For almost a decade, Agnes Obel has been one of the most independent and original artists in contemporary music. Now she has returns with her highly anticipated new album Myopia – through Deutsche Grammophon.

A classically trained vocalist with a self-taught instrumentalist's spirit, Shara Nova has been releasing spellbinding music as My Brightest Diamond since 2006. Over the years, the band has released five groundbreaking albums, each showcasing a different musical landscape while always centering on Nova's distinctive voice.

Tindersticks' 14th album Soft Tissue showcases their exploratory spirit, mixing intimate songwriting with experimental soundscapes. The album evolves from their previous work, balancing introspective lyrics with innovative musical textures. Band members, including singer Stuart Staples, emphasize the collaborative nature of the creation process, fostering a dynamic dialogue that shapes their music. Key tracks like "New World" and "Always a Stranger" highlight this blend of personal reflection and sonic exploration, underscoring the band's enduring ambition and versatility.

As Alex Izenberg was piecing together the sweeping, psychedelic opuses on his full-band debut Alex Izenberg and The Exiles, the Los Angeles artist was focused on a simple goal: making something built to last. At the heart of his songs are bold ideas that take inspiration from the heady musings of philosopher Alan Watts, the multi-layered storytelling of King Crimson, and the imagistic vistas of Fleet Foxes. While the subject matter may feel esoteric—“My unconscious named the tongue/Of the lights of closed eyes” goes a characteristic lyric—Izenberg and his band let the music drift pleasantly to earth. The melodies are romantic and warm, and the arrangements are invitingly expansive, making expert use of a new ensemble formed around the strongest songs of his career.

The debauchery continues. Home Constellation Study’s opening track finds Asher White stumbling and drunk on an Amtrak she has snuck onto, crooning as the train races through post-industrial east coast cities. It’s a symbolic encapsulation of Home Constellation Study’s themes and sets the scene for what follows: an irreverent tone poem on mobility, passivity, home-making, environmental collapse, God, justice, romance, and luck, all set over the kaleidoscopic, home-brewed whirlwind of styles and sounds that has become the young producer’s signature.

"Hiraeth" is an untranslatable Welsh word that describes the longing for a home, a place or a feeling that no longer exists or never existed. The album pulls on a heart that conveys a distinct feeling of missing something irretrievably lost.

Lushly orchestrated and featuring guest appearances from Roy Montgomery and claire rousay, Martha Skye Murphy's debut solo album is a dynamic, dramatic chamber pop 'artmelter that sets its flag somewhere between FKA Twigs, Beth Gibbons and Julia Holter.

Before lockdown halted their tour in early 2020, singer Stuart Staples was already nurturing seeds for a different kind of Tindersticks album. If 2019’s No Treasure but Hope saw these mavens of intimate, expansive mood song rediscovering themselves as a unit, the follow-up reconfigures that unit so that everything familiar about Tindersticks sounds fresh again. Released through City Slang on February 19th, Distractions is an album of subtle realignments and connections from a restless, intuitive band: rich in texture and atmosphere, it lives between its open spaces and filigree details, always finding new ways to connect with a song.

Raw, authentic chamber pop with refined arrangements, where rock, jazz, world and classical music intertwine.

Never one for easy categorisation, the on-going adventures of David Longstreth’s Dirty Projectors project are especially genre-agnostic on the 5 EPs released throughout 2020. The neatly-titled 5EPs collates these songs into a mammoth compilation. Each set of songs sees a different band-member taking over lead vocal duties, and indeed the flavours of these tracks stretch the breadth and width of the musical spectrum. The likes of ‘Self Design’ and ‘Empty Vessel’ deal in funk and house-inspired rhythms, while ‘Moon, If Ever’ and ‘I Get Carried Away’ are staunchly minimal in instrumentation, but undeniably 1960s pop in melodic sophistication.

"I adore these musicians: Sam Amidon, Karl Blau, Charlotte Greve, and Shahzad Ismaily. Some I've collaborated with for two years, others for over twenty. We gathered last spring at Figure 8 Studios in Brooklyn, rehearsed for a day, then recorded this album at the nearby Owl Parlor on March 29 and 30, 2023. Hearing my songs interpreted by these talented musicians, who are also dear friends, brings me immense joy. I hope you enjoy this album as well. Huge thanks to Oren Bloedow at The Owl Parlor for providing such a beautiful space for us to create and record this music."

Opened up by the delirious alchemy of contemporary pop music, Sean O’Hagan leaps back into life with High Llamas, with a set of killer tunes reflecting on dimensional levels how definitions change over time. Arranged by Sean and produced with mix collaborator Fryars to engage the eardrums in non-stop new possibilities, Hey Panda radiates optimism inspired by the joys and sorrows felt in former lifetimes and the diverse conundrums of today alike.

Ed Harcourt releases his new album, El Magnifico via own imprint, Deathless Recordings. The self-produced album was recorded at his own Wolf Cabin studios with finishing touches made with assistance from producer Dave Izumi Lynch at Eastbourne’s Echo Zoo Studio.

Recent years brought about for Julia Holter an existential focus on human connection, amid the staggering change that came with the death of loved ones (including her young nephew, to whom the album is dedicated) and the birth of her daughter. On Something in the Room She Moves, Holter vividly processes the complexity, gravity, and awe of this confluence of experience. She calls the music “sensual,” “flowing,” and “nocturnal”–a testament to how love, with all of its challenges, “reroutes neural pathways.” The cover art by Holter’s childhood friend, artist Christina Quarles, highlights the multiplicity of intimate connection: are the figures embracing or in battle?

Deep Sea Vents is a collaboration between Bruce Hornsby and yMusic, who are artistically known as BryhM. The album was produced by Hornsby and Rob Moose, Music violinist. Guest artists are Branford Marsalis, soprano sax on "Platypus Wow" and "Phase Change," Mark Dover, clarinet on "The Wake of St. Brendan" and "Deep Blue," and Chad Wright, drums on "Deep Blue". BryhMexplores seafaring themes, sounds and metaphors encapsulated in progressive chamber music and Hornsby's vocals.