Published on
March 22, 2024
Category
Features
Essential weekend listening.
This week’s rundown is by VF’s Kelly Doherty, and contributors Emily Hill and James Hammond.
Adrianne Lenker
Bright Future
(4AD)
Leading on from the acclaim of 2020’s Songs/ Instrumentals this solo effort from Big Thief singer-songwriter Adrianne Lenker firmly dodges over-production impulses and stands firm to the directness and intimacy of her songcraft. A straight-to-tape affair recorded with a close and longstanding group of collaborators, Bright Future intertwines familiar ideas of love, loss and memory with an openness and turn of phrase that makes these themes enduring when in the right hands. Another spellbinding collection from Lenker that sounds all the better for her dedication to airing songs within a space and recording them as such.–JH
Jlin
Akoma
(Planet Mu)
The Records That Made Me alumna Jlin returns to Planet Mu for her third album. As we’ve come to expect from Jlin, Akoma is an artful interrogation of club-ready sounds. In its glitchy traversing of genres as disparate as footwork, classical and trap, Akoma is unpredictable and intentionally disjointed, yet simultaneously silky smooth and fluid. Danceable and thoughtful, Akoma is an exhilarating collection. –KD
Julia Holter
Something in the Room She Moves
(Domino)
Julia Holter’s sixth album looks to the body and an abundant sense of flow as it draws a beguiling and far-reaching mix of sounds into the orbit of Holter’s vocals. With percussion, fretless bass, mellotron and Yamaha CS60 synth lines set within this swirl, Something in the Room She Moves seems to create its space as it goes, irrespective of genre specifics. Whilst pop may be a useful reference given the immediacy and melodic focus of many of these tracks, it’s the idiosyncratic undercurrents that invite repeated listens to Holter’s work.–JH
Waxahatchee
Tiger’s Blood
(Anti-)
Waxahatchee, the moniker of singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield, returns for an excellent sixth album. On Tigers Blood, Crutchfield further fleshes out the Americana of 2020 career highlight Saint Cloud. Upon initial inspection, Tigers Blood is an easy-moving road trip record, filled with relaxed country guitars and Crutchfield’s distinct vocals. Below the surface lies the lyricism of a fallible narrator, one that, despite the easygoing front, faces daily difficulty and isn’t above a flawed emotional response. Whilst less obviously intentional than its predecessor, Tigers Blood is another great entry from Waxahatchee.–KD
Skee Mask
ISS010
(Ilian Tape)
Skee Mask continues to take our breath away with his immaculate productions, this time in the shape of double EP, ISS010, on home imprint Ilian Tape. Skee’s vast and expansive musical knowledge travels through classic club and dub frameworks, which are topped off with his now signature classy spin. Utilising some ’90s-esque (more specifically 1993) hazy synth work, he combines extroverted drum machines to create dubbed-out tech-house vibes designed for heady dark dance floors brimming with euphoric bliss.–EH
W.A.T.
A Letter To My Love
(Stroom)
Once again, esteemed NTS resident Nosedrip takes us down a rabbit hole in his musical archives to present spectacular musical gems that seemed forgotten and lost to contemporary ears. W.A.T’’s A Letter To My Love is next, reissued on a limited 7″ by Nosedrip’s Stroom label, showing that it’s never too late to celebrate love.–EH
