It’s been a bit of a slow one this week. After the excitement of The Killers’ new album last week, we see big things from Wolf Alice and Miley Cyrus taking top marks, whilst another from P!nk’s forthcoming Beautiful Trauma and one from Banks give us the best of the singles. Come back next week to see albums from Liam Gallagher and Erasure (exciting…) but for now, it’s definitely enough with the introduction and time to get stuck into the bare pickings of This Week In Records.
Miley Cyrus – Younger Now
Craziness and utter lunacy seemed synonymous with Miley Cyrus a mere two years ago. Reemerging earlier this year, Miley 2.0 sees the singer strip back and embrace her country roots whilst modernising them to fit the pop formula. “No one stays the same” calls out Cyrus in title track ‘Younger Now’, this seems to be the calling card for the rest of the album, one in which she takes control of the songwriting and production, with it ending up being all really lovely really. See ‘Thinkin” if you want to see a bit more of Cyrus at her best.
Banks – ‘Underdog’
Teetering around the boundaries of pop and experimental electronic music, Banks is one of those artists who doesn’t fall into any given category. Back after a summer of playing all the festivals (Coachella, Lollapalooza) and a wildly popular North American tour, she’s unveiled brand new track ‘Underdog’, packed full of synthy R&B allure. The follow-up to Jack Antonoff collab ‘Crowded Places’, it feels like the prelude of what’s to come for Banks in 2018.
Wolf Alice – Visions Of A Life
Since their debut album, My Love Is Cool planted them onto the scene in 2015, lovers of Wolf Alice have been desperate for another taste of their iconic sound doused with Ellie Rowsell‘s ethereal vocals. Their surprising comeback single earlier this year, ‘Yuk Foo‘ came as a shock to these eager listeners, all worried for a moment that we’d be getting a screamo rock album (not that it would’ve been a bad thing). Follow-up singles ‘Don’t Delete The Kisses‘, ‘Beautifully Unconventional’ and ‘Heavenward’ took the band’s previous sound further, maintaining aspects yet with a new edge hard to resist falling in love with. The resulting sound of Visions Of A Life is a mix of a lot of things really. Speaking in a recent interview with The Edge, lead singer Ellie Rowsell said, “I don’t like one particular style, so I want to try them all… I don’t think about it too much – it’s more that it keeps it more fun for me”. It definitely seems like Visions Of A Life succeeds in fulfilling Rowell’s statement.
P!nk – ‘Beautiful Trauma’
‘What About Us’, first single from P!nk’s forthcoming album Beautiful Trauma, catapulted her back onto centre stage, and 71 million streams on Spotify later, she seems ready to hold onto it for a little bit longer. Follow-up single ‘Beautiful Trauma’, written by omnipresent Jack Antonoff- the Bleachers frontman who’s worked extensively with Lorde and Taylor Swift this year. The result is a song which will instantly lift your spirits, urging you put on your fighting gear, and of course features some pretty stellar vocals from the woman herself.
Zak Abel – ‘The River’
Following singles ‘Unstable’ and ‘Only When We’re Naked‘, Zak Abel seems to be in full swing with his releases, in anticipation of debut album Only When We’re Naked. ‘The River’ is, as per usual, is a track built around Abel’s soulful vocals, building and crescendoing just as we hear his voice strain along with it. It’s certainly exciting to see what will come out of Abel in the coming years (or even months), his passion being so evident in pretty much all of the tracks he’s released thus far. With the release of his debut album on October 6, I feel as though we will be seeing some more of him for sure.
salute ft. Gabrielle Aplin – ‘That Girl’
This is pretty groovy.
Selected Other Releases
Albums
Bad Sounds – Mixtape One
Barns Courtney – The Attractions Of Youth
BETSY – BETSY
Demi Lovato – Tell Me You Love Me
Four Tet – New Energy
Hurts – Desire
Ibeyi – Ash
Jamie Lawson – Happy Accidents
Otherkin – OK
R I T U A L – No Escape Out Of Time
Shania Twain – NOW
Singles
Armand Van Helden vs. Butter Rush – ‘I Need A Painkiller’
Beach Slang – ‘Thirteen (Quiet Slang)’
Chelsea Jade – ‘High Beam’
Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile – ‘Continental Breakfast’
Desta French – ‘Needing U’
Disciples – ‘Jealousy’
EDEN – ‘start//end’
First Aid Kit – ‘It’s a Shame’
High Tyde – ‘Young Offenders’
Hot Shade & X Palm Trees ft. Sophia Ayana – ‘My Body’
Jessie Ware – ‘Egoista’
Krept & Konan – ‘For Me’
Liam Gallagher – ‘Greedy Soul’
Lilla Vargen – ‘Hold On’
MJ Cole – ‘Pictures In My Head’
Nilüfer Yanya – ‘Baby Luv’
Petit Biscuit ft. Panama – ‘Waterfall’
Pixie Lott ft. Stylo G – ‘Won’t Forget You’
PRETTYMUCH – ‘Teacher’
Rich The Kid ft. Kendrick Lamar – ‘New Freezer’
Run The Jewels – ‘Mean Demeanor’
Skinny Living – ‘Fade’
Strong Asian Mothers – ‘Hard to Find’
Tom Speight – ‘My Side’
This Week In Records: Playlist Edition
Follow our shiny Spotify playlist and all this musical newness will be right there in time for breakfast every Friday morning.
