New music round-up (for w/e 9 August 2024)

Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 9 August 2024.

For years, esperanza spalding dreamed about making music with Milton Nascimento, the revered Brazilian singer-songwriter. Milton + esperanza, out now on Concord Records, is the moving culmination of spalding’s long-held admiration. A mixture of classics from Nascimento’s catalogue, new songs from spalding, and covers from other artists, including The Beatles and Michael Jackson, the album is a portrait of their creative relationship. “Ninety percent of things I write,” she says, “I’m thinking of him. I’m thinking of his voice. I’m imagining singing it with him. He’s a very present part of my creative imagination.” But, she clarifies, that doesn’t mean she’d gone so far as to imagine a collaborative album; that existed beyond her fantasies.

This Is How Tomorrow Moves is the new album from Beabadoobee. Born in the Philippines and raised in London, Beatrice Laus, known as Beabadoobee, has emerged as a British indie icon. With two acclaimed albums and five diverse EPs, she’s garnered BRIT Award and BBC Sound Of nominations, and won NME’s 2020 Radar award. This Is How Tomorrow Moves captures Bea’s confidence and introspection, with themes of self-acceptance and personal growth woven throughout. It stands as a testament to her artistic evolution and resilience, marking a significant milestone in her career.

Margaret Brouwer is a composer renowned for her music’s lyricism, imagery and emotional power. Her music is the subject of the new album Rhapsodies, from ORF Vienna Radio Symphony and conductor Marin Alsop. The five premiere recordings on the record span 24 years. Brouwer grew up in a Dutch/American community and her Symphony No. 1 “Lake Voices” encodes both a recurring Dutch hymn-like melody and the rhapsodic, sparkling sonorities of a lake vista. Rhapsody, Concerto for Orchestra provides dazzling sounds and virtuosic challenges, while Pluto, written during a period of loss, offers destructive but also restorative moments. Elsewhere, Brouwer evokes the beauties of nature and sailing at dawn.

An all-encompassing aural assault, a force as unstoppable and fiercely alive as the tide. The post-rock powerhouse known as AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR have returned with their 7th studio album, Megafauna. A tribute to the two places the collective call home, their beloved Portrush on the Irish North Coast and the beating heart that is Belfast; ‘ Megafauna’ is headstrong exploration and heartfelt appreciation with all the intuition, intimacy and humour of four firm friends approaching their 20th year as a band.

Oyster Cuts finds Melbourne/Naarm–based outfit Quivers awash in the kind of emotions people tend to fear losing themselves in. Finding love after grief, the outsized guitar pop of Quivers gleams like the surface of an ocean, beneath which lies a reef that is at turns beautiful and painful, its features alien and sharp enough to wound. Propelled by melodies that at times recall Galaxie 500 and The Pretenders, Quivers make music that is tender and tough, compelling the listener to dive in again and again, each song a new angle on all of your feelings.

Making something nostalgic feel brand new, indie-rock band Never Ending Fall have released their new record American Disco via Create Music Group. A stark genre pivot from their 2020 debut album Space City, the new music feels almost like a different band altogether. But in reality, it’s a group of best friends since a fated 4th grade talent show performance. They cite hearing Turnstile’s GLOW ON as one of the major moments of inspiration for the kind of energy they want to bring to their own music. The last 5 years have transformed a once hesitant band into one their former selves would be proud of with this release.

Many still see Louis Cole foremost as a drummer. nothing, Cole’s fifth album – out now – is bound to change that impression. Collaborating with the Metropole Orkest and Jules Buckley, he rejected the well-trodden path to orchestral renditions of his greatest hits and instead opted to compose a suite of brand new music for this project – bigger, bolder, and more expansive than ever. Yes, there are nods to his GRAMMY-nominated 2022 album Quality Over Opinion, but 15 of the 17 tracks included here are brand new. This is jazz. This is classical music. It’s got that funk. You’ll hear synths and loops. You’ll hear a band and live drumming. There’s a world class orchestra playing. Some pieces are ultra concise, whereas the sprawling ‘Doesn’t Matter’ surpasses the ten minute mark. To Cole, jazz has always been the one place where you can really let go of all expectations – on nothing, he is putting the music where his mouth is.

Other reviews you might enjoy:

• New music round-up (for w/e 11 June 2021)
• New music round-up (for w/e 20 October 2023)
• New music round-up (for w/e 16 August 2024)