from everything and everywhere, they have somehow arrived at a cohesive and dynamic sound that speaks to our troubled times.
The 20-year-old Spanish violinist María Dueñas combines a sense of almost childlike wonder with absolute technical mastery on her debut recording of the Beethoven concerto with the Wiener Symphoniker & Manfred Honeck, supplemented with shorter pieces by composers who wrote cadenzas to the work. Beethoven and Beyond is available now on Presto Music.
Other reviews you might enjoy:
- New music round-up (for w/e 28 April 2023)
- New music round-up (for w/e 23 June 2023)
- New music round-up (for w/e 12 April 2024)
David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb and a contributor on film and television